21 Best Sights in Faubourg Marigny, Bywater, and Treme, New Orleans

One of the most fascinating and heartwarming locations in the Lower Ninth Ward has to be the House of Dance and Feathers, a tiny backyard museum, which is a labor of love for community character Ronald Lewis, a retired streetcar conductor. Formed almost by accident—after his wife threw his extensive collection of Mardi Gras Indian and second-line paraphernalia out of the house and into the yard—this small glass-paneled building contains a trove of Mardi Gras Indian lore and local legend. Intricately beaded panels from Indian costumes, huge fans and plumes of feathers dangling from the rafters, and photographs cover almost every available inch of wall space. Lewis, who among many other things can list "president of the Big Nine Social and Pleasure Club" and "former Council Chief of the Choctaw Hunters" on his résumé, is a qualified and dedicated historian whose vision and work have become a rallying point for a hardscrabble neighborhood. Call before visiting to make sure he's around (he usually is).

With its huge, lighted gateway and its paths meandering through 32 acres of grassy knolls, lagoons, and historic landmarks, Louis Armstrong Park is a fitting tribute to the famed jazz musician's legacy. Elizabeth Catlett's famous statue of Louis Armstrong is joined by other artistic landmarks, such as the bust of Sidney Bechet, and the park now houses the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park.

Inside the park and to the left is Congo Square, marked by an inlaid-stone space, where slaves in the 18th and early 19th centuries gathered on Sunday, the only time they were permitted to play their music openly. The weekly meetings held here have been immortalized in the travelogues of visitors, leaving invaluable insight into the earliest stages of free musical practices by Africans and African Americans. Neighborhood musicians still congregate here at times for percussion jams, and it is difficult not to think of the musical spirit of ancestors hovering over them. Marie Laveau, the greatly feared and respected voodoo queen of antebellum New Orleans, had her home a block away on St. Ann Street and is reported to have held rituals here regularly.

Behind Congo Square is a large gray building, the Morris F.X. Jeff Municipal Auditorium; to the right, behind the auditorium, is the beautifully renovated Mahalia Jackson Center for the Performing Arts, which is home to the New Orleans Opera and the New Orleans Ballet and hosts an excellent year-round calendar of events—everything from readings to rock concerts. The St. Philip Street side of the park houses the Jazz National Historical Park, anchored by Perseverance Hall, the oldest Masonic temple in the state. However, be aware that the park is often nearly deserted, and bordered by some rough stretches of neighborhood; it's patrolled by a security detail, but be very careful when wandering and don't visit after dark.

Established in 1823, St. Louis No. 2 includes the tombs of a number of notable local musicians, including Danny Barker and Ernie K-Doe. Also entombed here are Dominique You, a notorious pirate, and Andre Cailloux, African American hero of the American Civil War. Located on Claiborne Avenue, four blocks beyond St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, it is in a more dangerous area of town so it's best to visit the cemetery with a tour group like Save Our Cemeteries.