On our recent photo trip to New Orleans, we were fortunate to photograph two 19th century forts. The first was Ft. Pike, named after Brigadier General Zebulon Montgomery Pike, which formerly guarded the Rigolets pass in Louisiana.
The fort was built in 1818 to guard against British reinvasion of the United States. It came under the control of the Louisiana Continental Guard in 1861, just weeks before Louisiana joined the Confederacy. When Union forces captured New Orleans in 1862, the Confederate forces evacuated Fort Pike. The Union then reestablished control of the installation using it as a base for raids and also for training of United States Colored Troops.
The fort was abandoned in 1890, and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. Despite having changed hands multiple times in a history spanning at least two major wars, no cannon was ever fired in battle at Fort Pike.
Since it was early Friday morning, we were there before any visitors and we had the entire fort to ourselves, which made for some great shooting wide angle shots. Even then, we still managed to walk into each other’s shots.
