Once again....NOLA

If you have ever gone to New Orleans, you might have noticed
that on opposite ends of Jackson Square are two red brick buildings.
They have beautiful wrought iron work, and for me have always
symbolized New Orleans and Jackson Square. These buildings are
called the Pontabla Buildings. They are touted as being the oldest
apartments in America, but they are really row houses not
apartments....I just sounded like a tour guide. My picture does
not do them justice.

These buildings were built by a woman and she and the
buildings have a story. One of the books I had to read for
the class I took was called Louisiana Women. One of the essays
in the book was about the Baroness Pontabla.

The Baroness married young, it was an arranged marriage.
The Baroness came from a very wealthy French family, the
Alamonsters. Her husband's family, the Pontablas were also
very wealthy. Her father-in-law was greedy and immediately
began to try to take her wealth. He was successful at it. After
all she was a woman in the late 1700's, early 1800's. Her
wimpy husband stood by and let it happen. In a nutshell, she did
something that very few women of the time did....she
sued and took her father-in-law to court. It took time,
but she eventually won some of her money and property back.

Now the Baroness was not poor even while her disgusting father-in-law was taking her wealth. Remember, she came from a wealthy family as well that owned property in France and New Orleans. She came back from France and saw the St. Louis Cathedral on Jackson Square and thought that the rental property she had there looked shabby next to the grand cathedral. With the help of an architect, she built the twin, red, brick buildings. If you will look closely(my pictures don't do it justice) at the iron work, you will see the letters A and P intertwined with
each other. It is on both buildings in the middle of each piece. Apparently, although she and
her husband lived apart(remember he wimped out when his father was taking her money), she
still was in love with him. He eventually went back to France. She did too. She took care of him for the next 24 years until he died. He suffered from both physical and mental ailments. She not only took care of him. She took care of his money and property. I bet her father-in-law was rolling in his grave.

I probably do not do the story justice, so google the Baroness Pontabla. She was a very interesting early Louisiana lady.