Treme

Just across Rampart Street from the French Quarter, is Tremé (pronounced "truh-MAY"), one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, perhaps in the country. The rows of cottages, churches, and corner stores belie the raucous historical and musical legacy of this area, originally built and populated largely by free people of color. This is the birthplace of jazz after all, not to mention the site of the old Congo Square gathering place for African and Caribbean slaves, and the location of the fabled Storyville red-light district. Through its many incarnations it has remained true to its heritage as one of the oldest African American neighborhoods in the nation. Tremé continues to be one of the great driving forces behind the musical culture of New Orleans.