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Where did Jean Lafitte live in Galveston?
Located at 1417 Harborside, Galveston, Texas is the site of Jean Lafitte’s Maison Rouge. Jean Lafitte of New Orleans fame is perhaps the most famous pirate to have ever called Galveston home. He came to live at the island in 1812 after having to evacuate his previous haven, Barataria Bay near New Orleans.
Were there pirates in Louisiana?
Galveston Island isn’t the only Gulf territory that had its share of pirates. Louisiana (more specifically the Barataria Bay and Grand Terre islands), was home to the notorious smugglers Jean and Pierre Lafitte, and their vast underground empire, and Florida saw much of this activity as well, being a Spanish colony.
When did Jean Lafitte come to Texas?
Jean Laffite (sometimes spelled Lafitte) was a pirate and the subject of many stories of romance and adventure across the Gulf of Mexico during the early 19th century. During 1817-1820, he started a colony in Galveston and transformed the island into a hotbed of smuggling and privateering.
What pirate is buried in Lincolnton NC?
Thousands of miles away, and two centuries later, from where Laffite made his name, in Lincolnton, North Carolina, people continue to visit what is known to locals as “the Pirate’s Grave” in the graveyard at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. That’s where Lorenzo Ferrer is buried.
Why is it called pirates Alley in New Orleans?
It is one of the “must see” locations of the French Quarter. Some claim that it was a haven for pirates in days past, while others claimed that slaves were sold at the adjacent St. In reality, its official name was Orleans Alley, until the mid 1960’s when the city changed it to Pirate Alley.
What crimes did Jean Lafitte do?
Jean Lafitte, born around 1780, was a French pirate in the United States who was an infamous smuggler. Lafitte and his older brother, Pierre, spent most of their time engaging in piracy in the Gulf of Mexico. They began holding their smuggled goods in New Orleans, Louisiana around 1809.
What happened to Jean Lafitte?
The Spanish ships were heavily armed privateers or warships and returned heavy fire. Wounded in the battle, Lafitte is believed to have died just after dawn on February 5. He was buried at sea in the Gulf of Honduras.
Where did Jean Lafitte live most of his life?
He was probably born in the early 1780s in either France or the French colony of St. Domingue (now Haiti) in the Caribbean. By 1810 he was in Louisiana with his older brother Pierre. They might have been businessmen in New Orleans or independent privateers before becoming associated with the smugglers of Barataria.
When was Jean Lafitte National Historical Park established?
In 1978, Congress created Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve, combining Chalmette National Historical Park (established in 1938) with the Louisiana state park and authorizing a visitor center in the French Quarter.
Where did the last name Lafitte come from?
Families with the surname Lafitte have been found in Louisiana documents dating as early as 1765. According to Ramsay, Lafitte, his elder brother Pierre, and his widowed mother migrated from Saint-Domingue to New Orleans in the 1780s. In approximately 1784, his mother married Pedro Aubry – a New Orleans merchant –…
Where was the deep water harbor of Jean Lafitte?
Barataria’s swamps and bayous stretched south of New Orleans to the Gulf of Mexico. This area had been famous for smuggling even before privateers arrived in 1810 to use the deep water harbor of Barataria Bay.