New Orleans Esplanade Ridge: A Self-Guided Audio Tour

The Museum of the Free People of Color preserves the three hundred-year history and culture of free people of color in New Orleans. The museum explores their history beginning in 1708. The front gallery chronicles the first 100 years, including the period under Spanish rule, 1763 to 1800, when slaves were sometimes allowed to purchase their freedom. One of the most moving exhibits includes a floor-to-ceiling petition to President Abraham Lincoln, dated Jan. 5, 1864, from 1,000 free men of color who were New Orleans property owners.(pass by)

The Garden District has a collection of well preserved historic mansions that were built by wealthy newcomers to New Orleans. The area was developed between 1832 and 1900 and has a diverse mix of homes, antique shops, bars, cafes, gardens, parks and restaurants.(pass by)

St. Louis Cemetery #3 is also known as The Angel Cemetery is located on ground that once was home to a leper colony. Louisiana has long hosted communities for the victims of leprosy and this cemetery began as a burial ground for those who died of the disease in New Orleans. Decades later, in 1854, a particularly devastating yellow fever epidemic left the city more in need of 8,000 burial plots so the priests at St. Louis Cathedral purchased the land for another sorely needed Catholic cemetery.(pass by)