The 6,000-square-foot, Barataria Museum tells the 200-year-old story of the Town of Jean Lafitte, a historic fishing village 20 miles southwest of New Orleans. Featuring a multi-media theatre presentation, an animated museum exhibition and a nature study trail, the museum leads visitors on a journey through the life of pirate Jean Lafitte, the stories and folk traditions of wetland dwellers and the realities of coastal erosion and natural and man-made disasters. State-of-the-art animatronic figures include a talking alligator as well as a surprise guest who is in search of “the golden thimble.” At the end of the exhibit, visitors emerge to a mile-and-half cypress swamp trail leading to a bayou, rookery and marsh area, filled with alligators, snakes, spiders and exotic birds. Exhibits displayed in the museum come from the former Louisiana Marine Fisheries Museum provided by the Louisiana Secretary of State, the Louisiana Wildlife & Fisheries Collection from the original Louisiana State Museum in the French Quarter and the Town of Jean Lafitte’s special historical collection.