Chartier Concession
New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana
Marker Inscription
Chartier Concession. Pierre Chartier de Baulne, French Louisiana attorney general in 1719, held the earliest land grant at the former village of the Colapissas on Chapitoulas (Metairie) Road. His family first colonists to live nearby. Erected by Jefferson Parish Historical Commission.
Erected by Jefferson Parish Historical Commission
The Story
In 1719, in the earliest years of French Louisiana, the colony's attorney general Pierre Chartier de Baulne secured the first land grant along Chapitoulas Road, at the former village of the Colapissa people. His family were among the first colonists to settle the area that would grow into greater New Orleans. The concession marks where European agriculture began overwriting an Indigenous landscape.
Why it matters
It documents the collision of French colonial land grants with Native settlement at the very moment New Orleans was being founded on the Mississippi.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Pierre Chartier de Baulne
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Edgar Degas
New Orleans, LA
The French Impressionist Edgar Degas had deep New Orleans roots through his mother's Creole family, the Mussons, and this house connects him to that heritage. The property passed through prominent local hands, including a figure tied to the 1803 transfer of Louisiana from France to the United States. Degas's ownership ended when the house was sold in 1866, and it was later honored as a National Landmark in 1978.
Madame John's Legacy
New Orleans, LA
Known as 'Madame John's Legacy,' this French colonial home was built in 1788 for the Spanish army captain Don Manuel Lanzos, on a site occupied since about 1725. It was the birthplace of Renato Beluche (1781–1860), a Baratarian associate of Jean Lafitte who fought in the Battle of New Orleans and later became an admiral in the Venezuelan navy. The earlier house here belonged to Jean Pascal, a sailor killed in the 1729 Natchez uprising, and the property took its literary nickname from a George W. Cable story before passing to the Louisiana State Museum.
John Paul II
New Orleans, LA
During his second pastoral journey across the United States, Pope John Paul II stopped in New Orleans in September 1987, worshipping with clergy and religious inside the historic Cathedral-Basilica of St. Louis. His visit drew crowds to the Crescent City and marked a moment of celebration for one of America's oldest Catholic communities. The plaque records the occasion at the very altar where he prayed.
Cathedral of St. Louis, King of France
New Orleans, LA
On this spot in New Orleans' Vieux Carré, a French colonial church first rose in the 1720s, only to burn in the catastrophic fire of 1788. A generous benefactor funded its grand successor, dedicated on Christmas Eve 1794, which was later enlarged and largely rebuilt at mid-century into the landmark that presides over Jackson Square today. Raised to a cathedral and eventually honored as a minor basilica, it has anchored Catholic life in the city for nearly three centuries.