Nicolas Girod was the mayor of New Orleans, born in Savoy, rich, and absolutely obsessed with Napoleon Bonaparte. When Napoleon was exiled to Saint Helena, Girod and pirate Dominique You planned to sail a yacht called the Seraphine to rescue him and bring him to this building.
Whether the Seraphine actually sailed is debated. Napoleon died May fifth, eighteen twenty-one, before any rescue could happen.
Dominique You — one of Jean Lafitte's top men — died in eighteen thirty in total poverty, at the corner of Love and Mandeville Streets. The city paid for his funeral with full military honors.
Napoleon House has been a bar since nineteen fourteen. The plaster is crumbling. The paint is peeling. It looks exactly like it should.
— From the tour: Pirates, Presidents & Purchase Receipts
