This National Park Was Named After a Pirate

Jean Lafitte was a pirate. And Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve was named after him. He’s a complicated man - and we really don’t even know that much about him. We don’t know when or where he was born or died, if he was married or if he had children, heck, we don’t even know how to spell his name properly.

But the things we do know about Jean Lafitte, that he was in Louisiana in the early nineteenth century, that he smuggled goods and slaves into New Orleans, and that he was a key player in the Battle of New Orleans, only serve to grow the legend of this pirate smuggler slave-trader war hero.

He inspired the character of Jean LaFoote on the Captain Crunch cereal box, his anchor is supposedly displayed at Disneyland California, he has been the subject of two films, both titled The Buccaneer, and countless other books and media have been inspired by him.

My question was: why? Why did we name a National Park after the pirate Jean Lafitte? I’ve set out to answer that question for you here. I hope you enjoy it.

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Also, all credit to my wife for the "plundering patriot" line 😂