New Orleans was originally founded in 1718 by Sieurs d’Iberville and de Bienville as a strategic port city under the Flag of France for the reigning Royals, King Louis XV and Queen Anne. The port city centered on the Place d’Armes, known today as Jackson Square, and was confined to the area of the French Quarter or Vieux Carré (Old Square). 
Its role as a port city helped draw a mosaic of inhabitants each bringing with them the flavors and customs of their unique cultures.  French, Spanish, Haitians, African Creoles, Acadians, and Anglophons all have put their stamp on the Big Easy.

By the mid-1800’s, the city became the fourth largest in the U.S. and one of the richest.  Visitors would come and be dazzled by the restaurants, chic Parisian fashions, the opera and theatre.

Today, New Orleans is much the same with nationally acclaimed restaurants, museums, jazz clubs and numerous shops that welcome visitors with the joie de vivre that this great American city was built on.

Visitors can continue to be beguiled by the history and thousands of colorful tales and stories of the people who have called New Orleans home, including such notables as: Pirate Jean Lafitte, the Queen of Voodoo Marie Laveau, Tennessee Williams, William Faulkner, Truman Capote, Louis Armstrong, Wynton Marselis, Harry Connick Junior and Anne Rice.