Sink Into 7 of Louisiana's Swampiest Secrets: 50 States of Wonder - Atlas Obscura

50 States of Wonder
Sink Into 7 of Louisiana's Swampiest Secrets

Louisiana has long had a complex relationship with the wet world. Chitimacha, Choctaw, and Atakapa peoples built communities among the knobby knees of bald cypress trees; French fur traders and pirates eventually made their own marks. Later still, modern engineers attempted to corral waters with levees and dams, or to reclaim land where there had been none. Across the 50,000-odd square miles that make up the state, troves of special places are becoming concealed by rising water. Here are seven places water has revealed or covered up.

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Airport

1. Lakefront Airport

The transport hub now known as Lakefront Airport was built on a human-made peninsula that required the Orleans Levee Board to position a 10,000-foot retaining wall in Lake Pontchartrain and deposit an astounding six million cubic yards of hydraulic fill to elevate the strip above the water’s surface. 

The facility opened to the public in 1934 as Shushan Airport, named for a New Orleans government official who later was convicted of mail fraud. The terminal got a new name but remains a feat of Art Deco design, including luxurious gilded accents, stone floors, and custom artworks. (Read more.)

6001 Stars and Stripes Blvd, New Orleans, LA 70126

A skinny chimney is all that remains of the sunken rig, now lost in the submerged salt mine. Steven Grey (Atlas Obscura User)
Lake

2. Lake Peigneur

Lake Peigneur was once a small, freshwater lake, less than 11 feet deep and popular for fishing. That all changed on November 20, 1980, when one of the largest human-powered maelstroms in history flushed the lake, barges, big-rig trucks, houses, 65 acres of surrounding land, and a Texaco oil rig into an enormous vortex.

A drilling crew accidentally punctured the roof of a salt mine beneath the lake, which swiftly swallowed the entire offshore rig, and the shallow, freshwater body burbled and swirled as it merged with saltier adjacent water. Now, very little visual evidence peeks up above the surface. (Read more.)

5505 Rip Van Winkle Rd, New Iberia, LA 70560

Fort Proctor now is a vestigial relic of another time, sinking off the Louisiana coast. Courtesy Gulf Restoration Network
Fort

3. Fort Proctor

Southeastern Louisiana is stippled with the remains of 19th-century fortresses, the so-called "Third System" of defense. The troupe includes Fort Pike, Fort Macomb, Fort Livingston, and Fort St. Philip. All are increasingly surrounded by the Gulf of Mexico, but perhaps none as remarkably as the solitary Fort Proctor, which is only accessible by water.

Fort Proctor was constructed in the 19th century to protect the strategically crucial waterways near New Orleans. A hurricane damaged the structure shortly after it was completed. Then, before the facility could be repaired and put back into use, the Civil War erupted, diverting attention from the site. By the time anyone had the time and energy to devote to it, the place was obsolete and simply left to fall to pieces. (Read more.)

St Bernard, LA 70085

The statue has been moved from its original location and stands above the sinking land. Russ Arno (Atlas Obscura User)
Statue

4. Our Lady of the Sea

Beyond the twisting bayous of Terrebonne parish lies the Isle Dernière archipelago, a strip of sandy barrier islands that play a crucial role in protecting the coastline from storm surges. 

The group of islands were once a single landmass, known as Last Island. In 1856, that island was hit by the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane, which was deadly and devastated the area. Over time, the landscape recovered, and a century later, locals installed a beacon to assist fishers returning to the island and serve as a sentinel protecting those heading out to sea.

The statue was christened “Our Lady of the Sea.” Never has a name befitted a statue better, as the sea began almost immediately to reclaim its Lady. (Read more.)

8249 Redfish St, Chauvin, LA 70344

Allegedly home to a mythical monster, the swamp is surprisingly serene. Rebecca Byrne (Atlas Obscura User)
Swamp

5. Honey Island Swamp

Louisiana lore often includes references to the swamps. The humid, soggy, environments are interspersed throughout much of the southeastern United States, but Honey Island feels special. 

Somehow, the surroundings seem both very earthy—you are, after all, surrounded by muddy water—and ethereal, particularly when light flickers through the trees and the air is full of soft hums from bugs and the occasional splash of an oar. Just keep an eye out for one resident, the Honey Island Swamp Monster. As the story goes, this gray-haired, yellow-eyed creature is supposedly the offspring of an escaped circus chimpanzee that mated with a local alligator. (Read more.)

Honey Island Swamp Rd, Parish Governing Authority District 6, LA 70452

The sinkhole is big, and getting bigger. Sandia National Laboratories/Public Domain
Outdoor Oddity

6. Bayou Corne Sinkhole

The Texas Brine Company's massive underground salt dome beneath Baton Rouge was a profitable mining operation, right up until its ground-shaking collapse created a monstrous sinkhole.

Initially, the hole was an eight-acre void—but as the waters and earth rushed to fill in the underground caverns, the maw spread to swallow roughly 25 acres' worth of trees, dirt, and underbrush. The expanding hole continues to devour the landscape. (Read more.) 

LA-70, Belle Rose, LA 70341

Many graves are above ground to avoid being waterlogged. y6y6y6/CC BY 2.0
Cemetery

7. Metairie Cemetery

For more than two decades, the Metairie Race Course was a horse racing institution in antebellum New Orleans, home to epic sprints that created and destroyed fortunes in a single lap.

But after serving a stint as a Confederate Army camp during the Civil War, the course went bust. It was transformed into the now-famous cemetery, though it retained the contours of the track. Today, the cemetery is known for its particularly lovely monumental architecture and funeral sculptures, which are dedicated to some of the city’s noteworthy early heroes and notorious figures. To keep their inhabitants dry, many of the striking resting places are above ground. (Read more.)

5100 Pontchartrain Blvd, New Orleans, LA 70124

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All aboard for a plate of pancakes.

7 Places to Glimpse Maine's Rich Railroad History

Maine is widely known for its mottled red crustaceans and stony-faced lighthouses, as well as bucolic towns and the top-notch hiking outside of them. But before all that, Maine was all about one thing: trains. As America industrialized in the 19th century, there was an insatiable demand to build and a hunger for lumber. Maine had plenty of it, and the state’s rivers became swollen with the fallen bodies of pine and spruce, much of which was hauled by rail. Trains did the heavy lifting to coastal hubs including Bangor and Ellsworth, and by 1924, there was enough railroad mileage in Maine to get from London’s King's Cross station to Mosul, Iraq. Over the years, some of the old cars were fashioned into eateries, but many were simply abandoned in the woods. Now, relics of Maine’s railroad history are scattered in museums, restaurants, and more.

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At Glacier Gardens, the tree canopies are flowers in bloom.

11 Places Where Alaska Bursts Into Color

Picture Alaska. You might see in your mind's eye the granite and stark white snowcaps of Denali National Park, or the dark seas that surround 6,000-plus miles of coastline, or the muted olive of its tundra in the summer. But as anyone who's been there knows, the country's largest, most sparsely populated state can absolutely burst with color, from the luminous green of the Northern Lights, to the deep aqua of its glaciers, to the flourish of wildflowers fed by its long summer days. Here are some places to see the full spectrum of The Last Frontier.

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Workers assess the exterior of the Washington Monument after an earthquake in 2011.

9 Places in D.C. That You're Probably Never Allowed to Go

The District of Columbia is home to a number of places that you need to flash the right ID to access. From restricted rooftops to government storage facilities and underground tunnels, the city is filled with places that are off-limits to the average visitor. What’s more, many of them are hidden within popular tourist destinations and densely populated neighborhoods—so you might catch a glimpse of them, but never get any closer. These are a few of our favorite restricted spots in D.C., and the stories behind them.

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