New Orleans is a city unlike any other—born at the crossroads of cultures, rhythms, and traditions. Founded in 1718 by the French, it was named for the Duke of Orléans and quickly became a vibrant port city. What sets New Orleans apart, even from its earliest days, is its deep French Creole heritage: a blend of French, Spanish, African, and Caribbean cultures that gave rise to its unique language, food, music, and architecture.

After briefly coming under Spanish rule in the late 18th century, the city was returned to France and then sold to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. But long after flags changed hands, the city’s heart remained distinctly Creole—rooted in community, hospitality, and a joyful defiance of the ordinary.

While the world knows New Orleans for jazz and jambalaya, fewer know that it was once home to one of the most literate populations of free people of color in the antebellum South, or that its famous above-ground cemeteries (nicknamed “Cities of the Dead”) reflect both French traditions and practical adaptations to the city’s swampy geography.

New Orleans is also a city of spirits—literally. Voodoo, more accurately known as Vodou, arrived with enslaved Africans and blended with Catholicism and Indigenous beliefs. Far from the sensationalized versions seen in pop culture, Vodou in New Orleans was and remains a deeply spiritual, community-centered tradition. Figures like Marie Laveau, the famed 19th-century Voodoo priestess and healer, became powerful icons of both resistance and reverence.

Today, New Orleans continues to be a city of celebration—where the past dances with the present, and every street corner seems to carry a story. We can’t wait to share a little piece of its magic with you.