Mostly closed for the last eight years, Fort Pike finally opens to the public again on July 2. Oddly enough, no cannon was ever fired in battle at Fort Pike, despite a history spanning at least two major wars. Its wars with the weather, on the other hand, have been rough. The fort was submerged by Hurricane Katrina's surging waters, then wrecked by Hurricanes Gustav and Ike in 2008. Just last summer, Hurricane Issac added additional insult to injury. Constructed in 1818 to protect New Orleans' waterways from outsiders, it was abandoned in 1890.
[Photos by Andrew Nicolle via flickr]
· [Dept. of Culture, Recreation & Tourism]