Hey Guys!
This post continues our time in New Orleans.
We started our morning with breakfast at the Ruby Slipper.
After looking over the menu, I decided on the pancakes with a side of bacon & my hubby ordered the biscuits & gravy that came with eggs and bacon.
The food was very good!
See their menu here & read reviews here
After breakfast, we headed back to our hotel.
On the way, we passed this beautiful building with ferns hanging from the balcony.
A short time later, we arrived to Jackson Square and noticed that the doors to the St Louis Cathedral were open so, we decided to go in and check it out.
The St. Louis Cathedral is one of New Orleans’ most notable landmarks.
This church was built in 1851 after the first church, built in 1727, burned down in 1788.
There were lots of paintings on the walls and ceilings.
It was very ornate like most catholic churches.
The church had beautiful stained glass windows.
The clock and bell tower were brought over from Paris and still rings out the hours from above the church’s clock and in 1829 an organ was placed in the cathedral.
Pope John Paul II visited the church in Sept. 1987.
After leaving the church, we continued our walk back to our hotel.
Once we arrived to our hotel, we had an Uber take us to the Garden District.
Tip: You can also take the historic Saint Charles Street Car to the Garden District…it only takes 15 mins. Cost is $1.25 per ride, or $3 for a 1-Day Jazzy Pass which can be purchased from the driver, must have cash in exact change.
The Garden District was located approx. 15 mins from our hotel.
On the way there, we passed this monument in the business district… a bronze statue of Robert E Lee had been removed from the top of it.
The Garden District is the fancy part of New Orleans where some of the city’s most opulent mansions were built in the 1800’s.
The area once was part of the Livaudais Plantation. In 1974, it was designated a National Historic Landmark.
Walking the Garden District is a popular thing to do in New Orleans.
But, have a plan…either book a free tour, a paid tour or you can do a self walking tour.
Here’s a list of some of the houses you will see and here’s a great guide of the area.
We started our tour at the Rink.
The building was built in the 1880’s and used as a skating rink. Today, it houses a coffee shop, a bookstore and a few boutique shops.
Next, we headed to the very popular Lafayette Cemetery #1.
The cemetery was founded in 1833 and has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Sadly, it was closed for repairs but we could still take pictures through the gate.
This cemetery is one of the oldest city governed cemeteries.
There are over 7,000 people buried here and some are very notable…including some of the first settlers from Ireland and Germany.
Perhaps the most famous residents of Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 are the fictional Mayfair witches, created by Anne Rice, in The Witching Hour.
This cemetery has been used in lots of movies and TV shows…like Double Jeopardy….one of our favorite movies!
We walked the entire square of the cemetery so we could take pictures from every gate!
There are huge oak trees that line the sidewalks here!
More shots from a different gate
As we continued our walk around the cemetery, we had to walk over roots where the trees had literally grown up through the sidewalk!
We ended up at the gate that had the name of the cemetery above it so, of course, we had to get our picture taken under the sign!
Read reviews here
Tip: This cemetery is now open and you can book a tour to see it here!
Fun note: Nicolas Cage has a 9 ft tall pyramid tomb where he will be buried in this cemetery!
Our next stop was the Colonel Short’s Villa.
This house was built in 1859 for Colonel Robert Short of Kentucky who was a cotton commission merchant. The house is now owned by Scott Rodger who was the manager and producer for Paul McCartney and Andrea Bocelli,
It’s best known for its ironwork fence, incorporating a morning glory and cornstalk motifs….one of only three nineteenth-century cornstalk fences in the city.
The house was confiscated by federal forces in 1863, and briefly became the executive mansion of the governor of Louisiana before being returned to Short, who lived there for the rest of his life.
The house was listed for $5 million in 2015 – the most expensive listing in New Orleans at the time!
We loved the cornstalk fence!
To keep from going into so much detail and to keep this post from getting too long, I will just add links to most of the houses that we saw.
Next was the Briggs Staub House that was built in 1849.
Next was Our Mother of Perpetual Help. This house was built in 1857.
This is one of the locations used in Anne Rice’s novel Violin. Rice also owned the property for a period of time, as did actor Nicholas Cage.
I couldn’t get a good picture with all the trees in the yard!
Next was the Women’s Opera Guild House.
Built in 1859, this Greek Revival mansion offers guided tours, rentals, weddings & other events.
Behind the iron fence stands a statue of Madame Butterfly.
Next is Toby’s Corner…this house was built in 1838 and is the oldest house in the Garden District. It was hard to see!
Next was the Sully Mansion that was built in 1891.
Most of the houses had historical markers that told about the history of the house.
This house is now a bed & breakfast and event center.
Next was the Adam Jones House built in 1860.
Next was the Bradish Johnson House built in 1872 which is now a private girls school called the Louise S McGehee School.
Next was the Archie Manning House built in 1849.
The house was purchased by NFL quarterback Archie Manning in 1982 toward the tail end of his football career.
This is the home where NFL footballs stars, Peyton & Eli Manning grew up and his parents still live here.
However, we somehow missed seeing this house because we were on the wrong side of the road!
We were looking at this house instead which was located at 1423 Front Street and Archie’s address is 1420 Front Street! This house was built in 1900.
This neighborhood had some beautiful, old trees!
Next was the Brevard Capp House the former home of Anne Rice.
This home was built in 1857 and purchased by Anne Rice in 1989. She and her husband lived here until he passed away in 2002. Anne sold the house in 2004. Anne passed away in 2021.
I loved this old mailbox sitting in front of the house!
Near this house and not listed on the tour is the Carroll-Crawford house.
This is one of the most beautiful homes in the Garden District. It was built in 1869 shortly after the Civil War for cotton merchant Joseph Carroll.
The house was being remodeled when we visited.
Walking through the neighborhood
The next house was the Payne-Strachan House ..this house was built in 1849 and is the house where Jefferson Davis died of malaria and bronchitis in 1889.
Next was the Curtius Plunkett House built in 1889 by a retired pharmacist and his sister.
After this house, we spotted the nearby Molly’s Rise & Shine restaurant.
We had thought about eating here but decided to continue our walk.
The next house was the Joseph Merrick Jones House built in 1850 this home is where actor John Goodman currently lives.
On the fence, next to John Goodmans’s house, I spotted a sign that read C. A. Mangin…so, I looked it up and discovered that he owned an ironworks business from 1832 to 1920 and made wrought iron fences, balconies and railings for houses all over this area.
He closed the business in 1920 when he couldn’t find workers….sounds like today! He passed away in 1924.
Next is the Musson House built in 1852 for cotton merchant Michel Musson.
Next was the Robinson Mansion built in t1857. It was recently for sale for $9.5 million.
As we were walking along the sidewalk, I spotted this brick with the name Blanc stamped on it…so, after researching the name, I discovered that this was the last name of Evariste, who owned the Blanc Brick Company back in 1844.
In 1855,, Fannie Labatut Blanc offered land and 300,000 bricks for the construction of a church on Esplanade Avenue near Bayou St. John. This offer would later become the founding of Holy Rosary Church.
The next house was the Koch-Mays house built in 1876 for James Eustis, a US senator and ambassador to France.
Today, this house is owned by actress Sandra Bullock.
Sandra purchased this house in 2008.
After this house, we headed back to the Rink to purchase a sandwich at the Chicory House… however, after we arrived ,we were told they weren’t serving lunch so, we ended up purchasing iced coffees instead and they were very good!
Tip: We missed the house where the movie, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was filmed it was located at 2707 Coliseum …right down from Sandra Bullock’s house.
After purchasing our coffee, we headed to the next house that was built in 1859 called the Mayor Isaac W Patton House. He was the mayor of New Orleans from 1878-1880.
As we were walking, we came up on these cool fern covered walls!
We saw several of these metal horse head posts in the neighborhood…there are several of these in the French Quarter as well…those were installed in 1962 so, I’m assuming these were installed in the Garden District around the same time.
You will also find the very popular Commander’s Palace Restaurant in the Garden District.
The restaurant has been a New Orleans landmark since 1893.
Emeril Lagasse and Paul Prudhomme are just a couple of the notorious chefs to occupy its kitchen.
Tip: This restaurant has a dress code and reservations are highly recommended.
See their menu here & read reviews here
Here are a couple of pictures of some houses in the Garden District that were not on the walking tour
This whole area is full of beautiful old homes so, I highly recommend you visit this area if you are ever in New Orleans!
After this stop, and spending approx 2 hrs in the Garden District, we purchased tickets for the St Charles Street Car and headed back towards our hotel.
Tip: Make sure to have cash and exact change when riding the street cars
Tip: The Audubon Zoo & Gardens is 15 mins by car from the Garden District…read reviews here
On the street car
We were dropped off in the French Quarter about a 5 min walk from our hotel.
We walked into a nearby souvenir shop to purchase our typical souvenirs …a coffee cup and t-shirts.
Some of the buildings were already decorated for Halloween.
We decided to stop in at Pere Antoine Restaurant and have a late lunch.
After looking over the menu, we decided to just order one sandwich and split it so we could have po boys later for dinner!
We ordered the hot roast beef sandwich with fries and it was plenty for the both of us!
It was very good!
Read reviews here
After lunch, we decided to walk around the French Market.
In 1791, the French Market originated as a Native American trading post along the Mississippi River. From there it continued to evolve into a cultural and commercial hub for New Orleans, as French and Spanish colonists opened the market up to ships and traders from all over the world.
Today, the open-air market features shopping, dining, music and more.
We spent about 30-45 mins here checking out some of the shops.
We purchased some pralines at one of the shops because they are so popular here but we were not impressed….it tasted like pure sugar with maybe a few small pieces of pecan thrown in!
We passed the Wallace Fountain in Latrobe Park near the French Market.
The City of Paris offered the fountain as a gift to the citizens of New Orleans during the Louisiana World Exposition held in 1984.
We passed the golden statue of Joan of Arc.
We then walked to Frenchmen’s Street after having, two different people in the same day, tell us we must visit Frenchmen’s Street.
This area was full of homeless people and felt very dirty and sketchy!
I was not impressed!
Apparently, it’s a good place to go if you want to listen to music and get away from the craziness of Bourbon Street…we went during the day so, if that’s your thing, maybe you will enjoy it.
Read reviews here
We did see some cool houses on our walk.
And lots of murals
We passed the Andrew Jackson Hotel.
The hotel has been placed on the National Historic Register….it looked like a neat place.
Read reviews here
I was most excited when we spotted the Cornstalk Fence Hotel!
This house was built in 1816 by Francois Xavier-Martin, the first Attorney General of Louisiana, who served in that position from 1815 to his death in 1846.
Elvis Presley lived here while he was in New Orleans shooting King Creole in 1958. The hotel still has an Elvis room, which can be rented.
The hotel’s website claims that Bill and Hillary Clinton, Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman have all been guests here.
This is one of only three homes in New Orleans that has this type of cornstalk fencing.
Legend has it that one of the owners by the name of Dr. Biamonti moved into the home with his new wife but she was terribly homesick and yearned for the cornfields of her childhood in Iowa.
So, to make her happy, he had the fence built so she could wake up to cornstalks every day.
After this stop, we continued our walk around New Orleans.
Later, we decided to eat dinner at a restaurant in the French Quarter called Cafe Pontalba.
We were seated at a table by the window that was opened up to the sidewalk.
It was really cool!
We had to try the po boys before leaving left New Orleans so, that’s what we both ordered.
But first, we ordered the fried crab cakes.
They were pretty good…we had initially wanted the crabmeat stuffed mushrooms but were told they were out of those.
After our crab cakes, they brought out our po boy sandwiches.
There are several variations of the po boys but we got ours with fried shrimp.
We were not impressed at all….the shrimp tasted like frozen shrimp and there was no mayo or anything on the bun…they just gave us one pack each of mayo and a small pile of lettuce and tomatoes to put on our sandwich.
The views and service was good but the food was not.
Read reviews here
After dinner, we headed to Bourbon Street for the last time since we would be checking out the next day.
Once again, it was crazy!
We saw everything from gyrating grandmas to snakes being pulled in wagons!
The best thing we saw was the reflection of Jesus’s statue on the back of the St Louis Cathedral!
After spending a few minutes here, we headed back to our room.
Later, we headed to the pool!
After swimming for a while, we called it a night!
Thanks for reading!
Stay tuned for our time in Tupelo!
Read about our first 3 days in FL here & Click here to see links to all of my blog posts