Fort St. Jean Baptiste State Historic Site, historic site in Natchitoches, Louisiana, United States

Fort St. Jean Baptiste is a replica of the French post built from Sieur Du Tisné's 1716 plans and Boutin's 1731 improvements, standing on Cane River Lake a few hundred yards from the original site. Its palisade of about 2,000 treated pine logs and its buildings, using some 250,000 board feet of lumber from Natchitoches Parish, enclose a reconstructed compound.

Louis Juchereau de St. Denis founded the post in 1714 on the Red River, and in 1716 Sieur Du Tisné built and garrisoned it to block Spanish advance from Texas. St. Denis became commandant in 1722, and trade with the Caddo made it a regional economic centre. After the 1731 Natchez attack, engineer Broutin enlarged and strengthened the fort. France ceded Louisiana to Spain in 1762; the Americans inherited a ruin in 1803.

The fort's name honours Saint John the Baptist, and the site keeps the French colonial name Fort Saint Jean Baptiste des Natchitoches, shortened by the State of Louisiana in the 1970s. Living-history re-enactments staged at the fort recreate daily life there in the 1750s, with soldiers' and traders' routines acted out among the reconstructed buildings.

The replica stands on Cane River Lake, a few hundred yards from the original fort site, within the Cane River National Heritage Area. Living-history re-enactments of 1750s fort life are staged on site. The palisade and buildings were raised in 1979 from Du Tisné and Broutin's plans, so allow time to walk the whole enclosure.

The palisade uses about 2,000 treated pine logs, and roughly 250,000 board feet of lumber for the buildings came from within Natchitoches Parish; all metal hinges and latches were cast at a local foundry. The replica, built in 1979 a few hundred yards from the original site, follows the 1716 plans of Sieur Du Tisné and Broutin's 1731 improvements.