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New Orleans Plantations

Obie

Obie

Member
Does anyone know of any plantations in NOLA that looked like ornate genteel plantations from the outside but on the inside were houses of ill repute and or where gamblers hung out?

I believe I was a two bit stage actress who might have even moonlighted as a lady of the night. I had a dream in which I was whistling at perhaps a customer below while I was looking down from the balcony. I still love balconies or elevated areas in this life where I get a whole view of the city. There were people playing cards and checkers in the middle of the balcony. And myself and another lady were trying to attract men for something which seemed like a business type purpose. Does anyone know of things like this existing in NOLA? I have tried all types of research and all I come across are the stereotypical plantations with slaves. There were no slaves on this plantation.

For some reason when I think of plantations, I think of leisure - being surrounded by good friends, good conversation, heavy "drankin '" (drinking) and lots of fun times! It reminds me of warm summer nights, sipping some cocktail on the balcony, flirting with men, and a place where time stands still. Not too much work to do, just a peaceful way of life filled with partying.
 
Hi Obie, I lived in New Orleans for a time. I don't know of specific plantations where this ocurred, but it sounds perfectly plausible that it could have. Do you have any details, such as style of dress, that might help find a date? Could the setting be elsewhere in the South, like Natchez? Have you tried looking up other Parishes? Sorry for all the questions - it's such an interesting dream I'd like to help you figure it out.
 
The style of dress I wore was a pink dress off the shoulder with a big skirt. Very Gone with the Wind. I had a fan in in my hand fanning myself. My hair was dark brown with ringlets. I felt like the dress didnt belong to me like it was too big and an older woman had worn it. This sounds awful to say but I felt like myself and my friend (she hada similar yellow dress on) had stolen these dresses from someone else and might have even killed that person.
 
It sounds like you were wearing a hoop skirt, not the bustle style that came in around 1870. I'm thinking this might have occurred soon after the Civil War, and have something to do with the Carpetbaggers. Were any of the men in military uniforms?
 
If you could find a historical society attached to New Orleans you might be able to find some help.


What I find in my research, however, is that usually these houses were well hidden and seldom discussed out in the open.


I did find some information came from local realtors ... it might be a good place to start.
 
Here are some links for you, the first one looks especially interesting.


http://nutrias.org/exhibits/hidden/hiddenfromhistory_intro.htm


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storyville,_New_Orleans


http://www.storyvilledistrictnola.com/history.html


http://historyengine.richmond.edu/episodes/view/4430


THE FRENCH CREOLES


In the early days of New Orleans, the French Company if the Indies needed to colonize the territory, so they accepted just about any able-bodied volunteers. As Louisiana was known for being a lawless and distant frontier, it was soon realized that no decent folks would want any part of it. So, the eager “volunteers” usually came from French debtor’s prisons and houses of correction. Among them were 88 “working girls” who were given a choice between prison and the New World.


In 1720, an agent of France named Phillipe, Duc d’Orleans, put a stop to the practice of flushing out the unsavory elements of France and sending them to New Orleans. Of course, this may be why, among modern, upscale residents of the city, you can rarely find anyone who claims an ancestor in New Orleans prior to 1727!


One of the city’s preeminent cultures are the Creoles, although this is confusing as two distinctly separate groups claim the title. White Creoles use the word to describe themselves as people of European colonial ancestry, while the other group are the “mulattos”, “quadroons” and Octoroons” - the light-skinned, part African, Catholics.


Both groups use the word to differentiate themselves as people descended from the European colonists and as long-time familial residents of New Orleans. Both are very proud of their heritage and their culture often sets them apart from other residents of the city, especially in the historic years of the city.


CASKET GIRLS AND PROSTITUTES


As mentioned already, some of the very first female settlers in New Orleans were prostitutes who were released from French prisons. For those men not “lucky” enough to snag one of these fine catches, there were also the “casket girls”


These young ladies were imported by the Ursuline sisters to provide suitable wives for the male colonists. These upstanding, middle0class ladies were called “casket girls”, either because of the style of hats they wore, or because of their government issue chests of clothing and linen (it all depends on what history you read). Anyway, they first began arriving in 1728 and continued to come until 1751.


However, prostitution had its roots in the very foundation of the city and continued to play a prominent part for many, many years to come.


In 1744, a French officer commented that there were not 10 women of blameless character in the city of New Orleans, in reference to the many houses of prostitution which operated there. We have no idea if he meant this as a criticism or a compliment!


In 1803, after the puritanical Americans took control, they attempted to clean up the bawdy houses and rowdy atmosphere of the city. The practice of prostitution was then prohibited on the ground floors of any building... so saloons and gambling parlors opened on the ground floors instead! By 1857, madames and their girls were also required to obtain licenses to work.... a service which was personally administered by the mayor!


During the Civil War, the occupying Union Army found the bawdy houses to their liking and a string of them opened along the old basin canal. In the 1870’s, New Orleans’ most famous madame, Josie Arlington, formally opened her own bordello in this neighborhood.


Around the turn-of the-century, Alderman Sidney Story proposed an ordinance to rid the better residential neighborhoods of the bordellos. The sporting houses were then restricted to a single area on the far side of the French Quarter. Ironically, the area came to be called “Storyville” after the alderman.


In Storyville, women such as “Countess” Willie Piazza and Josie Arlington ran pash and luxurious houses with oil paintings, fine wines and potted palms. Many of the houses were staffed by the madame’s stunning octoroon and quadroon “nieces”, who were usually girls whose families had fallen on hard times. The popularity of female Creoles of color in the bordellos caused many old-line Creole families to send their strictly raised daughters to convents until they were old enough to marry.


When World War I began, Josephus “Tea Totaling” Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, threatened to close down the New Orleans naval base if Storyville was not shut down. Because of this, the district was officially closed in 1917 and prostitution once again became a clandestine activity.


Most of the area of Storyville was torn down in the 1930’s to make way for the Iberville Housing Project.
 
I came up with the same information as Mama2HRB. Half the B&B's in Louisiana claim to have been brothels. None of the ones I found fit your description. Storyville was the district for prostitutes, and the Blues. They do go hand in hand, somehow. Most of Storyville was torn down in the 30's, as Mama said. I wonder if the people in that housing project have ghost stories to tell?
 
BriarRose said:
It sounds like you were wearing a hoop skirt, not the bustle style that came in around 1870. I'm thinking this might have occurred soon after the Civil War, and have something to do with the Carpetbaggers. Were any of the men in military uniforms?
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OMG yes! The man I was flirting with and whistling at from the balcony was a young man in a military uniform. The uniform was navy blue.
 
So, if you were in New Orleans, or anywhere in the South, it was during Union occupation, or after the war. Respectable New Orleans women wouldn't "consort" with Union troops. They behaved so badly on the streets that the commander of Union forces ordered them to be arrested, and treated like prostitutes if they performed "acts of disrespect" to his men. If you were at a social event, and flirting with Yankees, you were probably a woman of "ill repute".
 
I wondered why the man was wearing a Union uniform and why me, a woman from the South would whistle at a Northerner.


When I had the dream I felt that I was a stage actress who was also a woman of ill repute. For some reason I felt that myself and my blonde friend in that dream were both women of ill repute but we were dressed as proper ladies. I had the feeling that the house we occupied and the clothes we were wearing were somehow not ours came into our posession by ill gotten means.


Also, I felt that my former self did not want my current self to get a glimpse of that life. My old self seemed very embarassed and did not want me to go down that path again.
 
Obie said:
Also, I felt that my former self did not want my current self to get a glimpse of that life. My old self seemed very embarassed and did not want me to go down that path again.
Click to expand...
I can understand that, I, too, had a previous life as a prostitute. In this lifetime I place that part of my life in very high regard.
 
I tried doing some research on showgirls/stage actresses who moonlighted as prostitutes of this time - civil war era and shortly afterwards. I was unable to come up with anything. I was even told by a psychic about this life and everything that I mentioned she confirmed to be true. I hadnt mentioned this life to her at all and she described my dream exactly. She told me to google my name in that life but I came up with nothing. She told me that I was well known for a type of brooch. In this life I enjoy wearing brooches a lot.


I was meditating and asking the universe for a sign as to what my name could have been in that life and while I was playing Scrabble with my boyfriend I picked the word Lenore or Lenora (forget which now) from the bag.


Are there any stage actresses/showgirls of that era in New Orleans any of you can find. Maybe girls who also moonlighted as women of the night. Perhaps any girls with the name Lenore or Lenora. Also the name Vivienne sticks out in my mind a lot also.
 
I have found my best information by far in researching that sort of stuff by talking to people on sns sites and by researching the local libraries for off the wall items not normally found in mainstream.


Also, try a search on altavista
 
Mama2HRB thanks for all your help! :) I am definitely going to look at some of the storeyville brothels. Josie Arlington's bordello looks familiar to me.
 
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