New Orleans - Jackson Square

For Spring Break this year we loaded up the kids and drove down to the Gulf, spending a few days in New Orleans and then Destin. I love visiting New Orleans - it has so much history and culture. It is one of the most unique and vibrant cities in the country, and the food there is always amazing. We were traveling with two kids, so we weren't able to fully partake in all of the city's charms (meaning we didn't take them down Bourbon Street). But we did stay in the French Quarter, and took them out to explore. One place where we spent a lot of time was Jackson Square, which was a place the kids could run around without having to worry about traffic or drunk tourists.



Jackson Square has long been the historic heart of New Orleans. In 1721, French engineers laid out the plans for what would be the capitol of the La Louisiane colony. They designed the new town to have a grid of streets that surrounded a central square, which overlooked the Mississippi River. The square was called the Place d’Armes, and the most important buildings in the city would be built alongside it.





One of the most prominent landmarks at Jackson Square is the St. Louis Cathedral.



The current church was built in 1850. The very first church here was a crude wooden structure that was built in 1718 when the city was founded. That church would be replaced with a larger church in 1727, but it would be destroyed by a fire in 1788. The church was rebuilt in 1794, but that structure was torn down as the church expanded and was redesigned to meet a growing congregation.



To the left of the St. Louis Cathedral is The Cabildo, which was built in 1799 and served as the seat of government when New Orleans was a Spanish colony. The building would later be used as a courthouse for the Louisiana Supreme Court, and is now used as a museum. To the right of the cathedral is the The Presbytère, which was built in 1813 and is also now used as a museum.



The Cabildo was also the spot where the final version of the Louisiana Purchase was signed in 1803.



In the 1840s, the Baroness Micaëla Almonester Pontalba visited the city to check on her real estate holdings and found the Place d’Armes to be a muddy and neglected mess. She personally financed and redesigned the square, adding cast-iron fences, walkways and formal gardens. A statue of Andrew Jackson was built in the center of the park, in honor of the general's role in saving the city from British invasion during the War of 1812. In 1851, the Place d’Armes was renamed Jackson Square.





The Baroness Pontalba also built two Parisian-style row-houses on the sides of Jackson Square, at a cost of $300,000. The Pontalba buildings were the first buildings to feature iron balconies in the city, which would become a prominent architectural style. The first floor of the buildings are shops, and the upper floors have since been converted into apartments. Truman Capote wrote that the Pontalba buildings were "the oldest, in some ways most somberly elegant, apartment houses in America."















From there I walked back over to the St. Louis Cathedral, which was surrounded by a crowd of people. We were there on a busy Saturday afternoon, and the park and streets around it were filled with people.



Directly in front of the cathedral, dozens of people stood and watched a street-performer. But off to the side, with no crowd around him, was a street preacher yelling into a microphone. They were joined by other tourists trying to pass by and several pigeons looking for a meal.



The doors to the church were open, and I ducked inside. The heavy wooden doors, along with a recording of choir music, helped to dampen the sounds from the street outside.



Jackson Square sits on the highest ground in the city, so the park and the cathedral did not see any flooding during Hurricane Katrina. The hurricane did cause some damage to the cathedral - the high winds punctured a hole in the roof, resulting in some water damage to the pipe organ. And two large oak trees behind the church were toppled.



The next night I headed back out to Jackson Square after sunset to try to get a few pictures. I headed over to the walkway across from the square that provides a nice overlook to the mighty Mississippi River. In the distance are the twin spans of the Crescent City Connection.



This was on a Sunday evening, and it was much quieter when compared to the night before. For awhile, I was the only person at the overlook. Occasionally I'd be joined by some tour groups or people stopping to eat beignets that they just got from Cafe Du Monde.





And the view from the front of the cathedral, after the street performers, preachers, tarot card readers, artists and voodoo doll sellers had gone home for the night.



And one last shot, of the Pontalba Building. This was taken in a quiet moment between two separate ghost tours walking by.

New Orleans - Jackson Square

The last time we went to New Orleans, back in 2017, we travelled with Jonah. While there were some great family-friendly things to see and do there, New Orleans isn't really the city you want to visit with a toddler. So last weekend we made another visit, but this time left Jonah in the care of his Grandparents in Searcy. And while we missed having him with us, it was nice to get to explore the city without having to cater to the whims of a toddler or have to watch Paw Patrol for any reason.

We stayed in a hotel in the French Quarter that was right by Jackson Square, so we ended up passing by there several times during our trip. Jackson Square is the historic heart of the city. Shortly after the city was founded in 1718, the square was established as the Place d'Armes. It quickly rose in prominence as the center of the young city, and some of the most historic buildings in the city are situated around the square. The most prominent and famous of those buildings is the St. Louis Cathedral.


The first church here was built in 1718, which was replaced with a nicer building in 1727. But that building, along with most of New Orleans, was destroyed by a massive fire in 1788. The church was rebuilt by 1794, but after a few decades the church decided it needed to do a renovation and expansion. So most of the old church was torn down and replaced with the current cathedral in 1850.



And the view looking inside the cathedral, which was crowded with a bunch of people taking pictures (and probably enjoying the air conditioning).



Jackson Square is named after Andrew Jackson, who successfully defended the city during the War of 1812. The square is dominated by a large of statue of Jackson, although that statue is now a little controversial because of some of the awful things Jackson did while he was President (like the Trail of Tears). There's no telling if the pigeons have any opinions on Jackson or his legacy, but it seems like they do enjoy pooping on his statue's hat.



Among the other historic buildings overlooking Jackson Square is the Cabildo, which was the New Orleans' old City Hall and is the place where the Louisiana Purchase was signed in 1803. There is also the old Pontalba Buildings, which were built in the 1840s and contain some of the oldest continuously-rented apartments in the US. We did a cocktail tour, and our guide walked us by here. He said the rents here were only about $1,500 a month. Which seems like a steal until you realize the buildings have old plumbing, no insulation and no parking. Plus you get to hear all the music and commotion from all the drunk tourists and bachelorette parties going on all day. But I don't know, $1,500 sounds like a good deal. I used to pay $700 for a one bedroom apartment in North Little Rock that also had unreliable plumbing, weird neighbors and awful parking. This is the view of the balconies on one of the Pontalba Buildings.



This was taken from the balcony of Muriel's, a restaurant that had this view overlooking the Pontalba Building and Jackson Square. This was a great spot, and it's one that we visited several times during our visit to New Orleans. The only problem is that they didn't offer any service to the balcony, so you had to go down the stairs any time you wanted a new drink (a small price to pay in order to have that view). But the stairs go by a small table that always had some wine and bread sitting out, which turns out to be the table reserved for the ghost that haunts the building.



Another shot of St. Louis Cathedral, when it was bright and sunny out.



I went by the Square one night after dark, and tried to get a few shots. I didn't bring a tripod with me on this trip, so I had to awkwardly place the camera atop an electrical box along the fence to get this picture. The street in front of the Square was busy with traffic and tourists roaming about.



And one more shot of the cathedral at night, but this time showing the back of the cathedral under the full moon.