Bayou Road, New Orleans

The statue in front of La Belle Esplanade

Bayou Road, the oldest street in New Orleans, crosses Esplanade Avenue in the 2200 block, where La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast is located.  It merges with Esplanade Avenue at North Galvez Street and branches off again after North Miro.  

When people walk to the French Quarter from our neighborhood, they usually take Esplanade Avenue.  It has a wide neutral ground while Bayou Road does not.  Esplanade Avenue is the main street, even though Bayou Road used to be the only street in town. 

At the Galvez Street intersection, four roads meet, and some people take Bayou Road by mistake.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, but they soon realize that they aren't on Esplanade Avenue anymore and they can get flustered and confused.  It can happen anywhere in New Orleans.  I know.  I live here.

I was walking down to the corner grocer when I saw a couple arm-in-arm look around after they crossed North Galvez Street and head down Bayou Road instead of Esplanade Avenue.  It happens all the time, even to me, but I usually do it by choice.  I like Bayou Road.

I asked them if they needed directions.  "It's that way to the river, right?" the man said.

"It is," I replied.  "You do know that you are headed down Bayou Road and not Esplanade Avenue?" I asked.

The woman said, "Oh."

"Don't worry, you're in for a treat," I told them.  "You're about to walk down a historic street and pass through a historic square that most people never see.  It's beautiful down there."  I really believe this.  It is why I choose Bayou Road when I'm headed down to the Quarter rather than to the corner grocery store, and I have to I admit, I usually walk back on Bayou Road.  I'm a creature of habit who enjoys a varied street scape.

Where Barracks Street merges with Bayou Road, the two form an open triangle lined with Creole manors, repurposed commercial buildings, and tidy shotgun homes, all under a canopy of ancient oaks.  It is a remarkable urban space that doesn't feel like a city.  It is more like an oasis.  It must be nice to live where on Bayou Road where it meets Barracks Street and North Prieur Street.  It is beautiful there.

No pictures of this square.  Use your imagination.  It is New Orleans.  It is magical.  

Consider staying at La Belle Esplanade, a New Orleans bed and breakfast that is located in the center of Esplanade Avenue in the city's storied Treme neighborhood.  Esplanade Avenue is a beautiful street.  So is Bayou Road.  They are different in their ways, only a block away from each other.  That's the way in NOLA.  You never know what fresh delight is around the corner.  You can get lost in New Orleans, but you always find something nice.

A votre sante.