Cajun Night Before Christmas: A South Louisiana Tradition

You can always tell it’s the holiday season in South Louisiana when someone dusts off a copy of Cajun Night Before Christmas, a retelling of the classic tale with a few distinctly bayou-based twists. If you take a swamp tour with us, it’s not hard to tell why this version might sound just a little different than the traditional tale: the Cajun accent of South Louisiana is heavily influenced by “Louisiana French,” a dialect of French that has developed since the arrival of the Acadians in region back in the 1700s. It definitely doesn’t sound strictly French, but it isn’t quite a southern accent either.

Blog, Home Blog, Swamp BlogSarah BarnettDecember 20, 2022christmas, cajun, swamp tour

Christmas Bonfires: A Unique South Louisiana Experience

Families come together between Thanksgiving and Christmas to build large wooden structures, some simple pyramid shapes and some elaborate constructions of local landmarks and more, and on Christmas Eve night, they light these structures stretched all along the levee system, creating quite the spectacle.

Home Blog, BlogSarah BarnettNovember 30, 2022christmas, bonfires, algiers, history

Native American History Month: A Look at the Original New Orleans Inhabitants

You cannot understand the history of New Orleans without looking back further than the European settlement of this area. While the city of New Orleans celebrated its 300th anniversary of cityhood in 2018, the land itself has been home to indigenous peoples for much longer than that.

Blog, Home BlogSarah BarnettNovember 27, 2022bulbancha, native americans, history

Where to Eat on Thanksgiving Day in New Orleans

New Orleans is a city that loves to eat, especially when it comes to big holidays. So if you find yourself in town for Thanksgiving Day this year, here are a few places you can feast. Be sure to make reservations so you have a guaranteed spot at any of these fantastic restaurants:

Blog, Home BlogSarah BarnettNovember 18, 2022thanksgiving, restaurants

Samuel Zemurray: the Banana Man of New Orleans

Peel away at the story of the banana, the most consumed fruit in the United States, and you will find a history of mythic proportions – power, corruption, political coups, and at the heart of it, an immigrant businessman who made New Orleans the hub of his empire.

Blog, Home BlogSarah BarnettNovember 15, 2022

The Best Autumn Happenings Around New Orleans

Since we do not have the luxury of changing foliage to announce the arrival of autumn in New Orleans, we have to look to other markers around the city. Thankfully with a little research, you can find a few things to do and the obvious indicators that it is the perfect time to FALL in love with NOLA!

Home Blog, Swamp Blog, Ghost Blog, BlogSarah BarnettNovember 8, 2022autumn in New Orleans

Daylight Savings Blues: The Last 4pm Swamp Tour of the Season is Saturday Nov. 5

Daylight Savings Time is awesome: All that extra sunlight when we are actually awake and doing something. But every autumn (for now), we must fall back. Standard Time begins at 2 a.m. Sunday Nov. 6 this year.

Swamp Blog, Ghost Blog, Home Blog, BlogLeonard CristNovember 4, 2022airboat swamp tour, Ghost Tours, daylight savings time

The Most Instagrammable Spots Around New Orleans

A visit to New Orleans is a feast for your senses, and while we are known for our incredibly decadent food scene, you will quickly find that the colors and textures of the city mean that photo opportunities are never in short supply! Here are just a few of the fantastically photogenic spots around New Orleans that are sure to liven up your Instagram feed today.

Blog, Home BlogSarah BarnettNovember 3, 2022

Jean Lafitte: Infamous Pirate, Folk Hero, Patriot

One of the most infamous characters in New Orleans history was a man named Jean Lafitte. He was a pirate, a smuggler, and a slave trader — not exactly a nice guy — but in certain circles, he was seen as a dashing and mysterious antihero, maybe even a patriot. Like many figures in New Orleans history, the legend overwhelms the reality.

Ghost Blog, Home BlogLeonard CristOctober 27, 2022lafitte, swamp tour, Ghost Tours, riverboat cruises, pirates

Best Halloween Spooks and Scares in New Orleans

Murder, mayhem, mystery – with a history as storied as ours, it is not hard to find spooks and scares in New Orleans, one of America’s most haunted cities. While you can seek out a goosebump-inducing experience just about any day of the week in NOLA, it is especially easy to celebrate the macabre during Halloween season. Here are the best ways to have a hair-raising experience in New Orleans this fall.

Ghost Blog, Home BlogSarah BarnettOctober 26, 2022Halloween, Ghost Tours

Gators & Ghosts’ NOLA Blog Archive

An uncurated collection of past blog articles.