April 11, 2009

NOLA Garden District

Autumn and I spent several days in New Orleans, Louisiana. I had to present a paper at the national meeting of the PCA/ACA (my panel was excellent, but more on that later), so we decided to make a mini-vacation out of it. Autumn had never been to NOLA, and I hadn’t been since before Katrina, so we were both keen for the experience.

I snapped over 1500 photos over the three-and-a-half days we were there. I’m slowly making my way through them. These first shots of the Garden District were actually taken near the end of our visit, on Saturday. We rode the streetcar from our hotel off Canal to Washington Avenue — right around LaFayette Cemetery — and had a nice stroll around with out cameras.

According to New Orleans Online:

“ Laid out in 1806 by Barthelemy Lafon as an open, semi-urban system of interrelated parks with basins, fountains and canals, the Garden District was “one of the earliest expressions of the Greek Revival to appear in New Orleans,” according to noted architect, the late Samuel Wilson, Jr. The streets still bear the names of the nine muses of Greek Mythology, and many of the mid-19th century Greek Revival and Italianate homes built in this classical setting remain. ”

It was a pleasure. I wanted to see (and photograph) LaFayette Cemetery, but like the time I visited with Kip, it was closed. One day I’ll make it.