NOLA, fin

I think the last thing I’ll share about New Orleans is about the character of the city. I think more than any other city I’ve been to, New Orleans has a feminine character. It may have come about in the rough and tumble world of soldiers, explorers, pirates and thieves, but somewhere along women have come to the forefront and truly left their mark, especially in the French Quarter.

Some of it is the architecture. The brightly colored stucco, the splashes of wrought iron and patios decorated with ferns and hibiscus. There is something truly sweet about the small stature of the French Quarter. The buildings are petite, very few over 3 stories. And the short blocks and narrow streets make everything just seem more manageable than most cities.

And then there are the women that molded New Orleans history. The lonely French soldiers at the first fort asked the king to send women to help settle the city. Unfortunately, they should have been more specific. Because the first 13 women sent were Ursuline nuns. But you have to give those gals credit. They stuck it out in a very inhospitable environment. And their nunnery survived both of the fires that between them destroyed most of the city. And it’s one of the oldest structures to stand in New Orleans today.

The Baroness Michaela Pontalba was a cross between Donald Trump and Fifty Cent. She was born in New Orleans, but because she was wealthy as heck, her mother arranged a marriage for her in France to a wealthy aristo. Unfortunately, he wasn’t quite as wealthy as she was. She took four bullets in the chest from a gun wielded by her father-in-law, who was crazed because she wouldn’t hand over her fortune to him. And she lived to return to her native New Orleans and shape Jackson Square into the downtown hub that it remains today.

Then there was Delphine LaLaurie. The top celebutante of her day. Rich, gorgeous, tall and thin. She owned half of the town, and was the top society hostess in the state of Louisiana, and a queen of the city. Of course they then discovered that she and her husband were psycho-killer lunatics who had been committing atrocities on her slaves. And I do mean atrocities. But even once they were found out, they both escaped justice, and disappeared into the mists of history, and possibly to continue their murderous spree . . . booga-booga-booga! (Happy early Halloween!) But her townhome is still considered one of the most haunted spots in Louisiana.

Between the voodoo queens, pirates’ mistresses and octoroon balls that clutter the history of the area, New Orleans becomes one of the few places in the U.S that you can visit where history isn’t just the story of great men doing great things. And NOLA is definitely proud of its history. If you go, definitely take the chance to go on one of the walking tours in the Quarter. Or three of them, if you’re a glutton like me.