Landmarks in New Orleans
26 landmarks to discover with Bad Historian in New Orleans.
Cafe Du Monde
A Civil War–era coffee stand that accidentally created Vietnamese-American coffee culture.
Hotel Monteleone & Carousel Bar
A revolving bar where American literature drank — and where Capote lied about being born.
Jackson Square
A statue built by a man who'd never seen one, honoring a battle fought after the war ended.
Jackson Square & Pontalba Buildings
Built by a woman with eight fingers, bullets in her chest, and a shotgun for the mayor.
Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop Bar
A pirate bar named after a pirate who was never here — and who saved the country.
Marie Laveau's Tomb
The Voodoo Queen's tomb — where the X marks are completely made up.
Preservation Hall
A Wharton grad on his honeymoon followed some musicians and accidentally saved jazz.
Saint Louis Cathedral
Three churches on one spot — the first two burned down because nobody rang the bells.
St. Louis Cemetery No. 1
Over 100,000 bodies in one city block — and Nicolas Cage's mystery pyramid.
The Cabildo
Where America doubled in size for three cents an acre.
The Cabildo
Where a shoemaker from Treme challenged segregation sixty-three years before Rosa Parks.
The Old Ursuline Convent
Eleven nuns crossed an ocean and built a colony's entire social infrastructure.
Bourbon Street
Named for a beheaded dynasty, powered by surplus wartime rum.
Brevard-Clapp House
See that house with the Ionic columns on the first floor and the Corinthian ones on the second? That's the Brevard-Clapp House — nine thousand square
Buckner Mansion
You're looking at forty-eight columns.
Colonel Short's Villa
You're looking at the most photographed fence in New Orleans — cast-iron cornstalks with morning glories climbing through them, catching the afternoon
Commander's Palace
That turquoise-and-white Victorian with the striped awnings — that's Commander's Palace.
Frenchmen Street
You've just crossed Esplanade Avenue into the Faubourg Marigny.
Lafayette Cemetery No. 1
You're standing at one of the Cities of the Dead — that's what they call the cemeteries in New Orleans — and once you understand how they work, you'll
Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop Bar
That building on the corner of Bourbon and Saint Philip — the one that looks like it's been slowly returning to the earth? That's Lafitte's Blacksmith
Payne-Strachan House
See that granite marker on the front lawn? The one that looks like a tombstone? Read it if you can get close enough.
Peychaud's Pharmacy
You're on Royal Street near the four hundred block.
St. Charles Avenue Streetcar
You're standing next to the oldest continuously operating streetcar line in the world.
The Carousel Bar at Hotel Monteleone
See that building taking up half the block on Royal Street? That's the Hotel Monteleone.
The Old Absinthe House
You're on Bourbon Street.
The Sazerac Bar
You're looking at the Roosevelt Hotel.
New Orleans Audio Experiences
Visit these landmarks and more on a self-guided audio experience.
Cocktails, Craps & the Invention of Fun
A pharmacist accidentally invented the cocktail. A Creole aristocrat introduced craps and named a street after it. A bartender required twelve minutes of shaking and closed at eight because he hated drunks. Walk from the Roosevelt Hotel to Frenchmen Street and discover how New Orleans invented the good time.
Ghosts, Graves & the Voodoo Queen
Above-ground tombs, voodoo rituals, and the hairdresser who ran the city's underground — the REAL history behind the ghost tour hokum. Walk from a cemetery where 100,000 bodies share one city block through the birthplace of jazz, past a cathedral that will not stop burning down, and into the most infamous house in New Orleans.
Mansions, Money & Magnolias
Walk through the most expensive temper tantrum in American real estate history. When the Creoles rejected them, the Americans built an entire neighborhood out of spite — complete with forty-eight columns, a president's deathbed, a thousand dolls, and a cornstalk fence from a catalog.
Pirates, Presidents & Purchase Receipts
How a pirate, a general, and a fifteen million dollar receipt changed the shape of America — all in one swamp. Walk through the French Quarter (which is actually Spanish) and discover the Louisiana Purchase, the battle fought after the war ended, the plot to rescue Napoleon, and why Mardi Gras colors may come from a Russian coat of arms.
The French Quarter Cheat Code
Beignets, Baronesses & Eight Blocks of Trouble. A woman got shot four times by her father-in-law and built the most famous apartments in the South with eight fingers. A shoemaker challenged segregation sixty-three years before Rosa Parks. A cook chained to a stove set a fire so someone would finally look upstairs. Eight stops through the French Quarter — eighty percent true, twenty percent invented.
Hear the stories behind these places
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