Fort Jacques was a hillside encampment erected under the direction of Alexander Petion. Built a few miles south and uphill from Port-au-Prince, it included a storage room, a cistern, several cannons and an escape tunnel that led to nearby Fort Alexandra. Petion ordered it built after the successful Revolution of 1802 against the possible return of the French in the event Napoleon or one of his successors found the former slave colony too alluring to let it remain free.
Over the years after Petion's death, the march of time took its toll and the fort fell into disrepair. Farmers removed stones to mark boundaries. Winter chilled and summer warmed while rains pounded, and the tunnel collapsed. Cannons fell from their parapets and rolled downhill. By the mid-20th century, with this piece of Haiti's history in danger of disappearing completely, the United Nations funded a project to restore it.
By the time I visited it in 1993, it was more or less fully restored. The walls were at full height, and all the cannons that could be found had been returned. That tunnel was still collapsed, but the only major difference was the small chips of stone mixed into the mortar, a signal from UNESCO that the fort had been rebuilt. If someone hadn't told me the history, I doubt I would have been able to tell.
Things need to be rebuilt for lots of reasons. The edifice held up well, but the steady progression of days, like the march of a thousand tiny feet, slowly wore it down. The battlements met their purpose, but there were some attacks that pounded it too hard, and it came apart; or maybe an act of God shook the ground and the house, which provided shelter and sanctuary before just wasn't up to the task this time. Or -- my favorite -- someone took it apart to see how it works.
Whatever the reason -- benign neglect, acts of violence, violent acts, curiosity or something else -- it needs to rebuilt. The good news is that, having seen its weaknesses exposed, we can find a way to rebuild it, stronger.
Copyright © 2022 by David Learn. Used with permission.
