Jefferson Davis Celebrated in New Orleans

A conference on our front porch

Jefferson Davis, like Robert E. Lee, is memorialized in New Orleans.  There is a Jefferson Davis Parkway.  If you don't know who I'm talking about, I'm talking about Jefferson Davis, this one, the President of the Confederate States of America.  He has his own Presidential Library in Biloxi, Miss.  

Jefferson Davis' funeral was held in New Orleans, at Confederate Hall, which most people think of as the Civil War Museum just off Lee Circle, across the street from the National WWII Museum.  

This article is about Jefferson Davis Parkway in New Orleans.  Like all streets that cross Canal Street, Jefferson Davis Parkway changes names when it crosses Canal.  There is a South Jeff Davis and a North Jeff Davis.  Everybody just says Jeff Davis.  Nobody says Jefferson Davis Parkway.  At the Canal Street intersection, on the South Jeff Davis side, there is a statue of Jefferson Davis.

The man memorialized in granite

If you go to the Civil War Museum, in the back, there's a collection of Jefferson Davis' personal effects.  I'm a student of history so I find it interesting.  The Civil War Museum itself is an old fashioned jumble of artifacts that people may or may not find insightful.  I don't find them very insightful, myself.  This isn't because I'm a Yankee by birth but only because very little is really explained.

Let me explain.  There are cases of belt buckles next to cases of snuff boxes next to cases of hats next to a piece of a tree that has a cannonball embedded it.  There is very little context to the jumble.  Believe me, as the curator of my own odditarium, which I maintain in our lobby and throughout our inn, this doesn't bother me.  It enchants me and makes me pay more attention to what is on display.  For some people, though, the lack of context, except for the fact that everything is memorabilia from the Civil War, the effect may be more puzzling than enlightening.

The statue in better light

Jeff Davis Parkway is a lovely street, strewn with statuary memorializing other people other than Jeff Davis himself.  The street is named after him, though, so there's no escaping his presence.  The street has a wide neutral ground, where the statues are placed, and it has a bicycle path that meanders down its middle.

It's a nice enough street with a couple of nice bars and restaurants (it is New Orleans, after all).  My tailors are located on North Jeff Davis Parkway.  My tailors are two very nice elderly Vietnamese women located just downtown of Bienville Street next to a music school.  You never know what you'll find in New Orleans.

Sometimes, when I don't have much else to do, I like to park my motor scooter on Jeff Davis Parkway and walk under the oak trees that line the neutral ground.

The sportiest scoot on the block

You can spend all day at the National WWII Museum.  Just ask Jack.  He and I spent four hours there a few months ago and after four hours he said, "I'm fascinated by this stuff, but I'm tired."  I'm twenty years younger than Jack and I said, "Me too."  So we headed back to La Belle Esplanade.

It's the orange house with blue shutters

On the way homeward, we swung a right down Jeff Davis Parkway.  "Who is that a statue of?" Jack asked.

"None other than the President of the C.S.U." I replied.

A monument that few people stop to read

New Orleans is chockablock full of surprises, few of them expected.  Few of them can be interpreted at face value.   The city is a gumbo, if I can coin an unoriginal phrase.  What I mean is that it has a kitchen sink full of dirty dishes full of flavors that mingle with the soapy water to produce something ineffable.  Some people, most people, find it to their liking even if they don't understand why.

The other day, Frau Schmitt and I went to Toup's Meatery on North Carrollton Ave.  We ordered a slice of doberge cake for an appetizer and the waitress commented that she liked our style.  I had a beet martini and Frau Schmitt had a French 75.  Frau Schmitt told me, "I know you say it all the time, but you really are right when you say there is nowhere else like New Orleans."  

When the charcuterie plate arrived after the cake, she said, "We should take Jeff Davis to get home.  There won't be as much traffic as there is on Carrollton Ave."  She is usually right about these things.  That's what we did.  She was right again.

À votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.