Fort Proctor
National Register of Historic Places

Fort Proctor

Shell Beach, St. Bernard County, Louisiana
Listed
September 19, 1978
Type
Building
Period
Early Republic
Ref No.
78003067

About this property

Fort Proctor is a ruined 19th century fort in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, USA. It is also known as Fort Beauregard or Beauregard's Castle (after P.G.T. Beauregard, who supervised its construction with the architect J.G. Totten). The fort is on the shore of Lake Borgne just north of the mouth of Bayou Yscloskey. At the time it was built in the 1850s, there was also an adjacent railroad port called "Proctorville". The fort was intended to be part of the fortifications protecting water routes towards New Orleans. In 1814, the British Army had attacked New Orleans after their navy advanced up Lake Borgne and defeated a small flotilla of gunboats belonging to the New Orleans station (US Navy), in the Battle of Lake Borgne. Due to delays caused by hurricane damage, and then the outbreak of the American Civil War, the fort was never garrisoned. By the end of the Civil War, improvements in artillery had made the design of the fort obsolete. In the 1940s and 1950s, before it was engulfed by Lake Borgne, the ruins of the fort were a popular gathering place for teenagers seeking a spot where they would not be supervised. The construction of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet Canal in the 1960s cut off all land access to the fort site. It can be seen in the distance from Shell Beach, Louisiana. In 1978, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is now completely surrounded by water about one foot deep. Before Hurricane Katrina, there remained one small piece of dry land inside of the fort. The fort was unusual in its design for two innovations: the inclusion of comfortable living quarters including bathrooms, and the extensive use of structural iron in its construction.

Location

Shell Beach, St. Bernard County, Louisiana
29.86756, -89.67834

Categories

MILITARYENGINEERINGARCHITECTURE
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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The Soldiers
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Native Heritage
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Settlement
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Nearby Historic Sites

Kenilworth Plantation House
Colonial
7.8 mi
Ducros, Dr. Louis A., House
Industrial
10.9 mi
Sebastopol Plantation House
Industrial
11.6 mi
Fort Macomb
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15.6 mi
Chalmette Unit of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park Historic District
Listed
19.4 mi

Nearby Battles

Battle of Lake Borgne
1814Early Republic
12.9 mi
Battle of New Orleans — Raid on Villeré Plantation
1815Early Republic
13.5 mi
Battle of New Orleans — Pakenham's Assault
1815Early Republic
14.2 mi

Questions about this property

When was Fort Proctor listed on the National Register?

Fort Proctor was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 19, 1978.

What type of historic resource is Fort Proctor?

Fort Proctor is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Fort Proctor?

The period of significance for Fort Proctor is recorded as the early_republic era.

Can I research the history near Fort Proctor?

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