Saturday Daniel and I took a roadtrip to southern Louisiana. We didn't go with much of a plan and as we were driving we saw the lights of what appeared to be a stadium. It was, but it was also an old fort, Fort Jackson. According to Heritage Preservation Services, the following is a description of the fort during the civil war:

Early Union plans had called for the division of the Confederacy by seizing control of the Mississippi River. One of the first steps in such operations was to enter the mouth of the Mississippi River, ascend to New Orleans and capture the city, closing off the entrance to Rebel ships. In mid-January 1862, Flag-Officer David G. Farragut undertook this enterprise with his West Gulf Blockading Squadron. The way was soon open except for the two forts, Jackson and St. Philip, above the Head of the Passes, approximately seventy miles below New Orleans. In addition to the forts and their armament, the Confederates had placed obstructions in the river and there were a number of ships, including two ironclads, to assist in the defense. Farragut based his operations from Ship Island, Mississippi, and on April 8, he assembled 24 of his vessels and Comdr. David D. Porter's 19 mortar schooners near the Head of the Passes. Starting on the 16th and continuing for seven days, the mortar schooners bombarded Fort Jackson but failed to silence its guns. Some of Farragut’s gunboats opened a way through the obstruction on the night of the 22nd. Early on the morning of the 24th, Farragut sent his ships north to pass the forts and head for New Orleans. Although the Rebels attempted to stop the Union ships in various ways, most of the force successfully passed the forts and continued on to New Orleans where Farragut accepted the city’s surrender. With the passage of the forts, nothing could stop the Union forces: the fall of New Orleans was inevitable and anti-climatic. Cut off and surrounded, the garrisons of the two forts surrendered on the 28th.

Apparently the fort used to be open to visitors and included a museum and gift shop. When we pulled in, however, it was completely abandoned and crumbling. It was also closed down so we were not able to go inside. We did some exploring and after many bug bites and a bunch of pictures, we moved on.
There isn't much along the road to the south. There are several "towns" I guess, but I can hardly call them towns. Perhaps there is a small gas station or convenience store. Most city offices were in trailers and most homes were not livable. Most people seemed to live in either in moblie homes or campers. I am not sure if it was Katrina damage, damage from other storms or general neglect and abandonment but it was a sight to see.

As we got down to the end of the road there was some flooding as the Mississippi is high here from all the rain up north.

Yay! We made it to the southern most point in Louisiana! We didn't know there would be a sign but it was pretty cool. There wasn't much to see, mostly a boat dock and some old boats and bayou. It was cool to say we had been there though.
It is lovebug mating season and at times it sounded almost like it was raining because there were so many bugs hitting the windshield.
Here is something random: fire hydrants in the middle of tons of water. Hmmm...they were all along the road as we traveled and just seemed really odd.

It was a great trip and it was a lot of fun to go somewhere new and learn a little bit more about Louisiana history.