Tour of New Orleans.
Information was given to us as we travelled by coach round the city, so it was not given linearly, but as we saw different houses or sites.
Originally New Orleans was under the sea (Gulf). As the sea shifted indigenous Indians used it as a port. Then in 1718 it became a French Settlement. mr bea en go.
It's nick name is Big easy because it gets very hot and humid and people go easy rather than rush around. The fees days we were in town the weather was very hot and humid, more like Kuwait desert.
Rice and cotton were big industries but indigo bushes grew everywhere so they used to grind them to make the beautiful blue dye. Latterly, oil has figured in the economy.
In 1718 there were few women so nearby prisons turned out their women and sent them to New Orleans.
The settlement changed and between 1762 -1803 it became under the control of Spain. The local religion continued to be Roman Catholic and the proud Creoles continued to prosper.
Historically, the first son inherited most of the family wealth; to keep it together. Sons born later were sent to the colonies in the hope they would make their own fortune. Creoles born in New Orleans were free proud 'blacks' with property and money. The lifestyle they developed in the French Quarter was opulent with grand houses decorated with wrought iron railing. The more integrate the railings the better off you were. People had their initials woven into the pattern.
In 1803 the Spain 'gave' New Orleans back to France. 15 million dollars was paid.
At this point a culture clash with Americans and Creoles developed. Instead of the long streets passing into both districts having the same name, street names changed as they passed into the American side to separate the people. The Creoles thought themselves better than the Americans and these new people coming into the community didn't appreciate the Creole attitude.
At this point we passed Canal Palace; a large shopping precinct at the top end of Canal street. Purchase anything here and the Tax is re-embursed. Canal street is the main road and Bourbon Street, Decatur Street, Chartres Street and Royal Street all run off it. Bourbon Street is the one where it all happens! Walk down it and loud live music is playing and restaurants entice you in for Gumbo, Po Boys and Jambalaya in the hope of splitting you from as much of your money as possible. I imagined a time when innocents, black or white, were enticed down alleyways with the promise of food, entertain or physical comfort only to be hit over the head to be carried off to work as a slave or sailor.
In 1794, Decatur Street suffered a great fire. The wooden houses were nearly all burnt. The houses built to replace them were brick built but sand was not good and had to be supported with rods.
We reached Jackson Square named after General Andrew Jackson, who became a USA President and whose statue stands proudly in the middle of this area. The guide tells us the Cathedral is worth a visit and next door is a museum that has Napoleon's Death Mask, supposedly taken whilst he lay dead.
In front of the square is a line of Carriages for hire pulled by Mules, there is a local ordinance saying Mules must wear dippers to prevent a mess. Mules are used because they cope better in the New Orleans heat. Later we had a ride on a carriage with Sue and Brian and 3 strangers. It cost 18 dollars each but going on a bigger group carriage was cheaper than paying 90 dollars in a small one on our own.
The guide explained the term Dixieland, just as the land was two distinct cultures so was the money system. Money was written half French half English. French for 10 is Dix. 10 dollars became dixies then land became Dixieland. It was nothing to do with the Mason-Dixon Line between north and South America.
At this time in New Orleans there was 3 ways you could be FREE if you were people of colour. 1. Travel over from Haiti already owning land and your own slaves.
2. Your slave Owner could die leaving you free.
3. Slaves had a day off and were paid if they worked it. This made it possible to save money to be able to buy your freedom.
Next we passed Basin Street, the song Basin Street Blues named after the Street. Basin Street was in the prostitution district of Storyville, became birth of the blues. No distinguished gentleman would visit ladies in this district. They would explain to their wives that a lady would steal his hat and being a gentleman he had to follow her into the house to get his hat back.
Louisiana State discovered oil in the twentieth century. In the 1980s oil dropped from 30 to 10 dollars a barrel and ruined the New Orleans economy for a while.
At this point we passed a house connected to Edward degas, the French painter, who briefly lived New Orleans.
Next, we were allowed off the coach for a visit to a very large Cemetery. The Catholic Saint Louis Cemetery was full of French type Tombs and Crypts. New Orleans is below sea level so have to have above level burial plots; dig down a few feet and the hole fills with water. Shelves in tombs hold a wooden coffin each. In the New Orleans heat the body soon decomposes, much like a cremation, so after a year the shelf is reusable. The next family member to die can be placed on the shelf and remains of the previous occupant are put under the bottom shelf. The wooden coffin remains are discarded. The names of the loved ones are added to a stone list on the front of the tomb and when the space is full this list is moved to the side and a new list starts. Several organisations put together to purchase a joint tomb. Members then use it in a similar manner. If more than one member dies the body is placed in a tomb for hire until there is space. This wouldn't be long because this type of tomb has several shelves for multiple deaths in a year. One such organisation is Order of sisters of Carmel who have been using their tomb since 1883. Once you pay for a tomb it is the family's forever. After 50 years of non use the cemetery can reclaim the tomb once they have made an effort to trace the family. The were no funerals going on at the time of our visit but the guide explains that they see a number of Jazz funerals, the 1st line is the Jazz band, playing a sad tune/funeral march as they walk, then the coffin, held up by chief male mourners, finally the 2nd line containing the family and friends. They all march from service to cemetery. Sad music is played going but happy music afterwards and family/friends swing their umbrellas. Sometimes there are hints of the job the deceased had. A tree-like headstone indicates a job in wood and possibly an early death, cut down in their prime, so to speak. The water table has changed and is lower down now so not as necessary to have above ground tombs. The cost involved in purchasing a multiple plots for organisations is 3,00 dollars. 1,200 dollars for a two shelf tomb. This is a one time payment then you own plot for future family deaths.
Next to cemetery is a 1300 acre park with museums donated by the rich, single men of New Orleanians. It has a lake with gondolas and pedal boats. It used to have 4 golf courses but only 1 survived hurricane Catrina.
There are many statues in New Orleans and some depict Generals and the like on horse back. The guide explains that a horse with 2 front hooves up means that the rider was important in history; the statue of General Jackson in Jackson Square has two hooves up because he became President of the USA. The right hoof up means the rider died a natural death, the left hoof up means he died in battle. She also explained that a Carousel and a Roundabout/Marry-go-round go round in different directions. I think she said Carousels, which have horses going up and down go anti-clockwise and the others go clockwise; but not totally sure.
Apparently, New Orleans have festivals for everything: Rice, sugar cane, cotton, jazz, peaches, po boys, pecans, national airline jazz funerals, the French, Italian and Queen Elizabeth's birthday.
The houses are interesting, when they were built it cost 500 dollars per front footage it has increased to 300, 000 dollars now. The poor had what they called Single Barrel houses, meaning they were long and thin and from the front door you could fire a shot gun clear through the corridor, off which there were two rooms, and hit a bird sitting in the back yard. A double barrel house was twice as wide, but still had a corridor clear through the house. To avoid paying more frontage they would set any extensions back a few feet from the front. These houses would then be called Camel Backs because the extension could be one or two story but would stick out on the side. The houses whether in poor or rich neighbourhoods would be quite close to each other because they wanted to avoid frontage charges. The posh garden area of St. Charles has large houses, like Tara from Gone With The Wind which cost 100,000 dollars when built are worth multi-millions of dollars now. We passed the Hallmark House formerly owned by the card people and was pictured on the back of their cards for years. In this area was also a glass structure that was purchased from the Parisian Eiffel Tower, shipped to New Orleans and re-erected as a restaurant on Charles Avenue. It closed as a restaurant and is now hired out for private events, such as weddings and charity events.
During this tour we crossed a bridge which illustrated how high sea level is, it was higher than the houses beside it; these houses were protected from floods by a wall. However the water often blows over sea wall onto the gardens of the houses.
This was a very comprehensive tour and I enjoyed it immensely.
We went the next day to take a closer look at some of the big houses in the Garden Quarter. We found a house with all these dog sayings attached to the railings.
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