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Our conference is being held in Kenner, which is just outside the
New Orleans area and within just a short ride of the most famous
street in the world! New Orleans night life is well known, and
promises to be something that you will remember for a long time.
New Orleans was founded in the year 1718 by
Jean Baptiste La Moyne, Sieur de Bienville.
At first, it was nothing more than a trading camp on a curve in the
east bank of the Mississippi River. Later, the city was organized
into a rectangular, fortified community, which still exists today as
the French Quarter. The resulting streets were named for French
royalty and nobility.
As the community grew to the west, north, and east, it followed the
curve in the river, and became known as "the Crescent City," because
of its shape. Because the city was surrounded by swamps and marshes
(with a sea level of approximately six feet at its highest point),
the spring rise in the Mississippi River level, and tidal surges
from hurricanes resulted in the building of levees around the city
and the river. This also explains the ground level "basements" for
most of the old structures in the New Orleans area.
Even to this day, the city's massive pumps and canals drain the city
(annual rain fall can be between 60" and 100"). The total miles of
canals (above and below ground) in New Orleans exceed that of Venice
in Italy.
The lagoons in City Park, along City Park Blvd., are all that
remains of what was once Bayou Metairie. Other bayous remain,
including Bayou St. John, Bayou Sauvage, and Bayou Bienvenue in
Chalmette.
Although established as the capitol of the French colony of
Louisiana, it was actually twice the capital of Louisiana. The
capital was moved from New Orleans to Donaldsonville in 1825, to
Baton Rouge in 1846, to New Orleans in 1864 (during Reconstruction)
and once again to Baton Rouge in 1879. Politics is timeless.
Canal Street, was once the widest street in the world, was named for
a canal that was planed for, but never built, in the median. For
decades, the only use for the median was public transportation,
mostly by the Canal St. Streetcars.
The first New Orleans "Skyscraper" was built in 1807. It was the
first four-story building in the city, and is still standing and in
use, on the corner of Royal St. and St. Peter St, in the French
Quarter. New Orleans also had the first Opera House in America.
The great chess master Paul Morphy was born in the house at 1113
Chartres St. in the French Quarter. Today, the house is a museum,
and goes by the name the Beauregard House, for the Confederate
General. P. G. T. Beauregard, who also lived there.
The French Quarter, also known as Vieux Carré, is the
oldest and most famous
neighborhood
in the city of
New Orleans, Louisiana.
Many of the buildings date from before New Orleans became part of
the
United States,
although there are some late 19th century and early 20th century
buildings in the area as well. Since the 1920s the historic
buildings have been protected by law and cannot be demolished, and
any renovations or new construction in the neighborhood must be done
according to regulations to match the period historic architectural
style.
Most of the French Quarter's architecture was built during the
Spanish
rule over New Orleans. The
Great New Orleans Fire (1788)
and another great fire in 1794 destroyed most of the Quarter's old
French colonial architecture, leaving the colony's new Spanish
overlords to rebuild it according to more modern tastes—and strict
new fire codes, which mandated that all structures be physically
adjacent and close to the curb to create a firewall. The old French
peaked roofs were replaced with flat tiled ones, and now-banned
wooden siding with fire-resistant
stucco,
painted in the pastel hues fashionable at the time. As a result,
colorful walls and roofs and elaborately decorated ironwork
balconies and galleries from both the 18th century and 19th
centuries abound. (In southeast
Louisiana,
a distinction is made between "balconies", which are self supporting
and attached to the side of the building, and "galleries" which are
supported from the ground by poles or columns.)
VISITING NEW ORLEANS
From our hotel, downtown New Orleans and the French Quarter is
just a short drive.
New Orleans proper is served by
Interstate 10,
Interstate 610
and
Interstate 510.
I-10 travels east-west through the city as the
Pontchartrain Expressway.
In the far eastern part of the city,
New Orleans East,
it is known as the Eastern Expressway. I-610 provides a direct
shortcut for traffic passing through New Orleans via I-10,
allowing that traffic to bypass I-10's southward curve.
New Orleans has three active
streetcar lines.
The
St. Charles line
is the oldest continuously operating streetcar line in America and
each car is a historic landmark. The Riverfront line runs parallel
to the river from Esplanade Street through the French Quarter to
Canal Street to the Convention Center above Julia Street in the
Arts District. The Canal Street line uses the Riverfront line
tracks from the intersection of Canal Street and Poydras Street,
down Canal Street, then branches off and ends at the cemeteries at
City Park Avenue, with a spur running from the intersection of
Canal and Carrollton Avenue to the entrance of City Park at
Esplanade, near the entrance to the New Orleans Museum of Art.
WHAT HAPPENS IN NAWLINS STAYS IN NAWLINS
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