Aug. 2, 2006

A Walking Tour of Historic New Orleans

By Stan Dyer

My last article gave an introduction into the long history of the city of New Orleans. This time, I'm going to take you on a walking tour. A person can really start anywhere in the city and find history within a short walking distance, especially starting from the French Quarter, but I decided to start my tour in Jackson Square due to the concentration of attractions in that area and the close proximity to additional transportation.

In a trip to Jackson Square, you can visit the Cabildo, St. Louis Cathedral and the Presbytere, all in a row. The Cabildo is where the signing of the Louisiana Purchase took place. It is now the home of the Louisiana State Museum and houses artifacts showing the history of the state from its Native American past, all the way to the present. Right next door to the Cabildo is St. Louis Cathedral, which is the old, beautiful building that always appears in pictures from New Orleans. If you're lucky, you might catch all the priests walking out after mass as we did. On the other side of the cathedral is the Presbytere, which used to house the nuns from the cathedral and now houses the Mardi Gras Museum. You can find costumes, jewelry and "throws" dating back to the beginning of the event in New Orleans and chronicling the history of its growth. You will also appreciate the interesting design of the bathroom facilities.

Directly across from that row of buildings is the square that houses the statue of Andrew Jackson. On either side of the square are the Pontalba Buildings. The Pontalba Buildings were the project of Baronesa Micaela Almonester de Pontalba to house shops below and people above. Referred to as the nation's first apartment buildings, the Pontalba buildings today are home to many shops. Therealso isa museum exhibit that displays what an 1850s-era Arcadian house looked like. On the last side of the square is Decatur Street where you can hire a mule carriage to tour the city, or you can cross the street for French coffee and beignets at Cafe du Monde.

Sitting at Cafe du Monde, you can view a monument to the Washington Battery that protected the city from river assaults in times gone by. It displays a Civil War-era cannon, and is right up the stairs from the cafe. Up those stairs are also the dock and the Mississippi River. Many tons of cargo and many African slaves came to America through that dock. You can almost feel the history. Also along the dock is a large, indoor shopping center called the Riverwalk. The Riverwalk was once the location for the World's Fair and was converted to shops after the fair closed. From that dock, you can visit the Spanish Plaza andthe Aquarium of the Americas, or take a riverboat cruise back in time and imagine what the crowded waterways were like when the steamboats ruled the waves. The riverboat calliope blasts music all over the city before the steamboat "Natchez" launches. It can be very annoying, and it is very loud, especially from the dock, but it serves its purpose then as now. There is no mistaking what time it is when the calliope starts to sound. It is interesting to note that in New Orleans, calliope is pronounced "cally-ope." New Orleans is filled with names that look like a recognizable foreign language, but they are distinctly New Orleans.

Getting off the riverboat, you can catch a ride on a restored, vintage cable car. These are the cable cars that inspired Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. For $1.25, you can ride up and down the banks of the Mississippi. When I was there, the transit authority was allowing people to ride free! Take the streetcar uptown and get off in the museum district. There you will find the D-day Museum of WWII history. The landing craft for D-day were built in New Orleans, and the salvaged scrap of the World Trade Center disaster is being used to build a ship there now. The museum district also houses the Confederate Museum, the Southern Art Museum and a statue of Robert E. Lee atop a large, long obelisk in Lee Circle. Lee Circle is close to the Garden District where the most lavish homes in the city are, and another part of the town has the restored house of Confederate General Pierre G. T. Beauregard. After the museum tour and a visit to the Garden District, get back on the streetcar and go back down the riverbank to where the tour began.

This time, head east and keep walking until you get to Rampart Street. Walk up Rampart until you get near Orleans Street. On the east side of Rampart near Orleans Street is Louis Armstrong Park. It houses the New Orleans Theatre for the Performing Arts, and Congo Square. Congo Square is used for theater performances now, but it was once used for voodoo ceremonies since it was just outside city limits at the time. Louis Armstrong Park is also near Storieville, which used to be a Red Light district, and where many famous jazz musicians polished their craft. Not far from Louis Armstrong Park is the Louisiana Museum of African American History, and St. Louis Cemetery, which displays the "above-ground" accommodations including the tomb of voodoo queen Marie Laveau. Finally, you can now take the short walk back to Bourbon Street for a bite to eat and a refreshing beverage. There are plenty of places on Bourbon Street to relax in air-conditioned comfort.

Bourbon Street is the heart of the Old Square, "Le Veiux Carre" in the French Quarter. This is the only part of the city above sea level, and where it all began. It's called the French Quarter, but most of the architecture is Spanish as evidence of the city's varied past. When all of the wooden buildings burned down in the 1800s, new restrictions required the use of brick in construction to avoid any similar catastrophes in the future.

This is only a small sample, and just a hint of what is available. There are many other museums, the old mint and Tulane University. There really is something for everyone. If you want to explore history, especially American history and the history of American immigration, this is the place. New Orleans has a past steeped in history and enough historic attraction to keep anyone captivated for days. Enjoy your visit!