I felt a slight bolt of fear yesterday as I signed the papers to my life away, but it is eased a bit with my two new views.
The view of the Crescent City Connection bridge from my back porch
The view of the French Quarter from my front porch
Buying in New Orleans is tough, although I am sure many people from cool cities can say the same. The market is a sellers market, and prices have tripled/quadrupled since we lived her 10 years ago. My old uptown condo on St Charles is worth almost 4 x what I paid for it in 2001. I sure do wish I still owned it! Dave and I were feeling a bit defeated that we would not be able to live in an area we liked. We quickly understood we would not be able to live uptown again because we couldn't afford it. But, we were surprised at how many other areas we could no longer afford.
In the end, we didn't look much further than Algiers Point. It is the 2nd oldest area in New Orleans (the first being the French Quarter). Many of the houses here, including possibly ours, pre-date the civil war. There was a great fire in this area in 1895 that wiped out most of the neighborhood, but the fire actually stopped at our street, and so our house may be one of the oldest around. I am going to have to go dig in the historical archives and give some updates later. This site has a sad history in slavery, serving as a holding area for slaves coming from other countries coming up the Mississippi to be ferried across the river to be sold. It is also an area that was occupied by Confederate and Union Soldiers at different times. There is a guy that digs up Civil War artifacts all of the time not too far from my house.
In the end, we didn't look much further than Algiers Point. It is the 2nd oldest area in New Orleans (the first being the French Quarter). Many of the houses here, including possibly ours, pre-date the civil war. There was a great fire in this area in 1895 that wiped out most of the neighborhood, but the fire actually stopped at our street, and so our house may be one of the oldest around. I am going to have to go dig in the historical archives and give some updates later. This site has a sad history in slavery, serving as a holding area for slaves coming from other countries coming up the Mississippi to be ferried across the river to be sold. It is also an area that was occupied by Confederate and Union Soldiers at different times. There is a guy that digs up Civil War artifacts all of the time not too far from my house.
Algiers Point has won the Curbed Cup for the city of New Orleans for best neighborhood 2 years in a row.
Our neighborhood is mostly amazing. There are many, many young families here. Lots of free-thinking people, which appeals to Dave and me. On any typical day I have spend time with at least 5 different neighbors. I can't think of many days where I have not been involved in some sort of community activity.
We are 2 blocks from the ferry to the French Quarter, so for $2 and 5 minutes of your time, you can end up on Decatur, ready to party without driving. We have the Confetti Kids Organization, our own public library, 2 parks, an art center for kids, and 3 bars (of course) within a few blocks. I now have reading nook in a loft (yes!), a screened in back porch for relaxing nights, and a bunch of fruit trees- grapefruit, oranges, lemons, kumquats, and plantains. Ready to visit me yet?
Give me a couple of months, and then a bed will be open and ready. All friends welcome!
