New Orleans Off The Beaten Path Tips by grandmaR Top 5 Page for this destination

Evangeline by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Cajun Country Review

The word Cajan comes from the word Arcadian. The Arcadians were French settlers in the Maritime Providences of Canada. They were thrown out (Le Grand Dérangement) of Canada by the British in 1775, and some of them came to French controlled Louisiana. The area around St. Martinsville and New Iberia is known as Cajan country.

Excerpt

Thus ere another noon they emerged from the shades; and before them
Lay, in the golden sun, the lakes of the Atchafalaya.
Water-lilies in myriads rocked on the slight undulations
Made by the passing oars, and, resplendent in beauty, the lotus
Lifted her golden crown above the heads of the boatmen.
Faint was the air with the odorous breath of magnolia blossoms,
And with the heat of noon; and numberless sylvan islands,
Fragrant and thickly embowered with blossoming hedges of roses,
Near to whose shores they glided along, invited to slumber.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
On the banks of the Têche, are the towns of St. Maur and St. Martin.
There the long-wandering bride shall be given again to her bridegroom,
There the long-absent pastor regain his flock and his sheepfold.
Beautiful is the land, with its prairies and forests of fruit trees;
Under the feet a garden of flowers, and the bluest of heavens
Bending above, and resting its dome on the walls of the forest.
They who dwell there have named it the Eden of Louisiana!

Longfellow's 1847 poem is a wholly fictional account of an expelled Acadian (Evangeline) struggling to reunite with her love (Gabriel).

As a result of the poem, many efforts have been made to link real characters with the fictional ones in Longfellow's poem. In 1929, Dolores Del Rio starred in a film as Evangeline and donated money toward the creation of an Evangeline statue in her own image. Finished in 1930, the statue was placed beside the St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church in St. Martinville, on a spot marking the alleged burial place of Emmeline Labiche, the "real" Evangeline.

Off Season Mardi Gras Ferry to Mardi Gras World. Review

We took the free (to pedestrians) ferry over to Algiers. The ferries go from the New Orleans side (east) on the hour and half hour. They go from the Algiers side (west) on the quarter hour and quarter of the hour. We were on our way to visit Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World. There was also a free bus to Mardi Gras World
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We didn't actually take the tour because we thought it was too expensive.

The price was

Adults: $15.00
Seniors $11.00
Children 11 and under: $7.25
Student with college or high school ID $11.00
[All tours include free King Cake & Coffee]

The tour starts with a movie.

Doors open: 9:30 a.m. Last Tour: 4:30 p.m

Other Contact: (504) 361-7821

Phone: (800) 362-8213

Greenwood Cemeteries... Review

As we were finishing up our city tour, and just before we went to City Park, we passed the Greenwood Cemetery and I took this picture from the bus. We didn't get a chance to tour it.

This is the fireman's cemetery. It was founded by the Firemen’s Charitable & Benevolent Association (FCBA) in 1852 as permanent memorials to the volunteer firemen. This was the first above ground cemetery that was built without walls.

In 1852, an epidemic of yellow-fever struck in the US. By 1853, over 8,000 in the city had expired from the disease. Greenwood’s one hundred and fifty acres provided a place to bury the dead.

Twenty years later, Greenwood became home to the first Civil War memorial in New Orleans. A low mound marks the mass grave of six hundred Confederate soldiers. A statue of a Confederate infantryman resting on his rifle is on the top.

This picture mainly shows the BPOE tomb. According to the website:


..the tomb of Lodge No.30 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. The fraternal order was founded in 1868 by a group of actors and musicians in New York. A majestic bronze elk stands guard over a burial mound blanketed with grass. A marble chamber beneath contains eighteen burial vaults. Its granite entrance employs the Doric style in its use of two fluted columns supporting an entablature. A clock with hands pointing to the 11th hour, symbolic of a ritual toast to absent members, adorns the pediment. Bronze doors seal the entry. The tomb was erected in 1912 by Albert Weiblen, a German immigrant and one of the most successful builders of tombs and cemetery monuments in the South.

Other Contact: 5200 Canal Blvd.

Phone: 504 486 6591or 504 482 0234

Bernardo Galvez Statue Momuments/Statues Review

This is a statue to Bernardo de Galvez who was the Governor of Louisiana from 1777 to 1785 (during the Revolution)

The plaque on it says

The government of
Spain donates this
statue to the city of
New Orleans to
commemorate the
bicentennial year of
the Independence of the
United States to which
the Spanish Government
so decisively
contributed.


There's statue to him in Washington D.C. which says

Bernardo De Calvez, the great Spanish soldier, carried out a courageous campaign in Lands bordering the lower Mississippi. This masterpiece of military strategy lightened the pressure of the English in the war against American settlers who were fighting for their independence.

May this statue of Bernardo de Calvez serve as a reminder that Spain offered the blood of her soldiers for the cause of American independence

He died in Mexico at the age of 38. Galveston TX was named for him.

Climate Controlled Aquarium and Zoo Review

The Aquarium and IMAX Theatre aren't Off the Beaten Track. They are after all at the river end of Canal Street. But although they aren't one of the 'traditional' sights that one thinks of when one says New Orleans..........

...a visit there has several advantages.

1) The Aquarium is climate controlled. If it is cold, as it was when we were there - there will be heat in the aquarium. If it is hot - it will be air-conditioned.

2) The IMAX is a place where you can sit down

3) There are a couple of fast food places to eat in the aquarium

4) You can take a mini-cruise from the aquarium to the zoo.

Phone: 800-774-7394

Shadows on the Teche Plantations Review

There are many plantations that are visited from New Orleans - Laura (a Creole plantation that was burned in 2004), Oak Alley (which is distinguished mostly for the huge live oak trees which were planted 100 years before the house was built), Destrehan from the late 1700s which is the oldest plantation in the Mississippi valley, San Francisco which advertises itself as the only authentically restored plantation house in Louisiana (Oak Alley has been furnished with non-original antiques), Belle Alliance, Madewood and Nottoway, the South's largest plantation home.

But to my mind, the best, the most authentic, and the MOST off the beaten track plantation is Shadows on the Teche in New Iberia. This home was owned by a single family from the time it was built (1834) until it was donated to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1958. It has almost all of the original furnishings (unlike Oak Alley) and extensive documentation. It isn't the biggest, and it didn't have to be 'restored' because it was original.

Guided tours daily 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Address:
317 E. Main Street, New Iberia, LA

Directions:
At the intersection of Highways 14 & 182

More pictures are on my New Iberia page

Phone: 337/369-6446

Down in the Bayou Swamp Tours Review

We drove for more than an hour to Jean Lafitte which is on the edge of the Jean Lafitte Barataria Preserve section. We went out in a pontoon boat, and while it was cold, it wasn't so cold yet that there was no wildlife. We saw nutria and several alligators, and birds (photos 3 and 4). We also saw former habitations (photo 5) and some graveyards. Snacks, sandwiches & refreshments were available for purchase and there was also a restroom.

Currently Grey Line offers this tour which combines the Swamp & Bayou Tour with either the Oak Alley Plantation Tour or the Laura Plantation Tour at a discounted price, but it seems to indicate that it the two parts must be taken on separate days.

Departure Time
SWAMP & BAYOU
Mar 1 - Nov 25, 2009
11am & 1pm Daily

Nov 27 - Dec 31, 2009
1pm Mo, We, Fr & Sa

Duration 3.75 hours (includes travel time)

Cost
Adult: $48.00
Child: $24.00

Other Contact: 800-535-7786

Phone: 504-569-1401

Website: http://www.graylineneworleans.com/combo_swampplantation.shtml

House of the 7 Sisters Museum and Shop in Algiers Voodoo Review

We drove by this house on the free shuttle van to Mardi Gras World. The driver said we'd get in free with the wrist band that showed we had paid the admission to Mardi Gras World, and that we could then get picked up for a return trip to the ferry right outside.

But really, the museum is free for everyone because they let us in even though we didn't pay admission to Mardi Gras World.

We decided not to take the shuttle back to the ferry, but to walk, and we did go in here. They sell "Evil Away Uglies", but we didn't buy any.

We didn't wait for the van to pick us up - we just climbed up on the levee and walked back to the ferry dock. It isn't far.

Phone: 504-227-0877

Poydras Side of the Superdome Momuments/Statues Review

This bronze statue on the Poydras Street side is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. It reminded me of the Iwo Jima Memorial in Washington D.C., but I could find no referances to it on the internet until Dorcas (Little_Lou_Lou) pointed me in the right direction. This is not the only sculpture/sculpture group on Poydras.

Across from the Superdome on Poydras Street is a large abstract sculpture which was on the other side of the bus, so I didn't get a picture of it. The sculptor, Ida Kohlmeyer, meant to evoke the frivolity and zany spirit of Mardi Gras.

Walking up Poydras toward St. Charles (which should only be done during the day) you come to the Bloch Cancer Survivors Monument, a block-long walkway of whimsical columns, figures, and a triumphal arch in the median of Loyola Avenue at its intersection with Poydras Street.

City Park Parks Review

We ended our City Tour in City Park, but I didn't get a chance to do more than just walk around a bit. There was a play area for children, and I saw the Art Museum through the trees, and we saw some sculptures from the bus. We could have had lunch at the snack bar. There is also a Botanical Garden and various concert venues.

But I have the feeling that City Park is more for residents than visitors.

Website: http://www.neworleanscitypark.com/