Fontainebleau State Park has a new addition to its already abundant supply of amenities. The museum/visitor center, constructed in the shadow of the historic sugar mill built in 1829 by Mandeville’s founder, opened about a month ago after being delayed nearly a year thanks to Katrina.

The museum is a replica of an 1840’s industrial building, curator and interpretive ranger Richard Scott said, and is located just behind the sugar mill ruins off the main road of the park, located off U.S. Highway 190 near Mandeville.

The building is split into two similar sections with one side serving as the museum/visitor center, and the other as a meeting/lounge room.

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The museum section boasts numerous artifacts for viewing that are native to the area, Scott said. Some include historic woodworking tools, vases, wood carvings, hand-crafted arrowheads and a hand-dug pirogue found on the Pearl River several years ago estimated to be more than 600 years old.

It also features several panoramas of wetland scenes, early settler life depictions, interactive videos and informative plates placed around the museum.

There’s also a gift shop complete with Fontainebleau merchandise like clothing and souvenirs, rubber reptiles and hand-carved canes.

The meeting room/lounge area offers visitors a comfortable area to socialize with others. Leather sofas, lounge chairs and a large fireplace that compliments the rustic room.

“It’s a place for people to come and enjoy and relax,” Scott said.

The space can also serve as meeting grounds for groups like the St. Tammany Historical Society which has already booked the room for their annual meeting.

For right now, Scott said the building is only open on the weekends from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., until they can get phone and computer lines installed in the building. Until that occurs, Scott said the gift shop can only accept cash payments for merchandise.

Eventually, the center will be open seven days a week, Scott said. It will also boast a parking lot in the rear of the building but that project is currently in “the pipeline,” and will likely get started several months from now, Scott said.

Fontainebleau State Park boasts 2,800 acres of hiking trails, campsites, a beachfront, marshlands and about a dozen cabins that are currently closed because of damage sustained from Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.