Days and Nights at the French Quarter Museums
by Sue Strachan
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME you took a stroll through the French Quarter, but looked at it through the lens of history and culture? OK, that probably doesn’t make sense, because this New Orleans neighborhood is worldfamous for showcasing these elements — and depending on where you go, it’s more ribald side — almost every moment of the day and night. Instead of dining, shopping, dancing or enjoying libations (which you should do anyway!) take some time to immerse yourself even more via museums where you can learn about the French Quarter’s architecture, culture, art, music, Carnival, and religion, including voodoo. Because these museums have a vast array of items of interest, I asked them to highlight some notable objects or an exhibition coming up. I am also throwing in some ghost stories for fun! Where else in the U.S. can you see a real estate sign outside a building that says it’s “Haunted” or “Not Haunted”? For the haunting tales, I turned to Toast Korozsia, a tour guide with Haunted History Tours. LOUISIANA STATE MUSEUM: ENGAGING THE SENSES OF HISTORY The Louisiana State Museum in New Orleans encompasses the Cabildo, Presbytere, 1850 House, New Orleans Jazz Museum at Old U.S. Mint, and Madame John’s Legacy, which is currently closed due to renovations. While the buildings on their own are integral to the city’s
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history — the Cabildo was where the Louisiana Purchase was finalized — the exhibitions expand our understanding of what made New Orleans what it is today. I contacted Music Curator David Kunian at the New Orleans Jazz Museum at the Old U.S. Mint, who said one of the most important pieces is the cornet Louis Armstrong played when he was in the Colored Waif’s Home. This is an important artifact as the cornet was the start of him becoming a serious musician. It is currently on view in New Orleans Music Observed: The Art of Noel Rockmore & Emilie Rhys and will stay on display after. Museum Historian Joyce A. Miller chose a few things visitors should look for while visiting the Cabildo, Presbytere and 1850 House. At the Cabildo, Miller highlighted Napoleon’s death mask, made from a mold of Napoleon’s face 40 hours after he died on May 5, 1821. Dr. Francesco Antommarchi presented it to the city shortly after he arrived in 1834. Though it is attributed to Antommarchi, some believe Francis Burton, a surgeon with the British army, cast it. And, don’t forget to see “The Battle of New Orleans” painting by Eugène Louis Lami, painted in 1839 and in the exhibition, From “Dirty Shirts” to Buccaneers: The Battle of New Orleans in American Culture exhibition. At the Presbytere is the model of Mississippi RiverGulf Outlet (MR-GO), part of the Living with Hurricanes: Katrina & Beyond exhibition. The model was created by Charles “Pete” Savoye in 1994 to demonstrate the effects it could have on St. Bernard Parish and the Lower Ninth Ward. Savoye campaigned to close the navigational pathway but failed. His prediction of mass flooding due to a storm came true when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers closed it in 2009. Mardi Gras Indians tell stories through their costumes, and in the exhibition, Mystery in Motion: African American Masking and Spirituality in Mardi Gras, it is the suit, “The Last Supper and Crucifixion,” designed, made and worn by Alfred Doucette, Big Chief of the Flaming Arrows, ca. 2000, that depicts the final hours of Jesus. The 1850 House, also located like the Cabildo and Presbytere in Jackson Square, has installed an immersive soundscape, which plays inside the museum. Visitors can “earwitness” fictional conversations amongst the Cammack family and their enslaved laborers, who actually occupied the house from 1850 to 1853. The production is collaboration between the museum and Goat in the Road Productions. Ghost Story: Neither Kunian or Miller have seen them. But Trout Korozsia recounts that the Cabildo, which was once a jail, has a ghost of a hanged British soldier, as well as ghosts who tug on visitors’ clothing while they are
photo courtesy: NEW ORLEANS JAZZ MUSEUM
A dive into what makes them so special—and ghost stories!
