Of some of the more popular New Orleans neighborhoods: CBD (Central Business District), Uptown, Marginy, the French Quarter, and Treme, it probably comes as no surprise that Mark and I stayed in the Garden District while visiting our son Mark Joseph last month (map of New Orleans).
The Garden District originated from subdivided plantations that once lined St. Charles Avenue upriver from the French Quarter. Named for the lush gardens surrounding the Victorian mansions later built by wealthy merchants and planters, today the Garden District is a neighborhood of private residences and B&Bs. Sandra Bullock, Nicholas Cage, and Peyton Manning are among the more notable residents of New Orleans’ Garden District.
We spent our first night in New Orleans at the Avenue Inn on St. Charles Ave.
Our room was spacious, the continental breakfast was good, and we enjoyed our hot morning beverages while watching the street car from the wooden rockers on the front porch.
The remaining three nights of our trip we spent at Sully Mansion Bed And Breakfast, also in the Garden District.
Our room was of moderate size, but large enough for our needs. The inn-keepers Guy (pronounced “Gee”) and Nancy were very pleasant and helpful. The food was good. In nice weather they have seating in the courtyard around the side and behind the house.
Again, we enjoyed sitting on the front porch with our coffee and tea.
Many of the homes in the Garden District are decorated with the beautiful ironwork the city is known for.
On the opposite corner from Sully Mansion, Colonel Short’s villa is enclosed by one of three famous “cornstalk” fences in New Orleans.
The walled Lafayette Cemetery, laid out in 1833, is just down the street from Colonel Short’s villa.
It was the second Protestant cemetery to open in New Orleans, and was full by 1840, mostly with yellow fever victims. Above-ground vaults stand silent within the walls of the cemetery.
Many Mardi Gras parades run along St. Charles Avenue, a main thoroughfare that borders the Garden District.
You can see evidence of Mardi-Gras festivities throughout and many of the photos from my After Mardi Gras post came from our walk around the neighborhood.
The Garden District is a lovely place to stroll through on any visit to New Orleans. I highly recommend it.
See more posts about New Orleans.
Christine M. Grote 
Lovely photos. Makes me feel like I’m there.
Thanks for stopping by.
I love it!
Thanks for stopping by. It was nice to get away from winter for a few days, even if it did pour rain on us most of the time.
I’ve never been to New Orleans but home to get there some day. Your photos are beautiful.
Thanks. You would love to photograph there.
Beautiful houses, Christine. Makes me want to go there all the more.
Go in the winter or early spring to escape the cold. You’ll love it.
i was just there the weekend of Feb 23 and 24 for the Rock and Roll Marathon (kids not me…as i had 2 tkr!!!). We stayed on St. Charles at the Best Western at ST Charles and Foucher. My daughter lives just up the block from there on Camp. Nice to see your pictures of the Garden District. Visited many of the same places you did including the Lafayette Cemetery after a great meal at Commanders Palace.
I think we took Camp St. to get to where our son lives. He works near the WWII Museum and lives close by. I think he lives on St. Andrew St. He will only be there for a couple more months. We wanted to go to the Commanders Palace, but the timing didn’t work out. We heard great things about it. I think it was quite close to Sullys Mansion. I heard their bread pudding in to die for.
Looks like a lovely area.
It is lovely. I imagine it’s even nicer in the spring and summer when more things are blooming.
Beautiful images of a lovely area. You’ve reminded me that I have photos from our visit to New Orleans and the Garden District that have never seen the light of day. Poor things have been languishing in the archives of my computer.
I know how that is. I still have two or three posts I’d like to get up from this trip, and my archives are full from trips we took before I started blogging. We’re like quilters, too many photos, never enough time.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope to catch up with you sometime soon. it’s hard for me to stay focused right now. I have my good days and bad. Looking forward to normalcy, whatever that looks like now.