Tour of Ft. Macomb

Interesting video. I have passed by there many times. After Hurricane Katrina when this are was deserted I explored around the exterior of the fort. There was a way in at the time but I decided against it as I had suspected there was someone or multiple someones squatting within the walls at the time.
 
Great video @damYankee !

Getting into that old fortress these days is like finding the "Holy Grail" of NOLA defenses !

There was a way in at the time but I decided against it

Good call.

The U.S. Coast Guard gets extremely irritated with anyone trying to get in there.

But that's why they are there.

Fort Macomb is a very dangerous structure for amateur historians.
 
Watching the video, I couldn't help but remember some stories told to me years ago of Fort St. Philip. It was a bit more unsafe, and ten times more deadly, I was told the owners of it won't allow you to visit the fort if you don't have a shotgun and a hundred rounds of ammunition.

Too many snakes...
 
Nearby Fort Pike is almost identical and was in much better shape, being a state park. It was hit hard by Katrina and subsequent hurricanes but was reopened but now, last I read, has been closed as a fiscal thing. I used to have excellent photos of Pike from before Katrina but the computer they were on was stolen and I didn't have them stored.

Pike and Macomb are interesting as having the only remaining fortified "citadel" barracks. Such citadels once existed inside Forts Morgan and Jackson but are now gone. Pike and Macomb also have much smaller curtain casemate entrances than later Third System forts which have curtain casemates that are almost wide open in back. Those open backed casemates were a problem when such forts came under fire.

Fort Macomb was used for scenes in the last episode of the first (and best) season of the HBO show True Detective.

Small casemate entrances of Fort Pike (top) compared to open backs of casemates of Fort Pulaski.

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Watching the video, I couldn't help but remember some stories told to me years ago of Fort St. Philip. It was a bit more unsafe, and ten times more deadly, I was told the owners of it won't allow you to visit the fort if you don't have a shotgun and a hundred rounds of ammunition.

Too many snakes...
That's absolutely right !

The sad thing is no one is 100% sure about what's left Fort St. Phillip can be saved.
 
Has Fort Jackson reopened?
I'm not really sure.

I think I've seen articles that it might be open to the public either on a limited basis or by appointment.
Don't quote me on that.

But it's not what it once was.
Fort Jackson was seriously damaged by Hurricane Katrina back in 2005.

I do remember it was used to rehabilitate local wildlife after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill during 2010.

Sorry I have no current information.
 
That's absolutely right !

The sad thing is no one is 100% sure about what's left Fort St. Phillip can be saved.

A an old friend of mine in New Orleans used to talk about it, saying there was still shells from the battle all over the place. He offered to talk to the owners and so on and us go out there one day, but that was years ago, we drifted apart and he passed on several months ago, so I'll probably never get out there.

I've hear there's nothing left of the fort from the CW, just Spanish-American War and been told by people who've been there that there is absolutely a lot left of it, and that it's really just buried under silt. Hearing so many statements on what's left make me just want to go out there more.

Plus, I ain't had a good exciting water moccasin hunt in a few years.
 
Plus, I ain't had a good exciting water moccasin hunt in a few years.
:bounce:

I'm not too excited about "running into" a water moccasin !
Dang sure don't want to go looking for em'.

I've hear there's nothing left of the fort from the CW, just Spanish-American War and been told by people who've been there that there is absolutely a lot left of it, and that it's really just buried under silt.

I think there's a lot more left of the remains of Fort St. Phillip than the authorities broadcast.
No doubt, it's way too dangerous for tours these days.
I think that's to discourage people that have no clue . . . from getting hurt trying to "explore".
The question remains, how long will the older sections survive?

Actually, a few years ago a couple of guys ventured out to the fort and filmed their exploration.
This trip to Fort St. Phillip aired on one of those satellite TV travel channels.

A an old friend of mine in New Orleans used to talk about it, saying there was still shells from the battle all over the place.
He was correct.

Shells are found weekly in that area.

All my life, we would go down to Venice, Louisiana to deep sea fish.
When I was a kid, one could still see the fort.

The last time I was down there, once could see nothing except cypress trees and Spanish moss.
 
:bounce:

I'm not too excited about "running into" a water moccasin !
Dang sure don't want to go looking for em'.



I think there's a lot more left of the remains of Fort St. Phillip than the authorities broadcast.
No doubt, it's way too dangerous for tours these days.
I think that's to discourage people that have no clue . . . from getting hurt trying to "explore".
The question remains, how long will the older sections survive?

Actually, a few years ago a couple of guys ventured out to the fort and filmed their exploration.
This trip to Fort St. Phillip aired on one of those satellite TV travel channels.


He was correct.

Shells are found weekly in that area.

All my life, we would go down to Venice, Louisiana to deep sea fish.
When I was a kid, one could still see the fort.

The last time I was down there, once could see nothing except cypress trees and Spanish moss.

I'd love to see the fort personally because of it being undisturbed. Abandoned sites just have a charm to 'em that a park can't equal, the snakes would be more of the adventure part for me, after all how many folks get to run around a CW site shooting?

It'd be nice if some private effort could be undertaken to clear and preserve what's left.
 
On another Fort St. Philip note, I was told by my deceased friend that if you were given permission to look around the fort and showed up with a double barrel shotgun, you'd be told to not bother. Something about the owners saying a shotgun with more shots was more advised along with at least a hundred shells and never alone!

Talk about going into a warzone snake wise....
 
I'd love to see the fort personally because of it being undisturbed. Abandoned sites just have a charm to 'em that a park can't equal,
I agree 100%

the snakes would be more of the adventure part for me,

And that's where we disagree !

:D

I tend to shoot more snakes on a squirrel hunt than squirrels.

:bounce:

But back on track, those ancient forts around and south of New Orleans are fascinating places.
 
Fortwiki article on Fort St. Philip. There was considerable late 19th--early 20th Century Endicott concrete battery building including 4 disappearing rifles, 2 10" and 2 8".


Huh, that map seems to indicate the original fort itself was left alone and all the Endicott Batteries were built around it. I'd always assumed they built the batteries into the original fort. Puts what few pictures I've seen into perspective, and gives me hoe that I've been informed a hundred percent correctly that the original structure is just buried.

I'm learning so much of the layout right now...
 
The climax to the first series of True Detective was filmed at this fort, at least some of the exterior shots.

Fort McClary in Kittery Maine has "citadel barracks" I hadn't heard that term before.
 
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