Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum

The museum is located south of Madisonville, Louisiana where the Jahncke Shipyard once stood. The shipyard was established in 1900 and won a contact in 1917 from the US Navy to build six wooden-hulled ships. Part of the contact included painting the hulls with a razzle dazzle pattern. This was a form of camouflage with highly contrasting colors, not to hide the ships but to make it hard for German submarine commanders to estimate a target's range, speed, and heading. A very detailed diorama gives visitors a birds eye view of the shipyard during this time period.

Lake Pontchartrain has a connection to the Gulf of Mexico through Rigolet's Strait so it's not really a lake but a saltwater estuary. The strait allowed ships built in the towns along the shore to sail out to the ocean. It also allowed the exportation of goods such as lumber, charcoal, bricks, shells, cotton, and oysters. Exhibits in the museum cover life on the bayou; the steamboat era on the lake; the Pioneer, an experimental submarine built in 1862 and tested in Lake Pontchartrain; lighthouses in Louisiana; and the recovery of a Spanish ship that wrecked in the Gulf of Mexico in 1766.

The dioramas of the ship yard, the bayou, and the lighthouses are amazing.

The museum is mostly accessible. A couple of videos have buttons that are too high. A mock-up of a river pilot's wheelhouse is accessed by steps only. The wooden boardwalk along the steamboat has a dangerously steep ramp at one end. The ramp at the other end is not as steep but use caution.

The parking lot is large enough for any RV. Museum  30.39824, -90.15637