My good friend N came in from Wyoming to attend the memorial service for Johnny Ray Allen and had an extra day in the city before he had to head home. Though he'd lived in the city for many years, he was one of those who never really got out of town and looked around, so I decided to give him a little lookee see today. I thought y'all might want to come along.
Slipped down through the neighborhood, past the "Peace, The Genius of History" monument from the 1884 Cotton Exposition, now located on Esplanade Avenue across from the Edgar Degas House.
As with almost everyone I squire around town, I took him down to the Press Street tracks to the spot where Homer J. Plessy was pulled from the train to begin the process that the Citizens’ Committee to Test the Constitutionality of the Separate Car Law hoped to do just that. There we found Mr. Leon Waters of HiddenHistory.us was explaining to a group of young men and women the significance of the place.
From Press Street, it's a quick hop over the St. Claude Avenue Bridge over the Industrial Canal into the Lower 9th Ward, where I always hope to see more progress than I ever do.
Still, this wasn't meant to be limited to the Magical Misery Tour, something I'm damn tired of conducting, so we drifted a bit further downriver to the Chalmette National Battlefield, where, "in 1814, we took a little trip" and General Jackson, Jean Lafitte, Kaintocks, plantation owners, Native Americans, free men of color, Islenos and just about everyone else in polyglot American Louisiana killed, wounded or captured 2,000 hardened British troops while suffering themselves only 20 casualties, thwarting England's plan to seize the Mississippi and divide the new, expanded America.
That's the Malus-Beauregard House on the Chalmette Plantation, Jackson's headquarters during the campaign, taken from the top of the levee. A few feet away in the other direction is a great view of the river.
We continued down Highways 46 and 300 past some of the beautiful old homes of St. Bernard Parish
with a quick stop at the Museum of Los Islenos, preserving the culture of a group of Louisianians not native, nor African-American, nor French, but Spanish descendants of settlers from the Canary Islands.
Of course, in just about any spot, the first place I'll head is the bar. In this case, the Coconut Island Bar, built in 1927.
But our journey is far from done, so we continue east, even outside the new flood control system
to the low, low lands of the parish
until we reach the End of the World.
No, it's not hyperbole. At the very end of the highway in the town of Delacroix is what remains of a marina (destroyed in Katrina, in case you're writing a song), the name of which was indeed The End of the World.
That's it. You can't go further east than this, unless you're in a boat. Which we ain't.
So we have to turn around and head back up the parish. But by now we're a bit peckish, so the best way to finish the adventure is to stop across the highway from the Chalmette Refinery
to the venerable Rocky and Carlos ("Ladies Invited")
where, since 1965, workers from the refineries and Kaiser aluminum, locals and visitors have enjoyed seafood dishes and Italian favorites, including massive portions of their famous mac and cheese.
Now, time for a well-earned carb coma. Goodnight, all, and thanks for riding with us.