LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) - There’s a preserve of forested wetlands hidden on the western bank of the Mississippi River south of New Orleans. A six-mile trail loops through looming cypress trees and tall brush. At the end of the trail, 10 identical earth-covered cement domes are hidden behind the wall of trees.
These inconspicuous structures, known as ammunition magazines, are relics of a forgotten piece of New Orleans’ military history.
They were once used by the U.S. Navy to store black gunpowder used in torpedos and warheads during World War II and the Korean War.
The magazines and trails leading up to the structures are preserved by a local non-profit called the Woodlands Conservancy, which manages the more than 600-acre wooded property.
The network of trails is part of a multi-decade project that Katie Brasted, the non-profit’s director, first envisioned in 1993. While Brasted spent subsequent years exploring the peninsula on horseback she didn’t find out about the magazines until 2001.
It was widely known at the time that Tulane University had established its biodiversity research institute inside of a series of World War II-era bunkers in an adjoining property. The structures are significantly larger than the magazines and were also once used to store artillery and munitions. Currently, two of the larger structures house the Royal D. Suttkus fish collection, one of the largest collections of preserved fish specimens in the world, according to the university.
The director at the time showed Brasted an old aerial map of the properties where the larger bunkers were clearly visible. The map also revealed a smaller U-shaped row of structures in a bordering property she was hoping to preserve for hiking trails.
Brasted and the director of the biodiversity institute decided to investigate.
“We did a flyover of the whole peninsula to see if we could see them from overhead, with no luck,” she said.
The structures were hidden under a deep canopy of trees.
If they were going to find the structures, they’d have to go on foot or horseback. And at the time there were no trails so it meant navigating through dense forest.
“Without trails, this was not for the faint of heart,” she said. “You couldn’t see the sky because the canopy was so thick.”
They traced the area by the back fence that bordered the Tulane property keeping an eye out for raised earth.
“It was no wonder we couldn’t see them, they were completely overgrown,” she said.
Trees had grown on top of the cement structures and in front of the doors blocking the entrance.
“It was amazing to think 50 years later they were still standing there in the woods,” she said.
Brasted eventually met several people who had worked and lived on the property when it was still being used to store ammunition for the U.S. Navy. She found out that the area once housed a volunteer fire department and a testing laboratory for ammunition. About 20 civilians lived on the property. They transported ammunition from the bunkers on the Tulane property by rail and used trucks to transport gunpowder from the magazines from the Woodlands trail.
While the magazines remain a marker of New Orleans’ role in U.S. military history, the bottomland hardwood wetlands that make up the Woodlands Trails, play a vital role as one of the last natural buffers between the city and Lake Borgne six miles away.
“We have lost 80 percent of our forested wetlands in the South. This forest is a natural sponge providing a significant storm buffer to the city,” she said.
Now the Woodlands Conservancy continues to work to preserve this natural resource. And throughout the pandemic, the trails and the military relics at the edge of the forest have become a solace to hundreds of visitors.
The Woodland Trails are located at 307 F Edward Hebert Blvd, Belle Chasse, LA
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