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About French Quarter
The French Quarter--some 90 blocks between Canal Street, Rampart Street, Esplanade Avenue and the Mississippi River--represents the original French Colonial settlement of Nouvelle Orleans. Known as the Vieux Carré (VOO cah-RAY) or "old square," the Quarter was laid out by military engineers in a simple gridiron pattern with straight, narrow streets.
In many ways the French Quarter remains the true heart of the city, not only because of its historical nature, but also because it is still very much alive. People from all walks of life reside in this historic area and guard its iron-embroidered architectural treasures with fierce pride, enjoying the Quarter's endless variety with as much gusto as first-time tourists. Hurricane Katrina did little permanent damage in the Quarter, which stands on the city's highest ground and avoided flooding.
Typical of the contradictions of the Quarter is that its architecture is not French, but Spanish. Disastrous fires in 1788 and 1794 destroyed all but a handful of the original French structures. Street names have changed from French to Spanish to mainly French again; the gold and blue signs on the corner buildings indicate the street names that prevailed under earlier régime.
In every doorway lingers the memory of some famous character. Legend has it that on Bourbon Street, near the demure Royal Street and its antique stores, once stood the shop Jean Lafitte and his brother Pierre operated as a clearinghouse for their contraband. Marie Laveau, most powerful of a succession of voodoo queens, frequented the St. Louis Cathedral, Jackson Square and, in her waning years, the parish prison where she consoled the condemned.
Maspero's Exchange on Chartres Street was a scheming ground for the filibusters. Often financed by state and local politicians, these swashbuckling adventurers launched elaborate campaigns for power and land in revolution-ripe countries which were at peace with the United States. One of the most famous was William Walker, self-styled "liberator" of Nicaragua and Honduras. As the country became more industrialized after the Civil War, the hunger for land diminished, and filibustering came to an end.
Although it is only one facet of New Orleans, the French Quarter is the city's great drawing card. Visitors throng to its restaurants and luxurious hotels. They hunt antiques on Royal Street and carouse on Bourbon Street. The Quarter contains enough of the proper and the improper, the sacred and the profane, and the conventional and the unconventional to keep any visitor happy.
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