Margaret Gardens

Totally impressed with Anna B getting an FTR on this little triangular park. Both the park and the street are named after Margaret Haughery. The statue in this park was dedicated in 1884 and is supposedly the firs statue in the US dedicated to a woman. (ridiculous, I know).
It’s a nice spot to have a respite. And someone almost always decorates the statue with carnival beads during the season.
I think the thing I love most about this park is that it commemorates an ordinary woman, a baker, who made a huge difference in the lives of thousands of orphans. Good lesson there…

This is a funny little park at a diagonal intersection that leaves a small triangle with just enough room for a statue in the middle and a walkway leading up to it, nestled between Camp, Prytania and Clio streets.
Margaret Haughery was known as the Mother of Orphans, and though born (1813) into extreme poverty in Ireland, orphaned herself not long after, she died a successful business woman and beloved philanthropist who received a State funeral.
Married in Baltimore, MD at age 21, she soon relocated to New Orleans with her husband, hoping the climate change would ease an illness of his. It did not. He decided to return to Ireland, and she was to meet him there but he passed away before they could be reunited. Her young baby passed away, too, and she was again left family-​less.
You might say Margaret ran the first food carts in New Orleans. She had a plan to feed local orphans bread and milk out of small carts, paying for it all by selling those items and produce to the community, all the while giving most of the profit to the asylums nearby. From this bloomed a thriving bakery business leading into several stores and factories, and a fortune she continued to use to feed the poor.
In short: this was one rad lady with a heart as big as the ocean.
Only the second US monument to honor a woman, the statue at Margaret Place was unveiled in July 1884 by children from every nearby orphanage. Worth a stroll and a stop to think about the impact this woman had on the city.