New Orleans
The 1682 French claim to the entire Mississippi basin would only be credible if they controlled the mouth of the river. Just one problem, the mouth of the Mississippi is is an ever changing delta of low lying salt marsh. In 1718 the French founded Nouvelle-Orléans on a small piece of slightly higher ground between the Mississippi and Lake Pontchartrain. In 1722 it became the capital of French Louisiana only to be destroyed by a hurricane later that year. In 1763 the city came under Spanish rule but was virtually destroyed by massive fires in 1788 and 1794. The Spanish rebuilt the city in brick to reduce the fire risk so the French Quarter architecture is actually Spanish. New Orleans grew fast after the US took over and as it was captured by Union forces early in the Civil War it escaped serious damage. In August 2005 New Orleans was hit by Hurricane Katrina which caused major flooding and many deaths.
St. Louis Cemetery
Low lying land with a history of flooding is not a good place for a cemetery; the bodies tend to return to the surface. There is little high ground around New Orleans, so the solution was to bury the dead in tombs that were above ground. The result is a ‘City of the Dead’ similar to those found in Cairo and Buenos Aires. The cemeteries are in an area that is not particularly safe to visit independently, so this picture was taken from a tour bus.
Lafitte's Blacksmiths Shop, Rue de St. Phillippe
Jean Lafitte (or Laffite) was a pirate who preyed on shipping in the Gulf of Mexico. During the War of 1812, he and his band of pirates sided with General Andrew Jackson and helped to defeat the British in the Battle of New Orleans. His contribution was rewarded with a pardon and for a time he lived freely in New Orleans until the call of privateering proved too strong and he moved to Texas to restart his old activities. According to local legend Lafitte and his brother operated a blacksmiths shop here from around 1803 as a cover for their real activities. The building is now a bar.
Dixieland band playing in Royal Street
Jackson Square has long been a good place to hear live street music. The closure to traffic of Royal and Bourbon Streets in the French Quarter has created a tourist zone that has allowed the street musicians to spread out over a wider area. Sadly, when we were last in New Orleans jazz appeared to be no longer the dominant genre, but this Dixieland band was playing some good music.
Jackson Square from Vieux Carre Riverview
At the heart of the French Quarter, Jackson Square once looked out over the Mississippi River, but a high levee built to protect against flooding removed that outlook. From the levee (called View Carre Riverview) St Louis Cathedral looks slightly reminiscent of a Disney fairytale castle. Dating from 1794 it replaced an earlier cathedral that burned down in the 1788 fire. The square was originally a drill field called Place d’Armes but was turned into a park in the mid 19th century. The name was changed in 1856 when the statue of Battle of New Orleans victor General Andrew Jackson was added in front of the cathedral.
Bacchus Parade, Mardi Gras
Don’t imagine that Mardi Gras is just one day in February. The New Orleans parades begin in January and work up a considerable head of steam by ‘Fat Tuesday’. The first parade in 1857 was organised by a society called the Mystick Krewe of Comus and parade organisers have been known as Krewes ever since. This parade celebrates Bacchus, the Greek God of Wine, and we picked up enough beads thrown from the floats to keep a whole hippy colony happy. Click Tab 2 to see Pete Fountain's Half Fast Walking Club parade.
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Royal Cafe at Royal & St Peter St
It is almost impossible not to like New Orleans. OK, it may be a bit run down in places and outside of the main tourist areas you need to be careful about where you go, but New Orleans has character. That character is very different from other US cities because even though French ceased to be the language of the city at the beginning of the 20th century, New Orleans has chosen to celebrate its French history rather than bury it. The French Quarter of New Orleans is the main tourist centre, famous for its buildings with elaborate wrought iron balconies. We have visited twice, in 1982 we found beautiful old buildings with the sound of live jazz floating floating out of many cafes and restaurants. In 1996 we found that much of the live jazz had been replaced with canned dance music and many of the balconies, as shown here, were propped up with wooden supports. Since then Hurricane Katrina has passed through but the French Quarter suffered much less than other parts of the city. We hope that the sad decline that we observed will be reversed before it is too late.
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© Mike Elsden 1981 - 2025
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