Old Spanish Fort History

Although it was known as Fort De La Pointe at its outset, the stockaded plantation was quickly referred to as the Old French Fort. That would transition to the Old Spanish Fort when the territory near New Orleans changed hands between Spain, France, and Britain, sometimes in overlapping treaties. It was known as Old Spanish fort in the late 18th century when the home was used by Don Enrique Ginarest, an officer in the Spanish Army who married into the Krebs family.

After its completion, the house became a three room structure, 37 feet by 62 feet with 18 inch walls. Joseph Simon de La Pointe had been granted the land at the mouth of the Pascagoula River around 1715; two other French Canadian families were given neighboring plantations. The land was first used to raise cattle, then the growth of indigo and wax myrtle for dye and candles. Chattel slavery was first used with the native population, but grew to include African slaves.

How did it become known as the LaPointe/Krebs house? Daughter Marie LaPointe married Hugo Ernestus Krebs around 1741. Descendents of the Krebs family would own the plantation until 1914. After that, it was used as an American Legion lodge, and was donated to the county circa 1940. It was originally restored in 1996 before its damage by Hurricane Katrina nine years later.

Photo above: View of grounds and cemetery at Old Spanish Fort, 1940, Lester Jones, Historic American Building Survey. Courtesy Library of Congress.

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Restoration after Hurricane Katrina

Between 2014 and 2022, the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was completed. According to the Mississippi Department of History and Archives, the storm surge of Katrina had backed up the three miles from the beach up the Pascagoula River. There was four feet of water in the museum. Many of the artifacts were damaged or irretrievable.

FEMA would eventually give $50,000 toward the restoration, although work would not begin until 2014 and not begin in earnest until $1,000,000 was funded by the state of Mississippi and another $140,000 given by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

Photo above: East view of the Old Spanish Fort in dilapidated condition, unknown date and author, Historic American Building Survey. Courtesy Library of Congress via Wikipedia Commons.

Controvery Over Claim

Oh, it's always something. While there has always been some distinction made between structures in New Orleans and LaPointe/Krebs as being the oldest standing structures in the deep south, it has been readily accepted that at least the home was the oldest in Mississippi. It still may be and is still touted by the museum as such.

However, some research points toward a new building in 1775 while the British were in control, sited on the old carpenter's shop. A hurricane in 1772 is said to have destroyed everything in the area. It is not known, though, if everything was used conclusively, or just as almost everything. You choose which to believe.

Photo above: Front view of the Old Spanish Fort in dilapidated condition, 1940, Lester Jones, Historic American Building Survey. Courtesy Library of Congress.

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