THE BADLY BEHAVED WOMEN WHO MADE NEW ORLEANS TOUR
New Orleans Tours
Small group tour, customized for you
Bar break at Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop
Exciting history & hilarious scandal
In the years surrounding our city's founding in 1718, hundreds of women were falsely arrested and shipped to the frontier colony of New Orleans with no resources and no hope. They survived and became our city's founding mothers.
Later, at the turn of the century, brothel queens decked in diamonds lived in palaces of marble and mahogany -- and the early pioneers of jazz music entertained in their bars. There was even a circus brothel, with onstage performances!
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We'll also discuss a other famous women who broke all the rules, like the Baroness Pontalba, Voudou Queen Marie Laveaux, and more!
We share laughs and answer the group's questions. Our tours bring these incredible time periods to like with fun extras like a book of visuals, a take-home Polaroid of your group, & more!
CALENDAR
"Spectacular tour full of many details. This tour was one of the most engaging and enjoyable tours we’ve ever taken. The stories were detailed and exciting. Our guide had numerous supplementary images to supplement and place into context the stories of these remarkable and powerful women. Our stops were well planned. Overall, I can’t say enough about this well thought out tour."
TOUR ITINERARY
Part One
We begin with refreshments, coffee or cocktails are both available! Then we'll see vice districts like Gallatin St., the roughest street in the U.S. in the 1800s. We'll see old brothels, hear how our early French king Louis XV became a sex trafficker, and even wrapped the Ursulines nuns up in his bizarre schemes!
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We'll see real brothels of the past, even one reported to be the House of the Rising Sun (or is it "rising son"?). Hear about the many famous and respectable citizens who knowingly rented to madams and profited immensely off prostitution.
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Hear about Marie Laveau, our famous Voudou queen -- wait, what is she doing on this tour? She wasn't a... high-end madam whose clients were the most powerful men in the city? Let's talk. On this tour, you get the real New Orleans history, not fit to print on most tours.
1 Hour
Cocktail Break!
We'll visit three bars along the way, two with suggested historic cocktails like the Vieux Carre and Sazerac!
10 Minutes
Part Two
See old Basin St., where our first madams hung red lanterns outside of old wooden shacks in the French colonies. Blocks away, see Storyville, our turn-of-the-century red light district, where Madams ruled like queens, in palaces of marble, walnut, and mahogany. They made millions and controlled New Orleans politics. Even before prostitution was legal, a queen-madam killed her U.S. Senator lover in the city and got off scot free!
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These pleasure-palaces weren't built to last, there's not much Storyville architecture left to see. Instead, we take you to Louis Armstrong Park, which overlooks Basin St. and what used to be Storyville, where there's usually plenty of seating where we can show you photos of the wildest madams you've ever heard of, their brothels, and discuss the rich history of the place. We've authored a number of five-star tours, and there's really nothing like this one! It's our favorite!
1 Hour
