About
New Orleans Historical
A project by The Midlo Center for New Orleans Studies at LSU New OrleansNew Orleans Historical promotes the idea that historical scholarship should be freely and publicly available. Our stories come from scholars, writers, artists, community members, and students in collaboration with faculty and staff at the Midlo Center. Through place-based storytelling, learn the histories of familiar landmarks and discover lesser-known narratives from New Orleans’ past.
Our tours are grouped by theme, period, or location, while links to individual sites allow users to explore the stories around them. Historical sources, oral histories, and artifacts bring these stories to life. Walk, drive, bike, or visit these sites virtually on our free app or on the web.
Featured Tours
Meet Me at the Crossroads: The Life and Legend of Marie Laveau
4 Locations ~ Curated by August DarbonneMarie Laveau is known to many as the Vodou Queen of New Orleans. Vodou is an Afro-syncretic religion, blending elements of West and Central African religion, Native American spirituality, and European Catholicism. In the 18th and 19th centuries, when enslavers trafficked West African peoples to the Americas, they banned enslaved people from practicing their traditional religions. In order to continue to practice their traditional religion, while avoiding punishment or death from French and…
The City Beneath the City: Archaeology of New Orleans
27 Locations ~ Curated by University of New Orleans, Department of Anthropology and SociologyThis tour includes information about archaeological sites already investigated in Orleans Parish. Some of these sites are now destroyed. Others are no longer accessible or have considerable untapped research potential. Most are on private property and not readily accessible to the public.
As there are few protections for archaeological resources in the city, the locations of some of these projects are only approximate. We ask that you do your part to help us preserve and protect the cultural…
Animals in the French Quarter
4 Locations ~ Curated by Alison Laurence, Sarah Waits, John Lee, and the University of New Orleans History DepartmentThis tour examines the significant ways in which animals have affected the lives of New Orleanians. Within the confines of the French Quarter, rats, mules, mosquitoes, termites, and other critters cohabitate with the human residents.
Access: Walking
Distance: ~.5 miles, ~10 minutes
Random Stories
Southern Food & Beverage Museum
DEDICATED TO THE DISCOVERY, UNDERSTANDING AND CELEBRATION OF THE FOOD, DRINK, AND CULTURE OF THE WORLD THROUGH THE EYES OF THE SOUTH.
State Cycling Championship of 1891 at the Fair Grounds
In the late nineteenth century, bicycles appeared on city streets, country roads, and race tracks. Cycle racing in New Orleans rose with a tide of interest in sports—recreational and spectator—among…
A Bakery Shaped by Place: Garic’s Bakery
Often visible in the background of historic images of the French Market, the three-story Italianate building with the “Garic’s Bakery" sign anchored the neighborhood. [1] Garic’s Bakery was once part…
Greenville Encampment: Sedgwick Hospital
Sedgwick Hospital was one of many area hospitals that serviced the military during and after the Civil War. The Greenville Encampment, located along the lower boundary of Carrollton (Lowerline…
The Old Newcomb Chapel
The chapel held a particular spot in Mrs. Newcomb's heart, as she saw it as symbolic of her daughter, Sophie. Mrs. Newcomb ordered Tiffany windows for this building, as well as a specially built organ…
Charity Hospital
Paper Monument Project #025: Charity was the second-oldest continually operating public hospital in the country.
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