[StBernard] Work slated to start this month on new visitor's center at Chalmette Battlefield

[Westley Annis]

Work slated to start this month on new visitor's center at Chalmette
Battlefield 
By Bob Warren, The Times-Picayune 
October 11, 2009, 4:08AM

More than four years after Hurricane Katrina uprooted trees, wrecked a
historic cemetery and flooded buildings, Chalmette Battlefield is set to
embark on its last big-ticket recovery project, officials said.

Construction will likely begin this month on a new visitor's center at the
battlefield, the historic site of the Battle of New Orleans in 1815.

The new center, at 3,500 square feet, will be twice as big as the one it's
replacing, a 1986-model that took on several feet of water after the levees
failed during the storm, Park Ranger Kristy Wallisch said.

"The old one was dark and cramped, and tiny, " she said.

A temporary visitor's center has been housed in a trailer since the park
reopened in September 2006.

Gee Cee Construction Co. of New Orleans is building the new center, which
will cost just under $4 million, Wallisch said.

"We figure we'll be ready to do an opening next fall, " she said.

Wallisch said the new visitor's center will have meeting space and room for
interactive exhibits that will help visitor's understand the significance of
the Battle of New Orleans, in which Gen. Andrew Jackson's troops routed the
British army led by Gen. Edward Pakenham, who was killed in the fray. It was
the greatest American land victory in the War of 1812, the National Park
Service says.

Although the battlefield will remain open to visitors, the loop road around
the perimeter of the battlefield will be closed for the duration of the
construction, officials said. A temporary visitor's center will be set up in
the Malus-Beauregard House during construction, Wallisch said.

The construction also won't prevent the park from holding its annual
re-enactment set for Jan. 8-9, Wallisch said. "It might take some creativity
to host the big groups for the annual Battle of New Orleans, but we'll
handle it, " she said.

The battlefield had 55,000 visitors in 2008, about a third less than the
average pre-hurricane year, Wallisch said.

The visitor's center construction comes as a massive restoration project
continues at the Chalmette National Cemetery next door. The cemetery is the
final resting place of thousands of soldiers from wars ranging from the
Civil War to Vietnam. Only one soldier who fought in the Battle of New
Orleans is buried there.

Since November 2008, preservation crews have meticulously worked to piece
together historic gravestones and repair a red brick wall lining the site.
That project should be completed early next year.

The cemetery project's goal is to mimic the exact look of the graves and
cemetery wall before Hurricane Katrina tore through it, down to details such
as matching the composition of the historic bricks and mortar in the wall.