Weeks ago, the Wandering Men explored the ruins of Fort St. Philip, an abandoned fort secluded in the swamps of southern Louisiana. Guarded by the mighty Mississippi, giant ocean-going cargo ships, and vampire cattle, the fort had been abandoned and unvisited for decades. However, none of that deterred the Wandering Men.
But how did we find the fort, and why did get crazy idea in our head? Well, Davis tells us of the genesis of fort exploration.
No matter how many times I give a presentation on historic places I have explored, I always get the question: "Why on earth did you do that?" or "What possessed you to crawl through that?" or some other variation closely akin to that. Perhaps Sir Edmund Hillary best surmised the answer with his concise answer, "Because it is there."
But that really does little to answer the question. Indeed, for the effort, the grime, the risk, the explanation of its location is far too simple. After all, when we say Fort Exploring, we don't mean driving down to a nice state or national park, paying admission, and then walking through a well kept memorial to times past. That is not to denigrate those monuments dotted across the nation. Several in the south, such as Forts Morgan and Gaines at Mobile Bay, Forts Barrancas and Pickens at Pensacola, Forts Macon, San Marcos, Pulaski, and others up the eastern seaboard, as well as the mammoth Fort Jefferson in the Florida Keys make wonderfully comfortable excursions. They are generally safe, preserved structures that are fun to visit while giving the visitor an excellent view of the American Castles.
But when you visit these forts you discover modern iron railings, signs warning you to keep off, and entire areas closed to visitors because of safety concerns. And with close parking, water fountains, air-conditioned rooms, gift-shops, and little old ladies wearing broad-brimmed hats and pink polyester pants while fanning themselves with the brochure while their husband inspects a carefully displayed pyramid of cannon balls, the feel of such places becomes lost. They become, well, pedestrian.
Having been there and done that since I was a boy, I felt a certain yearning to do more. Watching Indiana Jones or other adventurers in jungles, forests, or deserts stirred me even more. One day, while looking through USGS topographic maps of southern Louisiana I discovered two very simple and unremarkable notations. The first was "Martello Castle" and the other more simply "Ruins." I was intrigued at a castle being in the US, and who wouldn't be fascinated about ruins located what seemed to be miles down a winding bayou? So I began a greater search on what these places were.
After considerable digging (there are precious few references to these locations) I discovered the Martello Castle was actually an old fortress called Fort Proctor (or the Tower at Proctor's Point). I then discovered the "ruins" to be of an old brick battery called Battery Bienvenue located on the bayou of the same name, which turns out to have been the invasion route used by the British at the Battle of New Orleans. What's more, both forts were not open to the public due to their remote nature and condition (one is in salt marshes many miles from the nearest road, the other is in virtually in the gulf after years of shoreline retreat). There were no "keep off" signs nor little old ladies complaining about the heat and bugs.
Well, such ruins HAD to be investigated and so began the first expedition. I called up Brannon Hollingsworth, who shares a kindred explorer's spirit. Another close friend, Brian Little, joined our expedition and we made plans to see what we could find. We borrowed a "genu," which is an ocean-going canoe (that is quite heavy) and paddled out from a small fishing village, crossed the intra coastal waterway, and made our way down a wide bayou to Fort Proctor, which was once built on dry land but is entirely in the water now.
We reached a stone breaker wall built around the fort to prevent boats from crashing into it and beached the genu and then swam through the brackish water to the fort. Excitement brimming, we climbed through the ruins of the sally port and entered our first abandoned fort. We explored the fort, amazed to see fire places under water as we waded through room after room. There were crabs swimming and skittering about as well as the bloated carcass of a dead nutria rat floating in the water.
We explored, photographed, and admired the ruins of Fort Proctor for hours. When finished, we paddled back (fighting quite a strong current as the tide was going out). That night we sat back at an Irish pub in New Orleans drinking Guinness and discussing our adventure. After that trip, we made plans to return the next year and explore the ruins of Battery Bienvenue. Later, in doing more research, I discovered the Spanish-built Fort St. Philip (one of the 10 oldest forts remaining in America) in the swamps on the east bank of the Mississippi River. Already knowing about St. Philip, I was amazed to discover it was not open to the public, and that the nearest road on that side of the river was 15 miles to the north with seemingly endless swamps, marshes, and bayous in between. With the Mighty Mississippi, with true ocean waves and mammoth ocean-going ships traversing about it like giant defending monsters, Fort St. Philip became the ultimate conquest!
Next time, a lonely bayou and a giant river crossing!
