Fort St. Jean Baptiste State Historic Site, or Fort des Natchitoches, in Natchitoches, Louisiana, USA, is a replica of an early French fort based upon the original blueprints of 1716 by Sieur Charles Claude Dutisné and company. The settlement which became the town of Natchitoches was founded in 1714 by French Canadian Louis Antoine Juchereau de St. Denis as the first permanent European settlement in the lands later encompassed by the Louisiana Purchase. In 1722, Juchereau de St. Denis in 1722 became commandant of Fort St. Jean Baptiste des Natchitoches. The fort was devised as a trading and military outpost to counter any Spanish incursions into French territory. Soon it became a center of economic significance, particularly with neighboring Caddo tribes.After 1764, Fort St. Jean was abandoned, with the transfer of Louisiana (New France) to Spain. It was rebuilt, but its actual location is unknown.Today Fort St. Jean Baptiste State Historic Site is a point of interest within the Cane River National Heritage Area. It is also host to living history re-enactments of what Life in the fort was like in the 1750s
