Alt Route Via New Orleans

There is an unmarked red button hidden over Houston's Buffalo Bayou that is just begging to pushed...
Look for the red button under the Preston Street Bridge.

http://www.wafb.com/story/19946690/haunting-experiences-at-la-old-state-capitol

The plantation house, first a cottage, is one of the earliest buildings in the present-day city of Baton Rouge.

New Orleans is home to America’s first cocktail, the Sazerac. Originally a mix of cognac and a local bitters recipe from French Quarter druggist Antoine Amedie Peychaud, the drink became all the rage in New Orleans in the 1850s. Legend has it, Peychaud served his mixed drink in a large egg cup, called a “Coqutier,” from which we get the word cocktail. Today made with Sazerac rye whiskey instead of brandy, the cocktail has it’s spiritual home at the sumptuous Sazerac Bar in the Roosevelt Hotel.

Originally built in 1797 as the home of New Orleans mayor Nicholas Giroud, the building received its name due to a bizarre plot conceived in the 1820s to spring Napoleon Bonaparte from his exile on the island of Saint Helena. The plan was to help the deposed emperor escape and bring him to the New World, and the first floor of the building was set aside to be his home.

The plot was hatched In 1821, with one of the conspirators being the infamous Louisiana pirate, Jean Lafitte. Legend has it that the boat sent to fetch Napoleon was a week out at sea when the news arrived that Bonaparte had died… depriving the Vieux Carre the opportunity to have the Little Corsican walk its famous cobbled streets.

The first church on the site was built in 1718; the third, built in 1789, was raised to cathedral rank in 1793

The cathedral is said to be haunted by Fr. Antonio de Sedella, more commonly known as Père Antoine. He was a priest at the cathedral and his body is buried within the church. He is said to walk the alley named after him next to the cathedral in the early mornings.[citation needed] Accounts of his apparitions by parishioners and tourists claim that he appears during Christmas Midnight Mass near the left side of the altar, holding a candle.[3]

The cathedral is also said to be haunted by Père Dagobert, a monk who resided in the church. It is said that his voice can be heard chanting the Kyrie on rainy days.[4]

The original Cabildo was destroyed in the Great New Orleans Fire (1788). The Cabildo was rebuilt between 1795–99 as the home of the Spanish municipal government in New Orleans, in 1821 Spanish coat of arms removed from the façade pediment and replaced with the extant American eagle with cannon balls by the Italian sculptor Pietro Cardelli and the third floor with mansard roof was later added in 1994 after a fire, in French style. The building took its name from the governing body who met there—the "Illustrious Cabildo," or city council. The Cabildo was the site of the Louisiana Purchase transfer ceremonies late in 1803, and continued to be used by the New Orleans city council until the mid-1850s.

The building's main hall, the Sala Capitular ("Meeting Room"), was originally utilized as a courtroom. The Spanish used the courtroom from 1799 to 1803, and from 1803 to 1812 it was used by the Louisiana territorial superior court. During the years between 1868 and 1910, the Cabildo was the seat of the Louisiana Supreme Court.[3] The Sala Capitular was the site of several landmark court cases, including Plessy v. Ferguson.

Pat O'Brien's Bar is a bar located in New Orleans, Louisiana that began operation as a legal liquor establishment on December 3, 1933, at the intersection of Royal and St. Peter streets in the French Quarter.[1] Before that, during Prohibition the bar was known as Mr. O'Brien's Club Tipperary; the password "storm's brewin'" was required to gain entrance to the establishment. In December 1942 it moved to its present location at 718 St. Peter Street, into a historic building dating from 1791.[2] Pat O'Brien's is home to the original flaming fountain (located in the courtyard) and the hurricane cocktail. There is also a piano bar, featuring twin "dueling" pianos where local entertainers take song requests. The dueling piano bar is thought to be the first of its kind.[3]