Blog

by Jill Carlson, class of 2013 and Ellen Shubart, class of 2006

Fun. Fast-paced. Fact-filled. 

It was a great trip to a fascinating city and a wonderful return to learning-through-travel, organized by the Enrichment Committee. Thirty-four docents, volunteers, and their companions gathered in New Orleans on April 20 for a four-day visit. 

A single highlight is hard to identify as so much was interesting and new. Rather than the Bourbon Street area, we visited varied neighborhoods, exploring the nuances of French, Spanish, and American control over the Crescent City. Residents consider the city the northernmost point of the Caribbean, rather than a part of the southern U.S. With each change of national leadership, different peoples poured into the city, changing how enslaved persons and Free People of Color were treated and affecting the city’s building regulations and styles.

We stayed at the Bienville House, an historic building in the upper French Quarter on Decatur Street. It’s a charming place with large windows overlooking the street scene. Many rooms have balconies and outdoor seating, and there is a pleasant courtyard for morning coffee. 

Beginning with a tour of the French Quarter on the first day, the group also walked tours in the Garden District, Canal Street (downtown New Orleans), and the architecturally magnificent and oh-so-colorful Marigny District on the following days. All tours were led by great guides and docents from the New Orleans Architectural Tours organization.

We also visited the City Park with its unique sculpture garden and the Longue Vue House, home of Edgar and Edith Stern (nee Rosenwald) and its garden. Both the home and garden were designed by landscape architect Ellen Shipman.  In addition, we toured two steamboat houses that overlook the Mississippi River.

Of course we visited a New Orleans cemetery, St. Louis No. 1, to see the above-ground burial plots and learn about the unusual burial practices necessitated by the city’s humidity and soil conditions. 

The last visit was to the Cabildo, directly on Jackson Square, a Spanish-era building from 1795. This is where the Louisiana Purchase transfer of 1803 was signed; today it is a museum offering art and historic exhibitions.

Throughout the city, housing styles varied from the neo-classical with Greek columns to the unique New Orleans shotgun house where, it is said, a shot from a gun can travel from front door, through the house, and out the back. Other residential styles included the Creole Townhouse, American Townhouse, and Entresol, the latter featuring an inter-floor area called Entresol. These three styles all featured loggias with ironwork balconies that offer breezy, outdoor areas. After the Civil War, Victorian, Queen Anne, and Second Empire styles became popular. 

During a visit to the architectural firm EskeyDumezRipple, we were treated to a box lunch as well as an insight into current building projects that are sustainable and fit into the environment. The visit coincided with the only rain we saw – it began raining as we entered the high-rise building and stopped when we left.

We ate excellent Creole fare at Antoine’s, a restaurant founded in 1840, where a brass band serenades. Other great meals were at The Court of Two Sisters and Landry’s Seafood House. 

This was the first trip CAC has offered since the Pandemic, and it resumes the tradition of an annual excursion organized by the Enrichment Committee. Those who worked on this year’s tour include Peg Romm (our tough time keeper), Barbara Foley, Pam Duke, Kay Ellwein, Mary Jo Hoag, Bobbi Pinkert, Nancy Hornak and Pam Mann. Kudos to all of them for making the trip so seamless. And a big thanks to Claudia Winkler, who made the arrangements for the visit to EskeyDumezRipple.

The Enrichment Committee co-chairs Marcia Ross and Peg Romm announced that more trips – both long and short – are being planned for the fall and next spring. Keep watching The Bridge for announcements!

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