Fort Pike State Historic Site is a decommissioned 19th-century United States fort, named after Brigadier General Zebulon Pike. It was built following the War of 1812 to guard the Rigolets pass in Louisiana, a strait from the Gulf of Mexico, via Lake Borgne, to Lake Pontchartrain bordering New Orleans. It was located near the community of Petite Coquille, now within the city limits of New Orleans.
Cracks can be seen in the brick structure of Fort Pike after Hurricane Katrina
Fort Pike Citadel
Picture of Fort Pike, before Hurricane Katrina, looking toward the Old Rigolets Bridge (US 90).
Picture of Fort Pike, post-Katrina (New Hwy 90 Bridge in Background)
Zebulon Montgomery Pike was an American brigadier general and explorer for whom Pikes Peak in Colorado is named. As a U.S. Army officer he led two expeditions through the Louisiana Purchase territory, first in 1805–1806 to reconnoiter the upper northern reaches of the Mississippi River, and then in 1806–1807 to explore the southwest to the fringes of the northern Spanish-colonial settlements of New Mexico and Texas. Pike's expeditions coincided with other Jeffersonian expeditions, including the Lewis and Clark Expedition and the Red River Expedition in 1806.
Portrait by Charles Willson Peale, 1808
Pikes Peak, central Colorado