New Orleans, La.
NPS Website; Local Website
WHAT IS IT?One of six separate National Park Sites dedicated to preserving the “natural and cultural resources of the Mississippi Delta region”. The French Quarter (Vieux Carré or “old square”) portion of the Park protects and aims to explain one of the oldest and most interesting of America’s town squares.
BEAUTY (8/10)
All senses are activated here in the French Quarter. Wonderful smells of fried and sugared donuts and hickory coffee mix with the sour stench of Bourbon Street. Beautifully ornate, century-old balconies overlook gaudy storefronts selling plastic trinkets. Street musicians create a cacophony of horns, guitars, makeshift percussion. The French Quarter is beautiful in an electric, dirty kind of way.
The Jean Lafitte VC blends into these surroundings and has its own brick carriageway complete with small garden and fountain. Waiting in the VC’s inner courtyard gives one a sense of what it is like inside the walls of the Spanish-influenced homes of the Quarter, all of which contain inner sanctums safe from the bustle outside.
HISTORICAL INTEREST (4/10)
You cannot walk through New Orleans – along the Mississippi and through the French Quarter’s narrow streets – without sensing a rich, mysterious history. From the Spanish Colonial-style buildings to the victorious Andrew Jackson statue to the riverboat’s dirty grandeur, the past is alive. Sadly, the NPS Site dedicated to preserving and documenting the Vieux Carré falls well short of its educational goal. Both the Museum panels and the Ranger-led walking tour hardly scratch the surface of New Orleans’ story.
CROWDS (3/10)The French Quarter Visitor Center Museum is much smaller and much more crowded than its fellow Cultural Centers in Thibodaux, Eunice and Lafayette. Fewer panels, less space and more people do not make for a pleasant learning experience. We were thankful that the French Quarter was not our introduction to the Jean Lafitte NHP.
Because the Park’s intention is to explain the surrounding 66-blocks, walks around the area are necessary. During winter, there is one extended hour-and-a-half Ranger-led tour. The tour has a 25-person limit. The Site opens at 9:00am and the tour leaves at 9:30. We got the last two first-come, first served tour passes at 9:10am. Demand is high. Get to the Site early. We found that 25 people might be too many. Music blaring cars, jackhammers, cell phone users and myriad other city sounds coupled with a soft-speaking tour guide, 25 people and narrow sidewalks make listening and learning extremely difficult.
EASE OF USE/ACCESS (2/5)
The charming narrow streets of the French Quarter are not conducive to easy parking and driving. The uneven brick sidewalks have an uncanny ability to trip up the pedestrian while they admire a balcony’s hanging plants.
CONCESSIONS/BOOKSTORE (2/5)
The Site’s collection of New Orleans-related histories and literature falls far short of expectations. The Visitor Center is not a definitive source for its subject matter. Luckily, the guided tour ends behind the St. Louis Cathedral right next to a used bookstore specializing in Louisiana-related texts. If New Orleans trinkets are in order, bead and feather boa vendors surround the Visitor Center. You are never too far from a French Quarter memento. Just don’t expect to find one at the Park Site.
COSTS (4/5)
Entry into the Site is free as are spots on the 9:30 guided walking tour of the French Quarter.
RANGER/GUIDE TO TOURIST RATIO (3/5)
Plenty of Rangers and plenty of tourists. We were caught up in the 9:30am tour rush so the Rangers were preoccupied with issuing passes. A visit later in the day might elicit more attention.
TOURS/CLASSES (3/10)You would think that the focus of the Ranger-led tour would not be wrought iron vs. cast iron. As in “Look at that balcony. What kind of iron is that?” ad nauseum. But it was. Our tour was an endless stream of condescension; 90 minutes of a middle school level lesson. The superficial seminar we received in the French Quarter is a decided exception to the stellar, respectfully educational talks we have received at most other National Park Sites. We do not understand why the Site believes it needs to dumb down this particular tour.
When you can fight through the crowds around them, the Museum panels are actually quite good. They are similar to the one’s that appear at the other Jean Lafitte NHP Cultural Centers.
FUN (4/10)
Maybe it was because we spent 10 minutes of the 90-minute tour doing the obligatory, “Where y’all from?” Maybe it was because we spent the next five minutes getting a New Orleans lingo lesson from our Ranger, who was from Iowa. Or maybe it was because we were led in circles around a magical place and all we learned was the difference between a terrace and a balcony. The Ranger-led NHP tour was our least favorite New Orleans activity.
That being said, it was free and we didn’t hear any gems of knowledge coming from the ever-present horse-drawn carriage tours or some of the costumed, (not free) walking tours that we overheard.
WOULD WE RECOMMEND? (4/10)Should you go to the French Quarter section of New Orleans? A resounding YES! The absurdly disgusting decadence of Bourbon Street, the sugary goodness of Café Du Monde’s beignets, the tropical colonialism of Jackson Square, the ubiquitous Dixieland jazz musical background, the Spanish architecture and the permanent sense of foreignness are all American treasures.
Should you go to the French Quarter portion of Jean Lafitte NHP? Probably not, unless you want to cash in on a free sub-par tour of the area. We think it is New Orleans’ only free tour. If you want Louisiana history, you would probably be better off going to the Cabildo, located right next to St. Louis Cathedral on Jackson Square, as well as the other buildings that are a part of the Louisiana State Museum system.
TOTAL 37/80
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