A Walking Tour of The New Orleans French Quarter
By Doug Gelbert
()
About this ebook
There is no better way to see America than on foot. And there is no better way to appreciate what you are looking at than with a walking tour. Whether you are preparing for a road trip or just out to look at your own town in a new way, a downloadable walking tour from walkthetown.com is ready to explore when you are.
Each walking tour describes historical and architectural landmarks and provides pictures to help out when those pesky street addresses are missing. Every tour also includes a quick primer on identifying architectural styles seen on American streets.
The French Quarter spreads up from the Mississippi River across some 70 blocks. This is where the original French Colonial settlement of Nouvelle Orleans was laid out in simple squares in1718 by French Canadian naval officer Jean Baptiste Bienville. Bienville served as governor for financier John Law’s Company of the Indies, which in naming the city for the Regent Duc d’Orleans sought to curry Court favor before failing spectacularly in the “Great Mississippi Bubble.” The French Period legacy endures in the town plan and central square, church of St. Louis, Ursuline Convent and women’s education, ancien regime street names such as Bourbon and Royal, the charity hospital, and a mixed legacy of Creole culture, Mardi Gras, and the important effects of African enslavement combined with a tolerant approach to free persons of color.
In 1762 the indifferent Louis XV transferred Louisiana to his Bourbon cousin Charles III of Spain. Emboldened by a period of Spanish vacillation in taking power, Francophile colonists staged a revolution in 1768, summarily squelched by Alejandro O’Reilly with a firing squad at the Esplanade fort. Spanish rule lasted for four decades, imparting a legacy of semi-fortified streetscapes, commonwall plastered brick houses, and walled courtyards used as gardens and utility spaces with separate servants’ quarters and kitchens. Olive oil cooking and graceful wrought iron balconies, hinges and locks in curvilinear shapes, and strong vestiges of civil law remain from the Spanish presence.
Typical of the eccentricities of the Vieux Carre or “old square” is the fact that its much admired iron-embroidered architecture is not French, but Spanish. Disastrous fires one after another in 1788 and 1794 destroyed all but a handful of the original French buildings.Street names have floated back and forth between French and Spanish and the gold-and-blue signs on the corner buildigns indicate the street names that were recognized under earlier regimes. Sited on the highest ground in the area, the French Quarter sustained little damage from the flooding of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Our walking tour will begin in Jackson Square, a few yards from the Mississippi River and in what some have called the architectural center of America...
Read more from Doug Gelbert
Look Up, San Diego! A Walking Tour of Balboa Park Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5A Walking Tour of Miami Beach, Florida Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of New York City's Upper West Side Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Walking Tour of Greensboro, North Carolina Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of New York City's Upper East Side Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of Aiken, South Carolina Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLook Up, Tucson, Arizona! A Walking Tour of Tucson, Arizona Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLook Up, Boise! A Walking Tour of Boise, Idaho Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLook Up, Savannah! A Walking Tour of Savannah, Georgia Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Look Up, Madison! A Walking Tour of Madison, Wisconsin Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Walking Tour of Beaufort, South Carolina Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of A Salem, Massachusetts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of Washington's National Mall Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLook Up, Oakland! A Walking Tour of Oakland, California Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of Pittsburgh's Business District Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLook Up, Chicago! A Walking Tour of The Loop (North End) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of New York City's Financial District Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of St. Augustine, Florida Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLook Up, Long Beach! A Walking Tour of Long Beach, California Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of Meadville, Pennsylvania Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of Georgetown, South Carolina Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Look Up, Salem! A Walking Tour of Salem, Oregon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of Staunton, Virginia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLook Up, Gettysburg! A Walking Tour of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of Williamsburg, Virginia Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5A Walking Tour of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLook Up, Portland, Oregon! A Walking Tour West of Broadway Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of Washington's Capitol Hill District Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of New Bern, North Carolina Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to A Walking Tour of The New Orleans French Quarter
Related ebooks
A Walking Tour of A Salem, Massachusetts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of The New Orleans Garden District Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Walking Tour of Pottsville, Pennsylvania Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWicked Washington: Mysteries, Murder & Mayhem in America's Capital Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNew Orleans Historic Hotels Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHaunted New Braunfels: A True Wild West Ghost Town Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Hidden History of New Orleans Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Why New Orleans Matters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Walking Tour of Boston Back Bay, North of Commonwealth Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGraceland Cemetery: A Tour of Chicago History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Murder & Mayhem in Grand Rapids Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ghosts of Berkeley County, South Carolina Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Charleston Ghosts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Witch of Delray: Rose Veres & Detroit's Infamous 1930s Murder Mystery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMurder & Mayhem in Chicago's Vice Districts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWicked New Orleans: The Dark Side of the Big Easy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wicked Lexington, Kentucky Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Wicked Victorian Boston Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Story of French New Orleans: History of a Creole City Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Spirits of the Bayou: Sanctuaries, Cemeteries and Hauntings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHaunted Louisiana: Ghost Stories and Paranormal Activity from the State of Louisiana Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Guide to the Historic French Quarter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Old Charleston Originals: From Celebrities to Scoundrels Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCharleston: 1900-1915 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWicked Columbus, Ohio Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWicked New Haven Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGhosts of Cincinnati: The Dark Side of the Queen City Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5New Orleans Carnival Krewes: The History, Spirit & Secrets of Mardi Gras Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In Search of Britain's Haunted Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
United States History For You
Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable American Life of a 109-Year-Old Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51776 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A People's History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the Guys Who Killed the Guy Who Killed Lincoln: A Nutty Story About Edwin Booth and Boston Corbett Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Library Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Reset: And the War for the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Benjamin Franklin: An American Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fifties Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Right Stuff Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for A Walking Tour of The New Orleans French Quarter
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
A Walking Tour of The New Orleans French Quarter - Doug Gelbert
Look Up, New Orleans! A Walking Tour of The French Quarteri
by Doug Gelbert
published by Cruden Bay Books at Smashwords
Copyright 2012 by Cruden Bay Books
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system
without permission in writing from the Publisher.
The French Quarter spreads up from the Mississippi River across some 70 blocks. This is where the original French Colonial settlement of Nouvelle Orleans was laid out in simple squares in1718 by French Canadian naval officer Jean Baptiste Bienville. Bienville served as governor for financier John Law’s Company of the Indies, which in naming the city for the Regent Duc d’Orleans sought to curry Court favor before failing spectacularly in the Great Mississippi Bubble.
The French Period legacy endures in the town plan and central square, church of St. Louis, Ursuline Convent and women’s education, ancient regime street names such as Bourbon and Royal, the charity hospital, and a mixed legacy of Creole culture, Mardi Gras, and the important effects of African enslavement combined with a tolerant approach to free persons of color.
In 1762 the indifferent Louis XV transferred Louisiana to his Bourbon cousin Charles III of Spain. Emboldened by a period of Spanish vacillation in taking power, Francophile colonists staged a revolution in 1768, summarily squelched by Alejandro O’Reilly with a firing squad at the Esplanade fort. Spanish