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New Orleans is located in Louisiana in southern states of the United States, and they have a special charm. The atmosphere in the old center, also known as the French Quarter, is unique to the country with live jazz music in the streets, cast-iron balconies, horse-drawn carriages and old southern state charm, seasoned annually with Mardi Gras celebrations as one of the city’s many highlights.
The city of New Orleans was founded with the name Nouvelle Orleans, the capital of the French area of Louisiana. You can still see the French street names on signs in the French Quarter, and the language is still a bit different from the rest of the states. The restaurants offer dishes other than in the rest of the United States as well, since this is the home of the tasty Creole cuisine.
The Mississippi River runs along the French Quarter and the rest of central New Orleans. You can board a steamboat for a cruise to the historic plantations of New Orleans’ hinterland and dream of 19th-century urban and rural life while enjoying the mix of American and French-Creole culture.
There are a lot of choice if you want to get out of town to enjoy the vicinity of New Orleans. The swamps around Houma are home to countless alligators and other animals, and this can be experienced on boat trips through the lush area. Cities like Natchez and Baton Rouge are also interesting excursion destinations.
French Quarter or Vieux Carré in French is the name of New Orleans’ oldest and particularly charming French Quarter. The whole neighborhood exudes an atmosphere that is unique in both North America and the rest of the world, and on a trip to the area you immediately understand why it is New Orleans’ biggest attraction.
When Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville founded New Orleans in 1718, the city developed around the square of Vieux Carré. In 1721, the royal engineer Adrien de Pauger designed a town plan with perpendicular streets, which he named after French cities, royal houses and Catholic saints.
The French city was developed throughout the 18th century, but New Orleans was hit by fires in 1788 and 1794, which destroyed approximately 80% of the buildings at the time. By then, the city had become Spanish, and it was the Spanish who rebuilt the district, which became American with the United States’ purchase of Louisiana from France in 1803.
The Spanish introduced strict new building regulations to prevent fires. They banned wooden cladding in favor of fire-retardant bricks, which were covered with stucco and painted in the pastel colors that were fashionable at the time. The population was still largely French, although they continued to build in styles influenced by the colonial architecture of the Caribbean, with wooden balconies and galleries.
The development of New Orleans’ famous and ornate cast-iron galleries began with the two-story examples of the Pontalba Buildings in Jackson Square, completed in 1851. As the most prominent address at the time, they set a fashion from which others got inspiration. Thereby, multi-level cast iron galleries replaced old French wooden structures on older buildings, and they were also built on new structures.
The most common definition of the French Quarter includes everything that is along the Mississippi River from Canal Street to Esplanade Avenue and to North Rampart Street inland. This corresponds to a total of 78 blocks, but other boundaries also exist.
The French Quarter is a huge attraction in New Orleans and throughout the United States due to the unique architecture and atmosphere found here. The two best-known places in the neighborhood are Jackson Square, which in its time was laid out as the Place d’Armes, but which today is named after the American president Andrew Jackson, and Bourbon Street, which is known as the area’s entertainment street.
Jackson Square is the central square and thus the center of New Orleans’ old town, the French Quarter. The square was laid out by Louis H. Pilié in the French-era city with inspiration from Place de Vosges in Paris, and until 1851 it was called Place d’Armes, after which it was named after American President Andrew Jackson. Over the years, Jackson Square has been developed with several of the city’s well-known buildings.
The square was originally laid out as an exercise ground, and it was also used for executions. After the name change in 1851, a statue of Andrew Jackson was purchased in 1856 and placed in the middle of Jackson Square, and it can still be seen here. In the past you could also see the Mississippi River from the square, but you can’t do that anymore, since dikes against flooding has been constructed.
On the north-west side of the square, three buildings were erected in the 18th century, which were the focal points of the city’s public life in the French colony. It is St. Louis Cathedral in the middle, the Cabildo to the southwest of the cathedral and the Presbytère to the northeast. The Cabildo was built as the city’s town hall, and it was here that the final documents for the American purchase of the colony were signed. The Presbytère was erected for priests and administration.
Today, both the Cabildo and Presbytère are open as museums, while St. Louis Cathedral is still an active church. At each end of the axis with the three buildings you can see the Pontalba Buildings, which were constructed 1849-1851 as rows of fine town houses. The Pontalba Buildings were the first houses in the city to feature the cast iron galleries that were later copied and for which New Orleans is famous today.
You can still sense a bit of Paris in the green areas of Jackson Square, where you can see a flagpole symbolizing the cession of Louisiana in 1803, first from Spain to France on 30 November and from France to the US on 20 December. The handovers were commemorated on Three Flags Day, which was held on 9-10 March 1804. Southeast of this is the Washington Artillery Park with a view of both Jackson Square and the Mississippi River.
Bourbon Street is the street in the heart of the French Quarter, which is New Orleans’ old French quarter. Since the city’s founding, Bourbon Street has been the central street, stretching from Canal Street to Esplanade Avenue. In French times, the street was called Rue Bourbon, and today you can see both the English and French names on the street signs.
Rue Bourbon was named after the House of Bourbon, which ruled France at the time. The French naturally left their cultural imprint, just as the Spanish later did, because in the years 1762-1803 New Orleans was the capital of the Spanish province of Luisiana. In this way, you can experience more impressions on a trip through the street like markings of former Spanish names of the streets.
The so-called Upper Bourbon Street in the direction of Canal Street is the liveliest part of the cozy street. Here you will find bars, restaurants, shops and various other things. It is especially in the evening that the streets come alive, and this of course also applies to Mardi Gras, which is a huge celebration that culminates on White Tuesday.
Steamboat Natchez is one of New Orleans’ and the Mississippi River’s sailing landmarks. It is a paddle steamer like those that were once common means of transportation between towns and plantations along the river. The first version of the Natchez was built in New York in 1823, and it initially sailed on the Mississippi between New Orleans, Louisiana and Natchez, Mississippi.
Throughout the 19th century, a total of eight paddle steamers with the name Natchez were deployed, and the current paddle steamer is a new build from 1975, where several parts from earlier steamers were used in the construction. You can sail with the paddle steamer on various trips on the Mississippi River and in the harbor of New Orleans, and it all takes place in a beautiful historical atmosphere.
The Garden District is a neighborhood in New Orleans that is an affluent residential area with beautiful mansions, old trees and lush gardens. Many of the houses are the mansions of the old Southern aristocracy, which were constructed side by side, and thus a walk in the Garden District is in a way like a journey back to the old American South in the 1800s.
The area can be easily explored on foot, and the most charming way to get here is on a trip on the historic St. Charles Streetcar. A stroll through the streets of the Garden District is a good way to learn the history and see the sights, and you can, for example, start at the intersection of St. Charles Avenue and First Street.
You can take a walk along First Street, Philip Street and Prytania Street to pass some of the large mansions in the neighbourhood. However, you can also just explore the entire Garden District, which is defined by the streets St. Charles Avenue, Magazine Street, Jackson Avenue and Toledano Street as the outer perimeters. In addition to the many mansions, you can also visit Lafayette Cemetery No. 1.
On the tour you can notice the Brevard-Clapp-Rice House (1239 First St.), the Carroll-Crawford House (1315 First St.), the Morris-Israel House (1331 First St.), the Pritchard-Pigot House (1407 First St.), Rodenberg-Lane-Gundlach House (1238 Philip St.), Trufant House (1239 Philip St.), Dugan House (1307 Philip St.), Bradish Johnson House (2343 Prytania St.), Women’s Opera Guild House (2504 Prytania St.) and the Briggs-Staub-Ripley House (2605 Prytania St.). They give a good picture of the period’s fine building style in various versions.
St. Louis Cathedral is the best-known church in New Orleans, and at the same time it is one of the city’s landmarks. The church was founded during the French era and dedicated to Louis the Holy, who was king of France in the years 1226-1270. It was given the formal name Cathédrale-Basilique de Saint-Louis, Roi-de-France, and the original church was built in 1718.
The first church was of wood and stood in the early days of the French colony. The French were Catholic, and the church was built in the town’s central square. Construction of a larger brick church was begun in 1725 and completed in 1727. Along with several other buildings, the church was destroyed in the great fire that struck New Orleans on Good Friday, March 21, 1788.
The cornerstone of the new church was laid in 1789, and the building was completed 1794 in Louisiana’s Spanish period. In 1793, the church was elevated to a cathedral, making it one of the oldest cathedrals in the United States. In 1819, a central tower was added, designed by Benjamin Henry Latrobe. The tower had a clock and a bell, and the bell was stamped with the word Victoire to commemorate the victory at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815.
The congregation grew, and St. Louis Cathedral gradually became too small. Therefore, it was decided to restore and expand the church in 1849. The result, however, was that the cathedral was largely demolished, but the bell from the 1819 tower was reused. The result can be seen today, and it is a beautiful church with a bright and elegant interior.
The Cabildo in Jackson Square is one of the most important historic buildings in New Orleans. The current Cabildo was built during the Spanish era in the years 1795-1799. It was necessary after the fire of 1788, which left the original building on the site in ruins. The Cabildo was designed by Gilberto Guillemard, who also designed the nearby St. Louis Cathedral and Presbytère.
The Cabildo became historic as the house was the site of the ceremonies for the United States’ purchase of Louisiana in 1803. Those events completed the acquisition of French Louisiana and doubled the size of the United States. The Cabildo served as New Orleans’ City Hall until 1853, when it was converted into the state’s Supreme Court. In 1908, the building was transferred to the Louisiana State Museum.
At the museum in the Cabildo you can leatn about different parts of the history of the city and the state. Among other things, there is cultural history and well-known objects such as Sidney Bechet’s saxophone, an Indian Mardi Gras costume and memorabilia from Pontchartrain Beach. There are also broader exhibits on Louisiana history including a theme on the Battle of New Orleans in 1815.
The Presbytère is a building located on the opposite side of St. Louis Cathedral than the Cabildo. The Presbytère was designed in 1791 with the appearance of the Cabildos to create a symmetrical ensemble in Jackson Square. The house was originally called Casa Curial and built on the site where Capuchin monks had their residence corresponding to a rectory with the French name Presbytère.
In the first part of New Orleans’ American era, the building was used for commercial purposes, before the Presbytère was converted into a courthouse in 1834. In 1911, the house became part of the Louisiana State Museum, and today you can see two permanent exhibitions about the Mardi Gras celebration and rituals and about life in a hurricane area with a focus on Katrina, which destroyed large parts of the city and area in 2005.
Jackson Brewery is a former brewery that Lawrence Fabacher established in 1890 with the name Jackson Bohemian Brewery. It was the German architect Dietrich Einsiedel who was responsible for the construction of what developed over the years to be the largest brewery in the southern United States.
Jackson Brewery brewed beer until 1974, when Pearl Brewing Company bought the company. For the following ten years, Pearl continued to brew Jax Beer, which was the brewery’s well-known beer, but then Jax Beer also ceased to be available in the market. The brewery building is one of the well-known buildings around Jackson Square, and today it is redeveloped with shops and restaurants.
St. Charles Streetcar Line is a streetcar service that is historically the oldest line in the world with continuous traffic. Planning began as early as 1831, and the New Orleans and Carrollton Railroad began construction two years later. In 1835, the track opened with the steam locomotives named New Orleans and Carrollton, which had been purchased in England.
In the beginning, the track connected the two cities and there was no urban development between them. Urban development began, however, and with it came a wish to replace steam power with less noisy and oozing vehicles. The solution was horse-drawn trams, but in the late 1800s a more efficient operation was desired. Therefore, the line was electrified in 1893.
St. Charles Streetcar Line was designated by the National Park Service as a National Historic Landmark in 2014. That designation recognizes the line as a place of exceptional value and quality, making the line, along with San Francisco’s Cable Car system, the only U.S. streetcar networks that has the status of national history.
Today you can still drive with St. Charles Streetcar Line between New Orleans and Carrollton. You can also take other tram lines in the city, but St. The Charles line is the classic one, and this is where you can ride 900 series trams from 1923-1924. Replicas of the same trams have been used on the other routes, but these are from 1997 and newer.
Canal Street Ferry is a ferry service with small ferries that cross the Mississippi River. They sail between Canal Street in New Orleans’ central business district and Algiers on the opposite bank of the river. The ferries have been crossing the river since 1827, so it’s a piece of transport history that brings passengers across the water on the short crossing.
The Canal Street Ferry is also called the Algiers Ferry, and you take a trip to enjoy a terrific view of New Orleans’ modern skyline with its many skyscrapers and over the Mississippi River with the large cantilever bridges from 1958 and 1988, which form the Crescent City Connection.
When the ferry has crossed the river, you can take a walk in the district of Algiers Point, which is known for having many preserved 19th-century houses. The district was founded in 1719 and is thus the second oldest neighborhood in New Orleans. Among other things, you can see old houses on Pelican Avenue, go for walks in several parks and generally enjoy the atmosphere and the varied architecture of Algiers Point.
The National WWII Museum is a military history museum located in central New Orleans. The museum’s focus is the American contribution to the Allied victory in World War II. The museum was founded in the year 2000, and from 2004 it has had the status of the United States’ National War Museum.
There are many exhibitions and themes that you can explore in depth at the museum, like the landings on D-Day and the war in the Pacific, the land war in Europe and the home front in the USA. In the interesting exhibition halls, there are also many interesting objects such as a Messerschmidt 109, several American planes, a Sherman tank and a German Enigma machine.
The New Orleans Museum of Art is the oldest and best known art museum in New Orleans. It was established in 1911 with the name Delgado Museum of Art. The reason for that was a donation from local philanthropist and art collector Isaac Delgado. Delgado also wrote to the city government asking if they would donate a space in City Park for the purpose, and then the museum was built.
At the museum you can see many works of art and other effects such as furniture, household goods and handicrafts from the USA, America and large parts of the world. You can also enjoy a significant art collection with works by, among others, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró and Edgar Degas, who temporarily lived in New Orleans.
The New Orleans Botanical Garden is a botanical garden located in the more than five square kilometers that form City Park. The garden was opened in 1936, and it was in a decade that City Park was redeveloped and beautified in many ways. The architect Richard Koch, the landscape architect William Wierdorn and the sculptor Enrique Alférez designed City Park in the style of the time with the popular art-deco. The result was New Orleans’ first public classical garden.
The botanical part of the garden was initially known as the Rose Garden, and after a period of disrepair, the rose garden was improved and restored in the early 1980s, when it was also named the New Orleans Botanical Garden. In the same process, several new plantings were also made, so that the present variation botanical garden took shape.
The botanical garden as seen today consists of several different miniature gardens. In each of these gardens or sections, you can experience unique species of flora, and fine paths have been laid out to stroll through the greenery. There are also lawns with camellia hedges as a contrast to the individual plants.
The New Orleans Mint is a former mint that was in operation as a mint from 1838-1861 and again from 1879 to 1909. Over the years, more than 427 million gold and silver coins were minted at the site with a total face value of over 307 million dollar. As something special for the New Orleans Mint, coins were produced for the Confederate States of America in 1861.
It was the architect William Strickland who designed the Greek Neoclassical building after the federal government had established the New Orleans Mint, Charlotte Mint, and Dahlonega Mint in 1835. Charlotte and Dahlonega were located in regions with gold mines, while New Orleans was chosen as an important center of trade with access to Mississippi. In addition, large amounts of Mexican gold came through the port of New Orleans every year.
Since the closing of the New Orleans Mint in 1909, the building has served various purposes. It housed a prison from 1932-1943, and later it was used as a warehouse, before the old mint was converted into a museum under the Louisiana State Museum in 1981. By visiting here, you can learn more about the historical coinage on the site, and you can also visit the New Orleans Jazz Museum in the old building.
The French Market is an interesting market area that originated in the late 1700s when local tribes established a trading post at the convenient location along the Mississippi River. The Indian trading post developed over the years into a market that the French and Spanish knew from Europe. The market’s current style dates from the latter part of the 1800s.
Today, the French Market is a large area that still lies along the Mississippi River, starting from the Cafe du Monde at Jackson Square and continuing northeast along first cozy Dutch Alley and then through market streets with covered halls, where stalls abound with different goods. You can also go here to enjoy cafes and restaurants.
Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 is a well-known cemetery in New Orleans. It was laid out in the early New Orleans area in 1833 and named after Lafayette, which was then the city name of the area of the Garden District, which was incorporated into New Orleans in 1852.
The cemetery is known for many fine mausoleums and graves that characterized the city of the time. There are a total of approximately 1,100 family grave sites at Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, where approximately 7,000 are buried. Among them are quite a few immigrants from Europe.
St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 is one of the three cemeteries that collectively make up St. Louis Cemetery. Cemetery number 1 opened in 1789 and is the oldest of New Orleans’ surviving cemeteries from the city’s history. Cimitière Saint-Louis then replaced Cimitière Saint-Peter, which no longer exists, after a major fire in 1788.
A visit to the cemetery is like a trip to old New Orleans, and many historically important people have been buried here over time. It concerns, for example, Etienne de Boré, who was a pioneer in sugar production and also the first mayor in the city.
The Louisiana Superdome, formally known as Caesar’s Superdome, is one of New Orleans’ best-known modern buildings. The plans for the large arena emerged in 1967, when the architectural firm Curtis and Davis designed the city’s new landmark, which opened in 1975.
The Louisiana Superdome was built with a diameter of 207 meters and a height of 83 meters, and depending on the events in the arena, up to 78,000 spectators have been seated for games here. The Superdome is not least known as the home of the New Orleans Saints and for hosting many Super Bowls.
In 2005, the Louisiana Superdome became known worldwide for providing shelter to many of those who could not leave New Orleans when Hurricane Katrine struck the city and area on August 29. The Superdome thereby became a temporary home and an icon for the rescue during and the reconstruction after Katrina, which left large parts of the city in ruins.
City Park is a huge park located in the district of the same name. The size of the park is 5.3 km2 and it is owned by the city of New Orleans. City Park was established in 1854, and it is known for, among other things, its many old oak trees, which give the park many beautiful views and areas. The oak trees are also historic for the duels that took place under the trees in the 1800s. Dueling was banned by law in 1890.
The green area was named City Park in 1891, and from the end of the 1890s several rides were opened, such as a carousel and a miniature train. Soon after, a golf course opened, and in 1911, the New Orleans Museum of Art opened in the park, and you can still visit the art museum. You can also take a walk in the New Orleans Botanical Garden or simply enjoy a stroll.
Louis Armstrong Park is a green urban space located immediately northwest of the French Quarter in New Orleans. It is a park that was created from the 1960s, when part of the Tremé neighborhood at Congo Square was rehabilitated. The park was then designed by local architect Robin Riley and named after jazz legend Louis Armstrong, who was born in New Orleans in 1901.
In the park you can see various statues and historical sites related to the early development of jazz in New Orleans. Among other things, you can see statues of Louis Armstrong, Mahalia Jackson and Sidney Bechet, and there is also a statue of Buddy Bolden, who is portrayed as three figures in motion.
There are several buildings in the park such as Preservation Hall, which is typical of places that were used as dance venues in the 1910s. Preserverance Hall was built as a masonic lodge in 1820, and before the construction of the present park, the house was located on the corner of St. Claude Avenue and Dumaine Street. Surrounding the park are the buildings Municipal Auditorium and Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts as two of the city’s most important cultural venues.
Oak Alley Plantation is a famous historic plantation located picturesquely at the end of a wide avenue along the Mississippi River in the area west of New Orleans. Among the many plantations in the area, Oak Alley Plantation is unique with the old oak trees that close the 260 meter long avenue that leads from the banks of the Mississippi to the plantation’s main building.
It was the wealthy French-Creole Valcour Aime who bought the land in 1830 for the production of sugar cane. In 1836, Jacques Télesphore Roman traded and got the area where he built Oak Alley Plantation. The main building was completed in 1839. After the end of slavery, it was difficult for the owners to make a profitable operation, and after changing owners, Andrew Stewart bought a gradually dilapidated plantation in 1925.
Stewart renovated Oak Alley Plantation, and he introduced cattle ranching to replace the former sugar cane production. However, sugar cane was reintroduced in the 1960s, but only for a few years. In 1972 Andrew Stewart’s wife Josephine died and she left the plantation to a foundation which opened it to visitors.
Today you can visit Oak Alley Plantation and experience the atmosphere from the 19th century. Already from the entrance along the Mississippi River, you can sense that it is a special place, and after walking under the trees, you arrive at the main house. The building is surrounded by 28 Doric columns, which is the same number as there are oak trees in the avenue to the house. Inside you get a fine impression of the fine furnishings of a plantation owner’s home in times gone by. It stands in contrast to the slaves’ dwelling houses, which are also preserved on the plantation.
The Mississippi River Delta is the large area that forms the confluence of the Mississippi River with the Gulf of Mexico in southern Louisiana. The river delta covers a land area of 12,000 km2 and it stretches from Vermilion Bay in the west to the Chandeleur Islands in the east, and the delta is one of the largest in the world. The modern delta has been formed over the last approximately 4,500 years through the deposition of sand, clay and silt along the banks of the river.
In the past, the coastline was much further north than today. When the great deltaic cycle of the Mississippi River began over 7,000 years ago, the river gradually formed six deltaic complexes, which are important depositional elements of a delta plain. The Mississippi River Delta complexes consist of smaller areas from the complexes of the time, all of which contain basins and other natural landscapes along the coastline.
The mouth of the Mississippi was discovered in 1519 by Alvarez de Pineda of Spain. Robert Cavelier de La Salle claimed the territory around the mouth for France in 1682, and the region grew in importance with its strategic location for trade and security. In 1699, the French built their first fort at La Balize on Southeast Pass in Pass á Loutre to control the passage of the Mississippi.
Today, the Mississippi River Delta is home to several million people. The area at the mouth of the important river, through the colonization of the United States, made the area a cultural gateway to the United States and influenced the mix of nationalities that settled over time. This gave rise to the diversity of the region from the first colonists from the 18th century to later times with Spanish and Acadian settlers among others.
The coastal wetlands have a variety of landscapes, and Louisiana’s wetlands are one of America’s most rich and important natural assets. Made up of natural dykes, barrier islands, forests, swamps and fresh, brackish and saline marshes, the region is home to complex ecosystems and habitats that can be experienced on tours of the vast area.
One of the popular ways to experience the delta is with a boat or airboat trip, which you can, for example, take from Jean Lafitte south of New Orleans. The tours wind through the mossy cypress swamp in the delta, and along the way you can see alligators, turtles, snakes, herons, ibises and other animals.
You can also drive into the delta, where the longest road runs along the Mississippi River to the city of Venice. Another interesting road is Louisiana Highway 1 south to the seaside town of Grand Isle on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The trip takes you through different parts of the delta and over the 13-kilometer-long Louisiana Highway 1 Bridge, which runs over the swamps and waters. The area south of Houma is a third opportunity to see the area and notice all the stilt houses that were built to withstand floods.
Baton Rouge is the capital of Louisiana and the second largest city in the state. It was the French explorer Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville who gave the city its name. It happened when he was leading an expedition up the Mississippi River in 1698, and here he saw a red marker on the site, which marked the boundary between the hunting grounds of two local Indian tribes. The red pole was in French le bâton rouge.
The city’s European colonization began in 1721, when France established a military settlement and a trading post on the site of the first natural bluff along the waters of the Mississippi. This was important in order to establish a city at a height that avoided the regular floods along the river. After the American purchase of French Louisiana, Baton Rouge became the state’s new capital in 1846.
Today you can see several fine buildings in the city, such as the state’s former two government buildings in Baton Rouge; The Old Louisiana State Capitol in Neo-Gothic castle architecture from 1847-1852 and the current Louisiana State Capitol, which opened in Art Deco architecture in 1932 as the tallest government building in the states of the United States. You can also visit the Louisiana Art and Science Museum, the Shaw Center for the Arts and the museum ship USS Kidd as other highlights.
Biloxi is a city in the state of Mississippi located along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The city was founded by the French in 1699, which however happened in the so-called Old Biloxi, which was in today’s Ocean Springs. The current Biloxi was settled in 1720, and in the same year the capital of French La Louisiane was moved here from Mobile. However, La Nouvelle-Orléans was built at the same time, and as an inland port it became the new capital in 1722.
After the Seven Years’ War 1756-1763, France had to cede Biloxi and other land east of the Mississippi to England, who ruled the city until 1779, after which it became Spanish until 1810. After this, the city and the region has been American and admitted as a state to the United States in 1817. The following decades Biloxi grew as a new resort town on the coast with many wealthy people building mansions here.
Today there are several things to see in Biloxi, which is also beautifully situated on the Gulf of Mexico. The highlight of the city’s attractions is the Beauvoir House, which belonged to President Jefferson Davis, who was the only head of state in the Confederate States of America. Davis lived in Beauvoir from 1876 until his death in 1889. Today, the house is open as a museum, and it sits on the beach in part of the large parcel of land that originally belonged to Beauvoir.
On Beauvoir’s grounds you can also see the Beauvoir Memorial Cemetery, where 784 Confederates are buried, and where there is also a grave for the unknown Confederate soldier. Next to Beauvoir is also the Jefferson Davis Presidential Library and Museum, which is a presidential library and museum that tells the story of Jefferson Davis. The museum opened in 1998, and there is a statue of the former president among the many interesting things to see.
Biloxi is also known for the lovely beaches along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, and you can also see the Biloxi Lighthouse from 1848. The tower stands as one of the few remaining along the Mississippi coast. In the same area of the city, there are also a number of casinos that attract guests to the city.
Natchez is a city located at the bank of the Mississippi River in the state of Mississippi. During the plantation era, the town was one of the largest shipping ports in the area, and wealthy plantation owners built their mansions as magnificent townhouses in Natchez. You can still see them today, and there are also other sights and of course access to the Mississippi, which is flowing below the city center.
The area was colonized by the French in 1716 when they established Fort Rosalie in the region traditionally populated by the Natchez Indians, after whom the city was later named. Later in the same century, the city became the starting point for The Natchez Trail, which was the route home for many farmers from Indiana and Kentucky, among others, who had their goods shipped to New Orleans.
In 1798, Natchez became the capital of the newly established American territory of Mississippi. When the territory was admitted as a new state to the United States in 1817, Natchez became the state capital until 1822, when Jackson became the new capital. Natchez maintained its economic importance with its location on the Mississippi River, and much cotton and other goods were shipped from the city’s river port to both New Orleans and ports to the north.
Today you can still sense the 19th century atmosphere from a time of large mansions and busy river traffic. Among other things, you can visit Dunleith from 1855, which is the only preserved plantation building in Mississippi, where there is a colonnade all the way around the house. Close to this is the octagonal mansion Longwood, which the plantation owner Haller Nutt built in 1859. In the city, you can also see Stanton Hall from 1857, which stands as one of the city’s most impressive mansions, and the city’s beautiful St. Mary’s Basilica, consecrated in 1843.
Jackson Square
jacksonbrewery.com
1 Poydras Street
riverwalkmarketplace.com
333 Canal Street
theshopsatcanalplace.com
1008 North Peters Street
frenchmarket.org
Chartres Street, Royal Street, Faubourg Marigny
Aquarium of the Americas
1 Canal Street
auduboninstitute.org
Audubon Zoo
6500 Magazine Street
auduboninstitute.org
Carousel Gardens
1 Palm Drive
neworleanscitypark.com
Storyland
1 Palm Drive
neworleanscitypark.com
The New Orleans area had long been populated by Native Americans before Europeans arrived here in 1518. The village of the Indians was called Tchoutchouma and was close to present-day New Orleans. Europeans were led by Spanish explorer Alonso Alvarez de Piñeda, and the company sailed up the Mississippi River, which they called the Espiritu Santo, the Holy Spirit River. However, it took many years before an actual colonization took off.
In 1682 Robert Cavalier came to the territories at the mouth of the Mississippi River, and he occupied the territory of France. It was named Louisiane after the French sun king, Louis XIV. In the 1690s, several clashes occurred between the newly arrived Frenchmen and local Native American tribes.
In 1699, the first real city, Biloxi, was founded, which after a few years became the capital rather than the bridgehead in Mobile. That same year, France turned Louisiane into a crown colony.
The following year, peace talks between France and the Indians broke down, resulting in eight years of fighting. In 1708, the Native American resistance was defeated, and there was some calm and stability.
The French founded the Nouvelle Orléans in 1718 as the new primary city in the new colony. The site was chosen because it was one of the few high-lying areas along the Mississippi before its expiration in the Gulf of Mexico. Furthermore, the site was favorable for further transport across the large lake, Lake Pontchartrain. After a few years, as early as 1722, Nouvelle Orléans formally became the capital of Louisiana instead of Biloxi along the coast to the east.
The French era did not last many decades. The first French merchants had arrived in the early 18th century, and in 1762 Spain won the dominion over the French colony. It happened in the context of the French defeat in the Seven Years’ War. By the time the Spaniards took over New Orleans, an urban center had already been established; the current French Quarter.
In 1788 and again in 1795, the city was hit by large and devastating fires, with a total of more than 1,000 buildings being destroyed. The Spaniards rebuilt the French Quarter, and many of the district’s distinctive buildings originate here, including St. Louis Cathedral and Cabildo.
In 1801, through the peace treaty in San Ildefonso, Louisiana again became French. Napoleon had thoughts of a new great state with New Orleans as the center. The French era, however, only lasted until 1803, when the United States’ purchase of Louisiana from France was completed. By the acquisition, the United States nearly doubled its acreage, with French Louisiana going from the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains and from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada. The price was $ 15 million and the area was 2,145,000 km 2 large and later became 13 US states.
Throughout the first half of the 19th century, New Orleans developed into the center of the growing number of large plantations that were built north and west of the city. The plantations created a development and prosperity in the city and the area, and many fine buildings were erected during this time. New Orleans was one of the richest cities in the United States during this period. Here, the precursor to the city’s current trams was constructed, and it is the oldest, still operating rail system in the world.
New Orleans and Louisiana were part of the American Southern States, thereby joining the American Federation, which faced the Union Army from the north during the American Civil War. In 1862, Union forces occupied the city and remained here until 1865.
From about 1915, New Orleans’ jazz music began to spread, first to Chicago and later to the whole world, where the music has helped make the city and Louisiana world famous. Some of the city’s best-known jazz musicians started out in various clubs in the Storyville area. These include Louis Armstrong and King Oliver.
In 1956, the bridge over Lake Pontchartain was built, it was the longest in the world and as a new traffic year helped develop New Orleans as the regional center it already was. Just two years later, the Greater New Orleans Bridge over the Mississippi River was inaugurated.
In the late 1950s, a process of equality between the city’s population groups began gradually. The division into buses, since schools and later elsewhere was gradually abolished, and in 1977 the city got its first mayor, whose roots are from Africa and not Europe.
In 1984, a world exhibition on the world’s water supply was held. It became an outlet with more than seven million visitors. Other big events are the many football championship finals played in the impressive Louisiana Superdome.
In recent decades, the historic French Quarter has flourished as in its youth. Travelers from all over the world enjoy the atmospheric neighborhood of jazz clubs and many of the numerous eateries with not least the delights of the French-Creole inspired Cajun cuisine. The highlight of the festivities is the traditional Mardi Gras festival.
In 2005, New Orleans was hit by a hurricane that caused major devastation throughout the city, which, for the most part, was also flooded. The city was evacuated and major reconstruction work was initiated in the city and along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, which was also hit hard.
Overview of New Orleans
New Orleans is located in Louisiana in southern states of the United States, and they have a special charm. The atmosphere in the old center, also known as the French Quarter, is unique to the country with live jazz music in the streets, cast-iron balconies, horse-drawn carriages and old southern state charm, seasoned annually with Mardi Gras celebrations as one of the city’s many highlights.
The city of New Orleans was founded with the name Nouvelle Orleans, the capital of the French area of Louisiana. You can still see the French street names on signs in the French Quarter, and the language is still a bit different from the rest of the states. The restaurants offer dishes other than in the rest of the United States as well, since this is the home of the tasty Creole cuisine.
About the upcoming New Orleans travel guide
About the travel guide
The New Orleans travel guide gives you an overview of the sights and activities of the American city. Read about top sights and other sights, and get a tour guide with tour suggestions and detailed descriptions of all the city’s most important churches, monuments, mansions, museums, etc.
New Orleans is waiting for you, and at vamados.com you can also find cheap flights and great deals on hotels for your trip. You just select your travel dates and then you get flight and accommodation suggestions in and around the city.
Read more about New Orleans and the USA
Buy the travel guide
Click the “Add to Cart” button to purchase the travel guide. After that you will come to the payment, where you enter the purchase and payment information. Upon payment of the travel guide, you will immediately receive a receipt with a link to download your purchase. You can download the travel guide immediately or use the download link in the email later.
Use the travel guide
When you buy the travel guide to New Orleans you get the book online so you can have it on your phone, tablet or computer – and of course you can choose to print it. Use the maps and tour suggestions and you will have a good and content-rich journey.
French Quarter • Mississippi • Jazz Music • Plantations • Steamboats
Overview of New Orleans
New Orleans is located in Louisiana in southern states of the United States, and they have a special charm. The atmosphere in the old center, also known as the French Quarter, is unique to the country with live jazz music in the streets, cast-iron balconies, horse-drawn carriages and old southern state charm, seasoned annually with Mardi Gras celebrations as one of the city’s many highlights.
The city of New Orleans was founded with the name Nouvelle Orleans, the capital of the French area of Louisiana. You can still see the French street names on signs in the French Quarter, and the language is still a bit different from the rest of the states. The restaurants offer dishes other than in the rest of the United States as well, since this is the home of the tasty Creole cuisine.
About the upcoming New Orleans travel guide
About the travel guide
The New Orleans travel guide gives you an overview of the sights and activities of the American city. Read about top sights and other sights, and get a tour guide with tour suggestions and detailed descriptions of all the city’s most important churches, monuments, mansions, museums, etc.
New Orleans is waiting for you, and at vamados.com you can also find cheap flights and great deals on hotels for your trip. You just select your travel dates and then you get flight and accommodation suggestions in and around the city.
Read more about New Orleans and the USA
Buy the travel guide
Click the “Add to Cart” button to purchase the travel guide. After that you will come to the payment, where you enter the purchase and payment information. Upon payment of the travel guide, you will immediately receive a receipt with a link to download your purchase. You can download the travel guide immediately or use the download link in the email later.
Use the travel guide
When you buy the travel guide to New Orleans you get the book online so you can have it on your phone, tablet or computer – and of course you can choose to print it. Use the maps and tour suggestions and you will have a good and content-rich journey.
St. Louis Cathedral is the best-known church in New Orleans, and at the same time it is one of the city’s landmarks. The church was founded during the French era and dedicated to Louis the Holy, who was king of France in the years 1226-1270. It was given the formal name Cathédrale-Basilique de Saint-Louis, Roi-de-France, and the original church was built in 1718.
The first church was of wood and stood in the early days of the French colony. The French were Catholic, and the church was built in the town’s central square. Construction of a larger brick church was begun in 1725 and completed in 1727. Along with several other buildings, the church was destroyed in the great fire that struck New Orleans on Good Friday, March 21, 1788.
The cornerstone of the new church was laid in 1789, and the building was completed 1794 in Louisiana’s Spanish period. In 1793, the church was elevated to a cathedral, making it one of the oldest cathedrals in the United States. In 1819, a central tower was added, designed by Benjamin Henry Latrobe. The tower had a clock and a bell, and the bell was stamped with the word Victoire to commemorate the victory at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815.
The congregation grew, and St. Louis Cathedral gradually became too small. Therefore, it was decided to restore and expand the church in 1849. The result, however, was that the cathedral was largely demolished, but the bell from the 1819 tower was reused. The result can be seen today, and it is a beautiful church with a bright and elegant interior.
The Cabildo in Jackson Square is one of the most important historic buildings in New Orleans. The current Cabildo was built during the Spanish era in the years 1795-1799. It was necessary after the fire of 1788, which left the original building on the site in ruins. The Cabildo was designed by Gilberto Guillemard, who also designed the nearby St. Louis Cathedral and Presbytère.
The Cabildo became historic as the house was the site of the ceremonies for the United States’ purchase of Louisiana in 1803. Those events completed the acquisition of French Louisiana and doubled the size of the United States. The Cabildo served as New Orleans’ City Hall until 1853, when it was converted into the state’s Supreme Court. In 1908, the building was transferred to the Louisiana State Museum.
At the museum in the Cabildo you can leatn about different parts of the history of the city and the state. Among other things, there is cultural history and well-known objects such as Sidney Bechet’s saxophone, an Indian Mardi Gras costume and memorabilia from Pontchartrain Beach. There are also broader exhibits on Louisiana history including a theme on the Battle of New Orleans in 1815.
The Presbytère is a building located on the opposite side of St. Louis Cathedral than the Cabildo. The Presbytère was designed in 1791 with the appearance of the Cabildos to create a symmetrical ensemble in Jackson Square. The house was originally called Casa Curial and built on the site where Capuchin monks had their residence corresponding to a rectory with the French name Presbytère.
In the first part of New Orleans’ American era, the building was used for commercial purposes, before the Presbytère was converted into a courthouse in 1834. In 1911, the house became part of the Louisiana State Museum, and today you can see two permanent exhibitions about the Mardi Gras celebration and rituals and about life in a hurricane area with a focus on Katrina, which destroyed large parts of the city and area in 2005.
Jackson Brewery is a former brewery that Lawrence Fabacher established in 1890 with the name Jackson Bohemian Brewery. It was the German architect Dietrich Einsiedel who was responsible for the construction of what developed over the years to be the largest brewery in the southern United States.
Jackson Brewery brewed beer until 1974, when Pearl Brewing Company bought the company. For the following ten years, Pearl continued to brew Jax Beer, which was the brewery’s well-known beer, but then Jax Beer also ceased to be available in the market. The brewery building is one of the well-known buildings around Jackson Square, and today it is redeveloped with shops and restaurants.
St. Charles Streetcar Line is a streetcar service that is historically the oldest line in the world with continuous traffic. Planning began as early as 1831, and the New Orleans and Carrollton Railroad began construction two years later. In 1835, the track opened with the steam locomotives named New Orleans and Carrollton, which had been purchased in England.
In the beginning, the track connected the two cities and there was no urban development between them. Urban development began, however, and with it came a wish to replace steam power with less noisy and oozing vehicles. The solution was horse-drawn trams, but in the late 1800s a more efficient operation was desired. Therefore, the line was electrified in 1893.
St. Charles Streetcar Line was designated by the National Park Service as a National Historic Landmark in 2014. That designation recognizes the line as a place of exceptional value and quality, making the line, along with San Francisco’s Cable Car system, the only U.S. streetcar networks that has the status of national history.
Today you can still drive with St. Charles Streetcar Line between New Orleans and Carrollton. You can also take other tram lines in the city, but St. The Charles line is the classic one, and this is where you can ride 900 series trams from 1923-1924. Replicas of the same trams have been used on the other routes, but these are from 1997 and newer.
Canal Street Ferry is a ferry service with small ferries that cross the Mississippi River. They sail between Canal Street in New Orleans’ central business district and Algiers on the opposite bank of the river. The ferries have been crossing the river since 1827, so it’s a piece of transport history that brings passengers across the water on the short crossing.
The Canal Street Ferry is also called the Algiers Ferry, and you take a trip to enjoy a terrific view of New Orleans’ modern skyline with its many skyscrapers and over the Mississippi River with the large cantilever bridges from 1958 and 1988, which form the Crescent City Connection.
When the ferry has crossed the river, you can take a walk in the district of Algiers Point, which is known for having many preserved 19th-century houses. The district was founded in 1719 and is thus the second oldest neighborhood in New Orleans. Among other things, you can see old houses on Pelican Avenue, go for walks in several parks and generally enjoy the atmosphere and the varied architecture of Algiers Point.
The National WWII Museum is a military history museum located in central New Orleans. The museum’s focus is the American contribution to the Allied victory in World War II. The museum was founded in the year 2000, and from 2004 it has had the status of the United States’ National War Museum.
There are many exhibitions and themes that you can explore in depth at the museum, like the landings on D-Day and the war in the Pacific, the land war in Europe and the home front in the USA. In the interesting exhibition halls, there are also many interesting objects such as a Messerschmidt 109, several American planes, a Sherman tank and a German Enigma machine.
The New Orleans Museum of Art is the oldest and best known art museum in New Orleans. It was established in 1911 with the name Delgado Museum of Art. The reason for that was a donation from local philanthropist and art collector Isaac Delgado. Delgado also wrote to the city government asking if they would donate a space in City Park for the purpose, and then the museum was built.
At the museum you can see many works of art and other effects such as furniture, household goods and handicrafts from the USA, America and large parts of the world. You can also enjoy a significant art collection with works by, among others, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró and Edgar Degas, who temporarily lived in New Orleans.
The New Orleans Botanical Garden is a botanical garden located in the more than five square kilometers that form City Park. The garden was opened in 1936, and it was in a decade that City Park was redeveloped and beautified in many ways. The architect Richard Koch, the landscape architect William Wierdorn and the sculptor Enrique Alférez designed City Park in the style of the time with the popular art-deco. The result was New Orleans’ first public classical garden.
The botanical part of the garden was initially known as the Rose Garden, and after a period of disrepair, the rose garden was improved and restored in the early 1980s, when it was also named the New Orleans Botanical Garden. In the same process, several new plantings were also made, so that the present variation botanical garden took shape.
The botanical garden as seen today consists of several different miniature gardens. In each of these gardens or sections, you can experience unique species of flora, and fine paths have been laid out to stroll through the greenery. There are also lawns with camellia hedges as a contrast to the individual plants.
The New Orleans Mint is a former mint that was in operation as a mint from 1838-1861 and again from 1879 to 1909. Over the years, more than 427 million gold and silver coins were minted at the site with a total face value of over 307 million dollar. As something special for the New Orleans Mint, coins were produced for the Confederate States of America in 1861.
It was the architect William Strickland who designed the Greek Neoclassical building after the federal government had established the New Orleans Mint, Charlotte Mint, and Dahlonega Mint in 1835. Charlotte and Dahlonega were located in regions with gold mines, while New Orleans was chosen as an important center of trade with access to Mississippi. In addition, large amounts of Mexican gold came through the port of New Orleans every year.
Since the closing of the New Orleans Mint in 1909, the building has served various purposes. It housed a prison from 1932-1943, and later it was used as a warehouse, before the old mint was converted into a museum under the Louisiana State Museum in 1981. By visiting here, you can learn more about the historical coinage on the site, and you can also visit the New Orleans Jazz Museum in the old building.
The French Market is an interesting market area that originated in the late 1700s when local tribes established a trading post at the convenient location along the Mississippi River. The Indian trading post developed over the years into a market that the French and Spanish knew from Europe. The market’s current style dates from the latter part of the 1800s.
Today, the French Market is a large area that still lies along the Mississippi River, starting from the Cafe du Monde at Jackson Square and continuing northeast along first cozy Dutch Alley and then through market streets with covered halls, where stalls abound with different goods. You can also go here to enjoy cafes and restaurants.
Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 is a well-known cemetery in New Orleans. It was laid out in the early New Orleans area in 1833 and named after Lafayette, which was then the city name of the area of the Garden District, which was incorporated into New Orleans in 1852.
The cemetery is known for many fine mausoleums and graves that characterized the city of the time. There are a total of approximately 1,100 family grave sites at Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, where approximately 7,000 are buried. Among them are quite a few immigrants from Europe.
St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 is one of the three cemeteries that collectively make up St. Louis Cemetery. Cemetery number 1 opened in 1789 and is the oldest of New Orleans’ surviving cemeteries from the city’s history. Cimitière Saint-Louis then replaced Cimitière Saint-Peter, which no longer exists, after a major fire in 1788.
A visit to the cemetery is like a trip to old New Orleans, and many historically important people have been buried here over time. It concerns, for example, Etienne de Boré, who was a pioneer in sugar production and also the first mayor in the city.
The Louisiana Superdome, formally known as Caesar’s Superdome, is one of New Orleans’ best-known modern buildings. The plans for the large arena emerged in 1967, when the architectural firm Curtis and Davis designed the city’s new landmark, which opened in 1975.
The Louisiana Superdome was built with a diameter of 207 meters and a height of 83 meters, and depending on the events in the arena, up to 78,000 spectators have been seated for games here. The Superdome is not least known as the home of the New Orleans Saints and for hosting many Super Bowls.
In 2005, the Louisiana Superdome became known worldwide for providing shelter to many of those who could not leave New Orleans when Hurricane Katrine struck the city and area on August 29. The Superdome thereby became a temporary home and an icon for the rescue during and the reconstruction after Katrina, which left large parts of the city in ruins.
City Park is a huge park located in the district of the same name. The size of the park is 5.3 km2 and it is owned by the city of New Orleans. City Park was established in 1854, and it is known for, among other things, its many old oak trees, which give the park many beautiful views and areas. The oak trees are also historic for the duels that took place under the trees in the 1800s. Dueling was banned by law in 1890.
The green area was named City Park in 1891, and from the end of the 1890s several rides were opened, such as a carousel and a miniature train. Soon after, a golf course opened, and in 1911, the New Orleans Museum of Art opened in the park, and you can still visit the art museum. You can also take a walk in the New Orleans Botanical Garden or simply enjoy a stroll.
Louis Armstrong Park is a green urban space located immediately northwest of the French Quarter in New Orleans. It is a park that was created from the 1960s, when part of the Tremé neighborhood at Congo Square was rehabilitated. The park was then designed by local architect Robin Riley and named after jazz legend Louis Armstrong, who was born in New Orleans in 1901.
In the park you can see various statues and historical sites related to the early development of jazz in New Orleans. Among other things, you can see statues of Louis Armstrong, Mahalia Jackson and Sidney Bechet, and there is also a statue of Buddy Bolden, who is portrayed as three figures in motion.
There are several buildings in the park such as Preservation Hall, which is typical of places that were used as dance venues in the 1910s. Preserverance Hall was built as a masonic lodge in 1820, and before the construction of the present park, the house was located on the corner of St. Claude Avenue and Dumaine Street. Surrounding the park are the buildings Municipal Auditorium and Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts as two of the city’s most important cultural venues.
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