Post #145048 by purple jade on Sun, Mar 6, 2005 7:11 PM

The Historic New Orleans Collection commissioned an archaelogical firm to excavate a property it has acquired on Conti Street, which has been a one story parking garage for most of the 20th century. It is believed by the archaeologists to be the site of the legendary "House of The Rising Sun" bordello. The site had been occupied by two hotels successively in the 19th century. The level of the second hotel, circa 1828-1887, yielded little in the way of artifacts, but in the level of the second, 1808-1822, there were items uncovered that suggested it was a a bawdy establishment, such as rouge pots and "tons of liquor bottles". That first hotel was known as The Rising Sun Hotel. An 1821 ad for the "hotel" in the Louisiana Gazette read that the new owners would "maintain the character of giving the best entertainment, which this house has enjoyed for twenty years past", and "Gentlemen may here rely upon finding attentive Servants. The bar will be supplied with genuine good Liquors..."; not necessarily admitting to illicit activity but suggesting a "good time" could be found there. Otherwise, no reference to an actual bordello called The House of The Rising Sun has been found in researching the history of prostitution in New Orleans.

Even more interesting, in the garden beneath several inches of sterile soil presumably from years before the founding of New Orleans in 1718, the team uncovered pieces of prehistoric Indian pottery dating from between 1200 to 1700. This may suggest that Bienville established the city on a site of sustained Indian occupation. There has been no evidence before this that Indians lived in the same area chosen for the city, although an Indian village is known to have existed near Bayou St. John.

I just love this stuff.