Since we were visiting our son in New Orleans, we decide to take a day and visit the Battle of New Orleans National Park. Only one problem. It doesn’t exist. The Chalmette Battlefield is actually part of Jean Lafitte National Park.
Jean Lafitte National Park consists of six sites over a 200 mile area: Prairie Acadian Cultural Center, Acadian Cultural Center, Wetlands Acadian Cultural Center, French Quarter, Barataria Preserve and finally Chalmette Battlefield and National Cemetery.
Visitor Center
The small visitor center has a little museum that gives a nice overview of the battle with exhibits and videos. The knowledgeable rangers can tell you what is going on that day. They had a small living history exhibition going on while we were there.
Monument
A smaller monument was placed here in 1840, twenty-five years after the battle. Construction for the current monument began in 1855 and ended in 1908. You have to climb quite a few narrow stairs to get to the top. The area at the top is quite small and the view is pretty obscured, as you can see by the pictures.
Battlefield
The American line of defense consists of a few canons and exhibits to enjoy.
You can enjoy a picnic underneath towering oaks filled with Spanish moss.
You can take a stroll to the Malus-Beauregard house that was constructed almost twenty years after the battle took place.
You can drive the 1.5 miles around the battlefield, stopping at the various exhibits. Unfortunately, no audio tour exists for the drive.
Chalmette National Cemetery
Along the loop, you should stop at the Chalmette National Cemetery. You can listen to an audio tour you that tells you about a few of the people buried here. We could not find the actual graves they spoke about in the tour, and we only listened to one of them. I would suggest perhaps listening to them on your way to the battlefield.
Paddleboat Tours
You can take the Creole Queen Riverboat from the French Quarter section of the national park to the battlefield and then back to the French Quarter. The photo above is an older one from the park archives. They provide a meal if you wish. Click here for more information. The landing at the battlefield does not look near as nice as the picture here. This is what it looked like from the sea wall:
The ferry runs one or two times depending on the time of year. A ranger gives a talk to the paddleboat guests and anyone who is at the battlefield at the time. We didn’t do this tour, so I don’t know how much you would get to explore the battlefield on your own if you took this paddleboat tour.
Well worth a visit to this park. Just remember its true name: Chalmette Battlefield.
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