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Laura damage creates opportunity to uncover past at Los Adaes historic site

Fort celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month
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Posted at 11:20 AM, Sep 18, 2020
and last updated 2020-09-18 12:22:15-04

The Los Adaes historic site is celebrating the history, heritage and accomplishments of Hispanic Americans in September during National Hispanic Heritage Month.

And the site, located in Robeline near Natchitoches, is getting a unique opportunity to uncover some of the past thanks to Hurricane Laura.

Trees uprooted as the storm passed through north Louisiana has allowed for the excavation of land that has gone undisturbed.

State archaeologists and teams from Northwestern State University in Natchitoches and Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, Texas, have recently found Native American sherds, French colonial pottery, and hand-wrought nails.

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Aerial image of the Los Adaes State Historic Site.

Los Adaes is a fort, or presidio, built on the edge of the Spanish Empire dating back to the early 1700s as an outpost to protect Spanish settlements from the French.

The presidio Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Los Adaes (Fort of Our Lady of Pilar at the Adaes) was built in 1719 and surrounded by a hexagonal stockade with three bulwarks.

Today, the buildings are gone but visitors can experience guided tours and demonstrations led by the Cane River National Heritage Area.

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Los Adaes volunteers portray Spanish colonial soldiers during a re-enactment.

For more information on the Los Adaes State Historic Site including the history of the site and pictures of artifacts, visit the multimedia website.

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