Been There, Seen That: Antebellum New Orleans

It was so humid there was a haze. It was so warm, it felt like the tropics. Put the two together, and if you don’t like that climate, you’re screwed. I, however, happen to love it. And I love New Orleans.

Walking through the French Quarter or standing at the gates of Jackson Square, or riding the St. Charles Streetcar down, well, St. Charles Street, you can’t help but be transported back to a time before the “War of Northern Aggression.”

It is 1852 and the French Quarter looks nearly like it does today. Gas lamps light the sidewalks at night, and cars are replaced by horse-drawn carriages. It’s still hot and humid.

New Orleans in the 1850s was a land of paddle steamboats, muddy streets, and pre-Civil War shenanigans. It was also a bustling commercial center for goods traveling on the Mississippi River.

A young New Yorker stepped off the steamboat onto the wooden dock. He was there to meet his uncle, a local celebrity and man about town. The young man to which I am referring is Abraham Oakey Hall, the subject of my first book. Oakey Hall wrote his own book about his time in New Orleans, appropriately titled The Manhattaner in New Orleans, published in 1850. Here is a pic of my copy of that book, first edition.

A must-see stop on my nerd-based trip to New Orleans was not Bourbon Street, but rather, the old U.S. Mint. There, gold and silver coins were produced before the Civil War. I also got to see the town first hand, a town that has not changed radically since the time Hall was there.

You can read all about antebellum New Orleans and about Hall’s experience there in my book, Abraham Oakey Hall: New York’s Most Elegant and Controversial Mayor.