In The Flow of Time – July 22, 2024
In 1798, Marie Laveau’s grandmother Catherine Henry had the house on St Ann Street built. It was torn down in 1903. But I have the 1885 fire insurance map, so I have (a few years after Marie’s death) the layout of the property. By 1900 it was an unusual building, because it was 100 years old. It was set back, it had a yard. We know from eye witness accounts that, again oddly, the Laveaus surrounded their property with a high fence. We know there was a lush garden inside the fence.
From the writer’s perspective, I know this location will be key. Marie grew up and lived her life in this house, except for a few years during her first marriage. I need to have this place nailed so that, chapter to chapter, scene to scene, what people see and what I describe is consistent and matches “reality.” Because, FICTION, built on top of that fire insurance map. 🙂
This was, quite likely, a “Creole cottage.” That is the modern label for a distinct architectural style common circa 1800. That guess matches the footprint on the fire map, and the eyewitness descriptions of the house. A creole cottage is often square, with a hipped roof. It’s one story, Some had a dormer or two up in the attic, the fire map says no for this one. There are no hallways. There are four rooms, two front, two back, each with access to each other, and to the outdoors. Windows and doors abound. They are french doors, with louvered shutters. You can close the shutters for privacy, leave the doors and windows open, and air flows. The kitchen was out back, under a shed roof, for safety and coolth. I haven’t decided fireplaces. I’m 99% sure there were, since we have reporters descriptions visiting Marie at the end of her life.
The fire map (and logic) says there’s a roofed patio in back. Again, oddly, it’s not on the front of the house. It’s on the back, in the private garden and yard. All of this tells me something about Catherine, and the world that shaped a young Marie growing up. They were private people.
Over time this became a family compound. It will change over the decades. The large garden Catherine has will gradually be whittled away. A workshop for Christophe. A woodshed. Outbuildings for the family slaves. A long, thin house out back as the family grows. (Similar to “shotgun houses” in New Orleans.) And, toward the end (if the story goes that far) building two more houses, a duplex of sorts, for boarders. In the 1880 census, a year before Marie died, there were 16 boarders on the property. they had to live somewhere. So I’m (fiction) giving Catherine perhaps more room than she really had. I cannot imagine 16 extra people (including two full families) living among the outbuildings.
So this morning I laid it all out, to the foot, playing architect. I don’t have a story, but I know where it happens.
