Now, I’ll betcha that if you were born and raised in this city, you no doubt at one time or another went to a school picnic out there.  And if you’re really old enough, your grandma probably told you how she rode the rides and went swimming and listened to the music at the bandstand out there!  So where is “out there?” 

Since 1701 it’s always had the same name. . . Spanish Fort.

The French and the Spanish, and Louisiana in general, down through history always intended the site to serve one purpose—to protect the Bayou St. John trade route and then later protect New Orleans by guarding the Lake Pontchartrain entrance to Bayou St. John.  And it did that well, up until 1823, when the old Colonial fort was officially decommissioned and the land on which it stood was bought up by private developers, who renamed it “Old Spanish Fort” and turned it into a popular amusement park complete with restaurants, a casino, a resort hotel, dancing pavilions, and even a featured attraction called “The Alligator Pond.”

Decades later, once Old Spanish Fort was solidly entrenched in the heart and soul of New Orleans, amusement rides were added.  Senior citizens and students of Louisiana will remember with pride that its roller coaster was called “The Scenic Railway,” that a steam railroad that later became an electric streetcar system connected the park with the center of the city, and that one of the most popular places within the confines of the park was a German restaurant and beer garden they called “Over The Rhine.”  Also among the favorite haunts within the park were two cabarets and Brown’s Ice Cream Parlor.

At the time it was also “the spot” to go to for musical performances.  The New Orleans Orchestra was a regular; and locals who came to love the jazz stylings of Papa Celestin’s Band saw them play out there.  It was recognized as a hotspot for jazz and most New Orleanians heard it all firsthand at Old Spanish Fort.

It’s common knowledge that every historic site has to have it legends, and Old Spanish Fort is no different.  There’s a rusty wrought iron fence said to enclose the grave of a Spanish soldier named Sancho Pablo, who fell in love with an Indian princess and was killed by an Indian chief, who just happened to be the princess’s father.  Some folks believe that even today the mournful voice of the princess can still be heard on occasion echoing up Bayou St. John.  Well. . .at least that’s how the legend goes.

It was sometime in the late 1920’s when a city project began reclaiming land from the lakefront.  That eventually extended the shoreline well away from the old fort.  A brand new lakefront site was created.  It was officially named “Pontchartrain Beach.”  Not long afterward Old Spanish Fort faded into the pages of the Louisiana history books. 

What few brick walls and crumbled masonry that remain are all that’s left of those colorful decades in New Orleans history.  The occasional visitor who stumbles on the site today finds nothing more than the scant remnants of the old fort, now mostly a brick ruin under the jurisdiction and control of the New Orleans Levee Board.  Yet, historians believe that the old fort’s skeleton still silently protects Bayou St. John’s upper side. 

Oh, and just for the record, what once used to be the amusement park and all its famed attractions is now called. . .Lake Vista.