Three Great New Orleans History Tours
There could never be one single New Orleans history tour. There are so many things New Orleans is famous for, it’s hard to whittle it down to just a couple. Nonetheless here are three great New Orleans history tours – one to match every interest.
Garden District History Tour
Did you know there is a neighborhood in New Orleans specifically developed to NOT be French? The Garden District history tour is a great New Orleans history tour. We get to experience what pre-Civil War Americans thought wealth looked like at a time when New Orleans was the fourth richest city in America.
On our Garden District jaunt we explore what it was to be rich (awesome) American (cool) and in New Orleans (dope!). We start with talking about our cemeteries, where you will learn about just how we bury our loved ones here – and it ain’t like anywhere else you’ve been.
Then we do the houses. Even the architecture has an attitude in this neighborhood. Why is Greek Revival so patriotic? Why don’t you see many Creole cottages in the Garden District? What the heck is that flower?
Oh yeah, there is always something blooming in this unbelievably lovely neighborhood. Our expert guides can give years and styles and history and yada yada, but hey can also tell you about the verdure and the birds constantly singing in the fabled live oaks.
If you need a respite from the carnality of the amazing French Quarter, a two hour leisurely walk through the Garden District will rejuvenate your soul.
The Local’s Guide to the French Quarter History Tour
This is straight up New Orleans history, though there is very little straight about our history, and being below sea level, there’s not a lot of up. This leisurely stroll through the French Quarter on this history tour, or as we call it the “Vieux Carre” or “Old Square,” will walk you through three centuries of glory and chicanery, celebration and tragedy, ancient rituals and modern music.
On this tour we visit historic Jackson Square and talk about the Battle of New Orleans and the Spanish influence on the French architecture in our unique American city. We saunter along the levee over the Mississippi River and enjoy the art and ironwork of Royal Street.
And that is just the appetizer to this enthralling unrolling of New Orleans history.
Pestilence, Pandemic and Plague History Tour
Being a port city we aren’t just exposed to hurricanes, we also have survived some pretty scary diseases. This great New Orleans history tour is a compelling and fascinating look at how we dealt with some of the baddest baddies in the medical world. This is not so much a tour as a talk show with our guide as the host and you as the guest.
Our Pestilence, Pandemic and Plague Tour history tour starts outside of the old Pharmacie Museum where we go through the brutal state of medicine in our founding year, 1718. After laying out the practices of leeching, blood-letting, amputations and the various poisons people used to think helped medical afflictions. Very often we have visitors in the medical industry who offer their expert insights.
We then walk through the very places where people gathered to celebrate the end of World War One, despite the mayor’s warnings about Spanish Flu and a few days later, hundreds were dead. We go up on the river to explore the terrifying outbreaks of Smallpox and, believe it or not, leprosy.
Prostitution has always been a cottage industry here in the Crescent City, and of course that means the Sexually Transmitted Diseases that afflicted us. How did people deal with it in 1835?
It gets worse – we discuss how the city tried to take on Cholera, and the tragic story of two Englishmen who gave their lives in our fight. Another group of unlikely heroes here were the Ursulines Nuns, and we celebrate their brave sacrifice to aid an often sick city.
It’s hard to believe but we actually got Bubonic Plague here as well. That’s right, the old Black Death visited New Orleans twice! Our response was surprisingly progressive.
Finally we get to the big one – good old Yellow Fever and its yearly ravage every summer. Yellow Fever influenced the entire course of New Orleans history and we get into it.
Whatever your temperament is and whatever your interest is, we at Unique Nola Tours offer great New Orleans walking tours to suit you. We have very talented guides who are at once entertainers, historians, story-tellers and writers. We never put large groups on the street, so your tour is guaranteed to be intimate and pleasant.
