Amongst the pageantry, music, decorations, masked balls and parades of Mardi Gras, a festive table is an integral part of the carnival party. There are many versions of the traditional Mardi Gras King Cake, though the classic French Galette des Rois — puff pastry with frangipani filling is one of the most delicious and decadent, served with an old-world punch after a tasty crawfish boil, platters of Creole crab cakes, shrimp and grits, dirty rice . . .
Wherever I find myself on my travels in the U.S and abroad, I make a point to seek out museum homes that have been preserved or meticulously recreated to offer a glimpse into the history of a specific place and how its inhabitants actually lived their daily lives. And so I was happy to discover Louisiana State Museum's The 1850 House in New Orleans open during my first visit to the Big Easy, a couple of weeks prior to Mardi Gras. The formal dining room was decked out in the colors of the season, purple for justice, green for faith, and gold for power.
The 1850s House offers a a glimpse of upper-middle-class life in antebellum New Orleans, the most prosperous period in the city’s history.
This particular house doesn’t represent one specific family, though is does reflect mid-19th century prosperity, taste and daily life in New Orleans. The house is furnished with art and décor of the era including a set of John Slidell’s china, Old Paris porcelain, New Orleans silver and notable paintings and furnishings that, taken as a whole, transport visitors back in time.
The 1850 House is part of the Lower Pontalba building. Built on opposite sides of Jackson Square, the Upper and Lower Pontalba buildings were designed and financed by the Baroness Micaela Almonester de Pontalba, whose father, Don Andrés Almonester y Roxas, was a Spanish colonial landowner who helped finance The Cabildo, St. Louis Cathedral and The Presbytère.
Inspired by the imposing Parisian architecture the Baroness favored, the distinctive rowhouses were designed to serve as elegant residences and retail establishments on the lower floors. The Pontalba family sold the Lower Pontalba Building in 1921 to philanthropist William Ratcliffe Irby, who bequeathed it to the Louisiana State Museum in 1927.
To put its timeline into perspective, La Nouvelle-Orléans was founded by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville of the Mississippi Company in 1718. The French colony ceded to Spain in 1762 with France regaining power, on paper in 1802. In 1794 the nearby St. Louis Cathedral was built on the site of an earlier Catholic cathedral. It is the oldest Catholic cathedral in the United States. Louisiana became a state in 1812 with New Orleans its first capital. Napoleon sold a huge swath of the Northern territories to the U.S. in the Louisiana Transfer in 1803.
New Orleans reached around 102,000 or double its 1830 population by 1840. By this point, New Orleans was the wealthiest city in the nation, the third-most populous and the largest city.
In 1849 the state capitol was relocated to Baton Rouge. According to GoNola: "In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Carnival in New Orleans was an informal celebration by individual families. Some folks would take to the streets, going from house to house, to celebrate.
The Spanish, who controlled Louisiana from 1763 to 1803, were much more conservative than the french. They discouraged public drinking and celebration. That let up a bit after Napoleon sold Louisiana to the Americans. By 1830, public celebration on Mardi Gras became an organized parade in Mobile, Alabama. People in New Orleans took to the streets, but in a more disorderly fashion. Beginning in 1837, New Orleans had parades, but they were rowdy, almost riotous. By the 1850s, the city leaders considered closing down public celebration of Carnival."
It was in 1857 that a small group of businessmen, three of whom were from Mobile, took steps to “save” Carnival. The men from Mobile were familiar with “secret societies” and formed a similar group in New Orleans, naming it the Mystic Krewe of Comus. A tightly-organized, two-float parade was held on the night of Mardi Gras, 1857. Afterwards, the Krewe held a private bal masque.
Though the parade caught on, the Civil War and the Union occupation of New Orleans shut down public celebrations. Twelfth Night Revelers would wait until January 6th, 1870 to parade again.
Carnival parades gradually spread into various neighborhoods of New Orleans. The need for crowd control and law enforcement economics forced the city to divert these widespread celebrations into more-standard routes. Whether it is Uptown, Downtown, or in the West Bank, carnival lives on and thrives in the New Orleans of today.
Open Tuesdays through Sundays, 10 am to 4.30 pm, at 523 St. Ann Street, New Orleans, admission to The 1850s House is a bargain at just $3 for adults and $2 for seniors, students and active military. Click here for more info.
