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Offered languages
- English
For nearly three centuries, New Orleans has lived somewhere between the sacred and the scandalous. Sin & Salvation explores the complicated relationship between faith, vice, morality, power, forgiveness, and reinvention in a city that has never fit neatly into anyone’s definition of respectable.
Beginning at Jackson Square, guests look toward St. Louis Cathedral while hearing of notorious Gallatin Street and Bricktop, then enter the religious heart of the city through Père Antoine, the Ursulines, Marie Laveau, Henriette Delille, and the Sisters of the Holy Family. Mardi Gras, Lent, temperance, Storyville, jazz, sex-work, and the lives of Josie Arlington, Lulu White, and Norma Wallace reveal a city where sin and salvation have always existed side by side.
We begin looking at a cathedral while talking about sin. We end seated in a former bordello talking about salvation, asking: Who gets to define sin, what does salvation look like, and who gets to be saved?
What's Included
Meeting and pickup
Meet in front of May Baileys place.
Itinerary
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1St. Louis Cathedral
Cross into the religious heart of the French Quarter to explore Père Antoine, Catholic New Orleans, confession, forgiveness, and the Ursuline sisters, whose work in education, healthcare, and care for vulnerable people helped shape the early city.
15 minutes • Admission ticket free -
2French Quarter
Explore Marie Laveau’s Catholic faith alongside Louisiana Voodoo and consider a spiritual world in which Catholic and Afro-Creole traditions did not necessarily require choosing one over the other. Continue through the Quarter while exploring temperance, drinking, gambling, prostitution, morality campaigns, and the repeated attempts to make New Orleans behave. Discover why the city often responded to vice not by eliminating it, but by moving it.
1 hour • Admission ticket free -
3Storyville District
Enter the world of Storyville through two of its most famous madams. Compare Josie Arlington and Lulu White while examining prostitution, race, the Blue Books, female power, exploitation, wealth, reinvention, and the complicated meaning of respectability.
15 minutes • Admission ticket free -
4May Baily's Place
End the walking portion inside a former nineteenth-century bordello. Hear the story of May Baily, explore prostitution before Storyville, finish the remarkable life of Norma Wallace, and sit together for a final discussion about morality, forgiveness, reinvention, saints, sinners, and the soul of New Orleans.
30 minutes • Admission ticket free
Additional info
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Tags
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Cancellation Policy
- For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
- If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
- Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.
- This experience requires a minimum number of travelers. If it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund.
- This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
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