Excerpt from Proposed Jean Lafitte National Cultural Park, Louisiana: Suitability/Feasibility Study

This river here if you can find a spot like this where you can still see it there aren't many any more: it sure is a busy place. A lot of people must need it pretty badly. Seems like there's some new company coming in or building up bigger all the time. It's always been like that. My grand-dad used to talk about the early days and how things were then smugglers coming right here in to the city from do wn in the Caribbean, and sometimes they 'd bring in slaves they'd stolen at sea and sell them.even back then New Orleans was an important port goods going to all the plantations and even way up to St. Louis. That Jean Lafitte sure put things together, what with owning the ships, organizing those swamp men to smuggle up the goods to sell in the city and away upriver. Quite a businessman. Probably why he's still a legend. Must have been patriotic, too, at least he was a big help in the fight over there at Chalmette they call it the Battle of New Orleans. It's hard to tell what would have happened to this place if the English had gotten into the city. Probably would have changed the whole history of the rest of America, too.

You know, if you stop to think about it, three different countries had a lot to do with this place. It's easy to see what they left behind, or at least to hear it. The French left their language and their way of looking at life. But it's the Spanish you can see the most of, what with all those buildings with patios, wrought iron, and balconies. Real architects they were. The English left their mark too, even if they never put their crown on us. After all, those early Americans had just gotten free in the colonies a little before the Lafitte days here.

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