Chalmette Unit: Cultural Landscape Report, Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve, National Park Service

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This Cultural Landscape Report (CLR) is for the Chalmette Unit of the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve. The Chalmette Unit is a commemorative and interpretive site located in Chalmette, Louisiana, approximately six miles southeast of downtown New Orleans, in a highly industrialized corridor along the east bank of the Mississippi River. The unit contains two spatially distinct cultural landscapes: Chalmette Battlefield and Chalmette National Cemetery. The Chalmette Battlefield is a 125.6-acre site that includes the open field upon which the Battle of New Orleans was fought, the Chalmette Monument, the former village of Fazendeville, and the Malus-Beauregard House. Chalmette National Cemetery is a 17.3- acre designed landscape which is set apart from the Chalmette Battlefield by a brick wall along its eastern edge. In December 1814 and January 1815, the Battles of New Orleans were fought on two plantations downriver from New Orleans—the Chalmette Plantation and the Rodriguez Plantation. (The spelling of Chalmette changed through time. Originally called “Chalmet,” which is how the Chalmet family spelled the name, it has more recently become known as “Chalmette.” This report will use the term Chalmette for consistency except when referencing the family.) The Rodriguez Plantation, on which the Chalmette Monument and the property west of the Rodriguez Canal presently are located, and the Chalmette Plantation, the present location of land east of the canal up to and including the Chalmette National Cemetery, comprise the land within the boundaries of the Chalmette Unit. The NPS assumed management of the Chalmette Monument and the surrounding 15.92 acres in August 1933 as part of the Chalmette National Historical Park. They assumed management of the Chalmette National Cemetery in October 1933. The NPS approved a revised boundary for the park in 1958. This new boundary contained the land around the monument, including the Malus- Beauregard House, the national cemetery, and two tracts of land lying in between these two, including the village of Fazendeville, which the NPS acquired and removed in the 1960s. Today, the Chalmette Unit is administered by the National Park Service (NPS) as part of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve. The National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978 (Public Law 95-625) created Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve (JELA). The legislation stated that the park’s purpose was “to preserve… significant examples of natural and historical resources of the Mississippi Delta region and to provide for their interpretation in such a manner as to portray the development of cultural diversity in the region.”

Chalmette Unit: Cultural Landscape Report, Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve, National Park Service

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