582. Chalmette, St. Bernard Parish (LA61)

I like it! I totally dig that solidly constructed post WPA slightly art deco-ish type thing. Times like this I wish I had a better grounding in architecture to be able to give you a better description of it, but that hardly matters. What matters is that its solidity is a proud symbol that gives you confidence that this county is not going anywhere. Floods won’t kill it. Hurricanes won’t kill it. This community and its center of government aren’t going anywhere. But as a strange sidenote, it’s been making me reconsider my hypocrisy regarding governmental centers and courthouses. I used to think that I was looking for political centers, but I’m wondering if aesthetics are more important in my eyes these days. Of course, I’m only a tourist in all these places so what the heck do I know?

The cache was about a mile down the road at the Chalmette Battlefield. In August 1815, Andrew Jackson, backed up by regulars, militias, free blacks, native Americans, and pirates, fought and won the Battle of New Orleans. For those of you not from the US or not motivated enough to consult Wikipedia, this is where Jackson fought the final, technically irrelevant battle of the War of 1812 before he received news that the Treaty of Ghent had ended the war. I think he would be proud to know that his great victory is commemorated by a giant phallus, visible for miles around. In addition, it’s part of a national park and has a house that used to be owned by the son of P.T. Beauregard. Truly, history came alive. I, myself, was especially animated when I was almost attacked by bees while using the bathroom, but that’s a different story for a different time. OK, not really. It’s pretty cut and dried. Bathroom, bees, that’s it. The most important thing is that there was a virtual at the tower here so I logged it and my work here was done. I drove the scenic route around the battlefield before leaving the park and putting Jackson’s phallus in my rear view mirror. Thinking on how cache poor the parish is considering it sits on the edges of one of the country’s most famous cities, I made my way east to a moment that was a long time coming. Others might wonder why it would take so long to to have made the trip, but that didn’t matter as I crossed the bridge and followed the highways that led to…