An author friend on Facebook posted her thoughts on Hurricanes Isaac and Katrina as the former hits New Orleans on the 7-year anniversary of the latter.
As I formulated my response (my mother’s family goes back over 100 years in NOLA), I wanted to get some more information about my late aunt, so I plugged her name into a Google search, which lead to a 2002 article in the New Orleans magazine. I learned (rediscovered?) that my Aunt Mary had been adopted, and had lived for a time in St Elizabeth’s Orphanage in town. The article mentioned the then-current owner of the building: author Anne Rice. I knew that many of her vampire stories had NOLA elements, but I didn’t realize how closely they were intertwined with my mother’s home. Rice and Aunt Mary even attended the same boarding school, many years apart.
We’re planning a family trip to New Orleans in October, to visit my uncle and cousin, and take in some sights. I think I need to plan a trip down Napoleon Avenue too.
Share your thoughts!