Virtual French Market -- Walking Tour

Part One: Overview

The Vegetable and Fish Markets, circa 1909

The French Market is one of the most interesting places in New Orleans. It's got a long, full, rich history, but the actual buildings have been built and rebuilt so many times in its history that it's the concept everyone loves as opposed to the physical buildings themselves.

Several employees of the French Market Corporation took a couple of training classes I taught a year or so ago, and I asked them at the time what advice they give visitors on how to properly explore the French Market. They both said they tell folks to start at the Jackson Square/Cafe du Monde end of the Market, and work their way down to the Flea Market end. They were horrified when I said I never really enjoyed that method of seeing the Market, and regularly told people to do it in reverse. Well, I stand by my statement to this day, and will try to explain the rationale behind it.

There are seven buildings in the French Market: The Butcher's Market, the Bazaar, the Vegetable Market, the Red Stores, the Cuisine Market, the Farmer's Market, and the Flea Market. In days now long gone by, all these buildings bustled with the activity of a working outdoor market. People bought their meat fresh from the butchers, walked back to Fish Market (now the Cuisine Market) for seafood, and picked up produce from the vegetable dealers in that building. The entire length of the Market, from the Square to Barracks was alive with the commerce involved in daily life. Times have changed, and we don't make our groceries that way anymore. Even if we did, there aren't enough people residing in the Quarter to justify a market of the size of the French Market. This isn't a new phenomenon, but something that's been evolving since the 1960s and the growth of the supermarket. By the time of the major renovation of the French Market that took place in the 1970s, the decision was made to convert a good bit of the square footage of the market into retail shop space. As a result, the beautiful colonnades of the Butchers' Market and Bazaar no longer house merchants selling groceries, but rather the kind of wares more popular with visitors than locals.

That's not the way to experience the French Market. It's too sterile, doesn't offer any of the excitement one receives when one reads a novel of older times in the Vieux Carre. To capture that feel, one must go beyond the insulated, air-conditioned shops of the front of the Market and start at the back, in the outdoor stands and tables. Therefore, we will begin our tour on Barracks and St. Peters Street, on the corner right in front of the Old US Mint building.