Oldest building in the Mississippi River Valley. Completed 1752.
Eleven Ursuline sisters left France in 1727 on the Gironde. Five-month voyage. Leader: Mother Marie Tranchepain de Saint Augustin.
They opened the first school, first orphanage, and first healthcare facility in Louisiana territory. They taught settlers' daughters, free women of color, enslaved women, and Native Americans in the same building.
The casket girls — filles a la cassette — carried small wooden chests. The vampire legend appears nowhere before the 20th century. Anne Rice set Interview with the Vampire in New Orleans and suddenly every old building had a backstory.
During the War of 1812, nuns turned classrooms into infirmaries treating both American and British soldiers. During yellow fever epidemics, they nursed the sick when physicians would not enter the worst-hit neighborhoods.
The building survived the Good Friday fire of 1788, the fire of 1794, and Hurricane Katrina. It has served as convent, orphanag
e, school, state legislature, and archbishop's residence.
— From the tour: Ghosts, Graves & the Voodoo Queen
