Fort DeRussy, LA. Public Meeting

[Noble Pelican]

On Tuesday, April 20, 2004, The Friends of Fort DeRussy hosted a public meeting with the designers and state park personnel on hand. For the uninformed, Fort DeRussy has been taken over by Louisiana's Office of State Parks and hopefully will open within the next couple of years. It is just one of the parks planned to encompass major parts of the Red River Campaign. Fts. Buhlow and Randolph in Alexandria are next in line in the state parks development plan and will focus on the capture and burning of that city as well as Bailey's Dam which saved the Union fleet.
Additional land acquisition encompassing the fort's water battery was discussed. Also, the public convinced the park officials and designer that the visitors center must be built to look like a building from the Civil War era instead of the modern looking ones at Port Hudson and Mansfield. State archaeologists are currently determining the best site to place the museum so that it doesnt intrude on pertinent areas. One portion of land bought by the Friends of Fort DeRussy is going to court to force the heirs to sell the remaining 1/16th interest so that it too can be donated to the current state park holdings.
Any person wishing to contribute to the Friends of Fort DeRussy and its ongoing land purchases should contact me and I will give you the organizations contact person.

[DougCooper]

Re: Fort DeRussy, LA. Public Meeting

Outstanding news! One strange thing about the RR Campaign preservation is it seems to me there has been no sense of it among Louisianans as a campaign. Little pieces here and there. How else to explain a State Park at Mansfield being threatened by a Lignite Mine...while 16 miles away (and one day later in history), there is no State Park but instead a privately help piece at Pleasant Hill....and no connection between the two.

We have come a long way of late and this sounds like another step in the right direction. Good work you guys.