This building dates to at least seventeen seventy-two. It survived both great fires. Legend says Jean Lafitte ran a blacksmith shop here as a front for smuggling — but his name never appears in a single property record.
Jean Lafitte was offered thirty thousand dollars and a captain's commission by the British to betray America. He turned them down, brought the British letters straight to the governor, and joined Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans.
President Madison pardoned every last one of the Baratarian pirates. Lafitte went back to piracy, set up on Galveston Island, and then vanished. No grave has ever been found.
— From the tour: Pirates, Presidents & Purchase Receipts
