The Presbytère Elicited My Confession after Mardi Gras and Katrina Contemplation
I have a confession. My From the Deep research isn’t just a passion project. A visit to the Presbytère helped me realize that I had three separate catalysts and a fourth event that led to the tour guide licensure. First, my sister got married at the Court of Two Sisters a few years ago. I realized how deep and connected the history of New Orleans is while preparing. Next, my family, like so many others, discovered a secret scandal via DNA results that led to a lot of research about where the heck we came from. Finally, I lost my job in May 2023. In a massive round of layoffs, I found myself with lots of idle time and a want for a new career. I would have been celebrating my 10th anniversary this week if I were still working there.
But before that, one leisurely day in the French Quarter, I was explaining the empty lot at 808 Royal to a friend when a group of people started forming around me. This, honestly, terrified me, and I retreated from the perceived attack. But my friend gently explained that his perception was that they were just interested in what I was saying. Interested in what I was saying? My mind cracked open.
I have spent some of my idle time taking a professional tour guiding course and becoming licensed, some trying to decide what’s next in my career, and some visiting all of the museums in New Orleans that I somehow missed along the way. This week, I visited the Presbytère for the first time.
Other Museum Reviews
The Historic New Orleans Collection
Italian American Cultural Center
World War II Museum
Flooded House Museum
Cabildo
Hermann-Grima House
Updated Aquarium
Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience
Gallier House
Ogden Museum of Southern Art
African American Museum
Vue Orleans
The Presbytère
The city was already 95 years old and American before the Presbytère was complete. But the literature all cites the date they started designing, 1791, instead of the date they finished, 1813. The building gets its name, Presbytère, which means the residence of Roman Catholic priests, because Capuchin monks used the land for their homes in the early colony. This building was never a home for the religious. It was a courthouse and a commercial building.
Now it houses part of the Louisiana State Museum, offices of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, and a police office. In addition to the Katrina exhibit, there is a Mardi Gras exhibit in the museum.
The Katrina Exhibit
The reason for my avoidance of this landmark was the long-running Hurricane Katrina exhibit. I have avoided most Katrina related media since the storm. I had no need to relive what I’ve already been traumatized by. Now, it’s nearly half my lifetime ago. I have started revisiting some, like Five Days at Memorial, the Flooded House Museum, and now the Presbytère.
My avoidance of the Katrina exhibit did prove prescient. While I read as much as I could, I was sobbing before the end of the first room. Turns out, I still cannot consume media related to Katrina without having extreme emotions. That said, I recommend a visit to learn more about what happened. The museum does a great job of giving it a human face, explaining exactly what happened, and detailing what has happened since to prevent the same tragedy in the future.
The Mardi Gras Exhibit
The Mardi Gras exhibit has a history of balls, a history of parades, and a room on the Courir de Mardi Gras traditions of the western parts of Louisiana.
I enjoyed learning more about the beginnings of some of the traditions. I was disappointed to see facts like “the only 19th century carnival society that still parades is Rex” without the explanation about why the other existing 19th century societies do not parade. The museum devoted equal space to the gay krewes and the Black krewes and traditions, but no mention of why the distinction of groups is necessary.
The exhibit is a wildly sanitized and almost outdated depiction of a controversial tradition. In this video, I discuss some of the many controversies of Mardi Gras.
- Mardi Gras Memoirs: The Secret Parade
- Red Light Liz and Joe the Whipper
- Cabbage for Money, Black Eyed Peas for Luck
- Two Odd Fellows
- Museum Review: The Germaine Wells Mardi Gras Museum at Arnaud’s
