Old Ursuline Convent - The Quarter's Oldest Survivor
Photo: TexasExplorer98, CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
A stop on New Orleans French Quarter Walk, a free self-guided tour.
Behind the wall in front of you stands one of the oldest buildings in New Orleans, and some say in the whole Mississippi Valley. Its plain, symmetrical front is a rare survivor of the French colonial city that burned in 1788 and 1794.
The story begins in 1727, when a group of Ursuline nuns sailed from France at the governor's invitation to run a hospital and open a school. Their first convent, made of timber, rotted quickly in the damp heat, so this sturdier stucco-covered brick building replaced it and was finished in the early 1750s.
The sisters taught girls from many backgrounds, including enslaved girls and free girls of color as well as the daughters of colonists, at a time when few places taught girls to read at all. The building later served the Catholic Church in other roles and is now a museum and National Historic Landmark. Check the website for current hours.
Getting here: Walk down St. Philip Street two blocks toward the river to Chartres Street, then turn left and go one block to the convent at Chartres and Ursulines.
Did you know?: The school the nuns started in 1727 still exists as Ursuline Academy, now in uptown New Orleans, and is often called the oldest continuously operating school for girls in the United States.
Photo op: Look through the iron gate on Chartres Street to frame the convent's long, symmetrical facade across the garden.
More on Wikipedia: Old Ursuline Convent, New Orleans · Ursulines · Ursuline Academy
Stops on this tour
- Jackson Square - The Old Parade Ground
- St. Louis Cathedral - Three Spires on the Square
- The Cabildo - Where Louisiana Changed Hands
- Pharmacy Museum - America's First Licensed Pharmacist
- Royal Street - Galleries, Ironwork and Street Music
- Preservation Hall - Jazz in a Plain Room
- Congo Square - Where the Drums Kept Sunday
- Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop - A Legend in Brick and Timber
- Old Ursuline Convent - The Quarter's Oldest Survivor
- Old U.S. Mint - Coins, Then Jazz
- French Market - Two Centuries of Trading
- Cafe du Monde - Beignets by the Square