In a state that has so long been shaped by the maritime industry, it’s shocking that there is only one space dedicated to preserving its history, and that is Maritime Museum Louisiana.
Formerly known as the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum until a rebranding in 2023, the museum’s 30,000-square-foot home is set on the banks of the Tchefuncte River in the Northshore community of Madisonville.
Among the museum’s claims to fame is producing the annual Wooden Boat Festival — a two-day event held in October that features food, art vendors, live music, educational demonstrations. Living up to its name, the festival provides a stage each fall for approximately 100 wooden boat owners to showcase their prized possessions.
What started as a floating block party created in 1991 by a group of local boaters is now celebrating its 34th anniversary and has been named a “premier event” by the Southeast Tourism Society. When the Maritime Museum opened in 2000, festival organizers turned the event over to the museum, which uses it as its major annual fundraiser.
The museum also invites lovers of wooden boats to craft their own at their on-site workshop situated under the raised building. There, participants can learn from a master boat builder over 12 weeks.
“We’re pretty open to whatever kind of wooden boat someone would like to build — a sailboat, canoe, runabout, whatever, as long as we can accommodate it in the workshop,” said the museum’s executive director, Jim MacPherson.
Inside, the self-funded museum is a nautical treasure trove of nautical artifacts and instruments from the early 1900s that include a 30-foot, life-sized replica of the Pioneer Submarine — the first submarine created by the Confederate army during the Civil War, crafted in New Orleans and tested in the Mississippi River — as well as maritime artwork, ship models, hands-on exhibits, and a collection of dioramas depicting area lighthouses.
“We also just received a donation of 26 lighthouse models from around the U.S.,” MacPherson said.
Like many museums, Maritime Museum Louisiana also rents out for events. A popular choice for weddings and showers due to its prized coastal location, Maritime Museum Louisiana has also seen an uptick in corporate event rentals of its 2,500-square-foot meeting space thanks to an upgrade in the facility’s audio/visual features. As an added perk, all event rentals include free museum admission for all attendees.
In addition to the large meeting space, the museum also rents out an adjacent building that originally served as the lighthouse keeper’s cottage at the nearby Tchefuncte River Light Station (TRLS). The cottage was moved to the museum’s grounds following its opening and has since welcomed smaller gatherings like garden groups and bridal parties.
“The goal is to shore up the land enough to build a pier and a protective breakwater that will allow for necessary repairs and to eventually allow people to visit and tour the lighthouse.”
– Jim MacPherson, executive director, Maritime Museum Louisiana
Keeping the Light Lit
In addition to the lighthouse keeper’s cottage, Maritime Museum Louisiana is charged with the care of TRLS, the only operating lighthouse on Lake Pontchartrain. Built in 1837 to help guide mariners safely through murky waters, the lighthouse was owned and operated by the U.S. Coast Guard until 1999, when the town of Madisonville assumed ownership.
TRLS was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 14, 1986. It’s faced countless storms and floods and has undergone numerous restorations and rebuilding throughout its nearly 200-year history.
Today, the biggest challenge the lighthouse faces today is its sinkage. As the land surrounding the lighthouse erodes, water laps dangerously close to the lighthouse’s front door.
Since 2003, the museum has assumed responsibility for the grounds surrounding the lighthouse and has spearheaded coastal restoration efforts to stabilize the sinking land. In February, the NFL and the Super Bowl LIX Host Committee partnered with Pontchartrain Conservancy and St. Tammany Parish to plant 600 cypress trees on the lighthouse property to bolster eroding land. To add further protection, the museum is currently using rock and cement to provide additional support.
“The lighthouse is in desperate need of restoration, but the issue has been that it cannot be safely accessed,” said MacPherson. The goal is to shore up the land enough to build a pier and a protective breakwater that will allow for necessary repairs and to eventually allow people to visit and tour the lighthouse.
The museum plans to raise funds, participation and awareness for this endeavor through its fourth annual Maritime Music & Art Festival, which was just held March 29.
A Rich History
The Maritime Museum Louisiana’s site has played its own part in history. A century ago, its grounds were home to the largest employer on the Northshore, a shipyard that transformed Madisonville and revolutionized the city of New Orleans.
The Jahncke Shipyard was founded by Frederick “Fritz” Jahncke in the late 19th century and employed thousands of laborers through World War I. Jahncke’s enterprise began as an innovative urban masonry, called Jahncke Services, credited for installing the first paved sidewalks and streets in New Orleans. Jahncke used his waterfront property to its full potential, dredging sand, shells, and other sediment from the bottom of the Tchefuncte and other nearby rivers and siphoning it into usable concrete to be shipped across the lake to pave city streets.
Jahncke was the first to use hydraulic suctioning to dredge the riverways, rather than having workers dig up the spoils by hand. The use of machinery accelerated concrete production and brought infrastructural efficiency in New Orleans to new heights.
In 1900, Jahncke expanded his business to shipbuilding to transport his construction materials across the lake. In 1917, the Jahncke Shipyard was contracted by the U.S. Navy to build six wooden ships for wartime use, and over 2,200 workers were hired, creating the largest industrial effort in Northshore’s history.
Following the war’s end, the shipyard’s business waned. Ship building efforts slowed, and though Jahncke Shipyard supplied concrete and construction materials to many iconic buildings in New Orleans, including Charity Hospital and Jackson Brewery, by 1970, the shipyard had shuttered its doors.
Another Man’s Treasure
Following the shipyard’s close, Dr. Allen Saltus and the Gulf South Research Institute began conducting subsurface surveys of the Tchefuncte River, Pontchartrain Basin, and surrounding waterways. By the mid 1970s, Dr. Saltus’ surveys had produced evidence of several hundred historic vessels, from naval ships to schooners, that had sunk in the waterways threading through St. Tammany Parish.
In 1991, the town of Madisonville and Southeastern LA University joined forces to preserve these artifacts, founding the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum and Research Center.
For information on tickets, festivals, and how to support the museum, visit MaritimeMuseumLouisiana.org.
