#micaela almonester

[sugarseanomalley]

Micaela Leonarda Antonia de Almonester Rojas y de la Ronde, Baroness de Pontalba b. 1795!

Go off Spanish queen! Louisiana royalty! Baroness!

[tuckersdeslauriers]

Another fun fact to lighten the askbox:

The famous Pontalba buildings in Nola were designed and built by a woman called Micaela Almonester Pontalba.

In her youth, she was married to a family of goldiggers from France. But her mother had an air tight marriage contract made for her, and it didn't allow them to simply take her money away without her signature. Also, she was freaking headstrong.

They tried to torture her mentally, and it barely worked. So her father in law decided to shoot her and then himself, so his son and grandchildren would inherit her money. He shot her four times in the chest. But she didn't die, even if she lost one lung (and would have breathing problems the rest of her life).

It was nearly impossible to get a separarion (no divorce at the time) in French court, even if you were shot by one of your in laws. But her husband made the mistake of gloating when she lost another petition. The court accepted the argument that he didn't "protect her honor" as a husband should, so she got her separation.

She kept his surname and title (he was a Baron), went back to New Orleans and lived as a business woman. She even paid for her stranged husband's care at the end of his life.

She also threatened the mayor of New Orleans with shotgun once...

I think she was an impressive woman!

(Sorry about the typos in the other fun fact. I was half asleep when I wrote that lol)

getting shot in the chest 4 times and living to tell the tale is absolutely fucking wild. this is so interesting! she sounds like a wildly fascinating woman - ty for the fun fact!

[vividexpedition]

The Pontalba Buildings: Guardians of Jackson Square's Legacy

(29.95729, -90.06388) Introduction Nestled in the heart of New Orleans, on either side of the historic Jackson Square, stand the magnificent Pontalba Buildings. These iconic red-brick apartment structures, bearing the name of Baroness Micaela Almonester Pontalba, are more than just architectural marvels; they are living testaments to the city’s rich history and distinctive architectural…

[leluxiboi]

Currently trying to make up an alternate history version of the US for a little oc story for fun, full of fun locations because I said so, and I think I’ll just go with the spirit of “the lush impenetrable jungles of Massachusetts”

Who says I can’t place a long-dormant super volcano in the middle of the Midwest and plop a college campus on it? And name said college after the woman, the myth, the girlboss, Micaela Almonester?

[nerdasaurus1200]

Here’s another little pet project I’m working on, called Fabled Feminists. These are all women throughout history that I’ve designed, and I may one day write a book series about them. We got Riina, Rebecca Lukens, Zenobia, Micaela Almonester, Freydis Eriksdottir, Erendira, Khutulun, Ching Shih, Ida B Wells, and Zelia Nuttall. 

[rejectedprincesses]

Two years ago, I wrote about Micaela Almonester, a tough-as-nails woman from the 1800s who survived an incredibly abusive relationship (her father-in-law shot her multiple times!) to build some of the great architecture of New Orleans. Today I got to see it in person for the first time. Her initials are still in the latticework. http://www.rejectedprincesses.com/princesses/micaela-almonester

[ooscar88]

The Pontalba Buildings form two sides of Jackson Square in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. They are matching red-brick, one-block-long, four‑story buildings built between 1849–1851 by the Baroness Micaela Almonester Pontalba. The ground floors house shops and restaurants; and the upper floors are apartments which, reputedly, are the oldest continuously-rented such apartments in the United States.

[mcrepower]

Violets Hollywood (Disneywood) credits

American McGees Alice as Alice Liddell Teen Titans as Raven Alice: Madness Returns as Alice Liddell Teen Titans: Aftershock as Raven Thin as Margaret Green (Walt Winner) Teen Titans: Titans East as Raven Dark Parables as Belladonna (TV Series, 3 episodes) Teen Titans: Birthmark as Raven The Baroness of New Orleans as Micaela Almonester Teen Titans: Titans Together as Raven Teen Titans: The End as Raven 

[randywillisbooks]

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Antebellum Louisiana

The son of a white man and Cherokee slave, Joseph Willis, gains his freedom and swims the mighty Mississippi on a mule.

Driven by three winds...

* a wind of freedom driving him from North Carolina

* a mighty rushing wind compelling him across the Mississippi River into the Louisiana Territory

* a wind of war fueled by slavery

Rooted in a time of tradition and chivalry, Joseph discovers a land of innocence lost.

His life converges with Louisiana contemporaries, including Solomon Northup, James Bowie, William Prince Ford, Edwin Epps, John Murrell, John Audubon, Baroness Micaela Almonester de Pontalba, Jean Lafitte and voodoo queen Marie Laveau, as well as Texas Ranger Jack C. Hays.

Inspired by a true story

*****

Website: http://threewindsblowing.com/

Amazon author's page: http://amazon.com/author/randywillis Destiny book trailer: https://youtu.be/jkzpyTJfvR0

Destiny is available now  at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1733567402 Three Winds Blowing trailer: http://youtu.be/qbQXzF35aWE Twice a Slave trailer: https://vimeo.com/93896657 Twice a Slave, the play trailer: https://vimeo.com/99360694

Randy Willis's Blog: https://randywillisbooks.wordpress.com

[bespokehandengravedstationery]

Tomorrow, September 25, 2019 at The Cabildo on Jackson Square, New Orleans, Louisiana. The Louisiana Museum Foundation, Louisiana State Museum, Letters Read, Antenna, and stationer Nancy Sharon Collins bring an intimate, performative evening celebrating our love for history and architecture, and a unique understanding of our relationship with property. For one night only, professional actors will read and interpret contemporary and historic communications surrounding the current exhibit The Baroness de Pontalba & the Rise of Jackson Square at the Louisiana State Museum’s Cabildo. This event weaves the legacy of Don Andrés Almonester (1728–1798), his formidable daughter, Micaela, the Baroness de Pontalba (1795–1874), and specific members of her descendent family into an exploration of our notions of property and property ownership. Special guests include emcee Christopher Kamenstein and Grace Kennedy. The image featured is “Spanish Cabildo” by artist Jim Blanchard, 1992. From the exhibition The Baroness de Pontalba & The Rise of Jackson Square at the Cabildo, French Quarter, New Orleans. . . #history #neworleans @louisianastatemuseum @the_lmf https://www.instagram.com/p/B2zPeU4pXrr/?igshid=1sfdijd6mf2f1

[deannadupont]

It is said that when Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville explored the lower Mississippi River he came upon the beginnings of False River. It is alleged that local indian guides showed him a short cut where the river was cutting through a new channel that would eventually isolate False River into an oxbow lake. Bienville was supposedly informed he could save time by using the cut off. It was not portage as well known in French Canada, there was a small channel blocked by debris. He made his passage though the channel and appropriately named the area "Pointe Coupee." The name stuck - it literally means "cut point." Bienville passed that way in 1699. It is also alleged that pirate of fame of the Battle of New Orleans, Jean Lafitte, had buried many pieces of silver somewhere around False River. From 1744 to 1753, Jean Joseph Delfau de Pontalba, a relative by marriage of Micaela Almonester, Baroness de Pontalba, the New Orleans native who in the mid-19th century built the Pontalba Buildings and redesigned Jackson Square was Commandant of Pointe Coupee. About 1776, a Chemin Neuf, French for “New Road”, was built connecting the Mississippi River with False River, a 22-mile long oxbow lake and formerly the main channel of the Mississippi. The post became New Roads. In 1822, streets were opened and lots created at the False River terminus of the new road. Since its founding, New Roads has been the hub of an agricultural community, focused on the production of sugar cane, cotton, pecans and other crops. Mr Harry was our guide at the Pointe Coupee Museum & he was amazing! So much passion about history. He could make any student in a history class want to learn more! The museum building is architecturally significant because it is a rare example of a log cabin type construction in a Creole type house. The original portion of the house dates from the early 19th century. It has a typical Creole plan, consisting of two rooms, front and rear galleries, and a single central chimney. This portion is constructed of horizontal logs with full dovetail corners. There is no gap between the logs. https://www.instagram.com/p/BuCAbmyAmNL/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=z614ooalb0q8

[shalwilson]

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The French Market Inn, 509 Decatur Street

Running parallel to the Mississippi is Decatur Street, with a long historical relationship with the river and with those who depended on the river for employment and sustenance. Decatur Street was once known as Levee Street, as it was part of the first levee systems protecting the fledgling city from the mighty Mississippi. Around 1870, the river changed course and the levee was moved further east, opening up a new waterfront. Levee Street was changed to Decatur Street in honor of Stephen Decatur, naval commander and war hero.

Decatur Street was home to the longshoremen, sailors, merchants, prostitutes and businessmen and women who made their living from the sea. Much like today, the street was dotted with inns, bars, restaurants and stores. Among those stores was a bakery located at 501 Decatur Street. Established in 1722, the bakery was owned and operated by the Druex family. The building was a humble three story brick building that wrapped around an open courtyard. The courtyard doubled as a kitchen for the family and entry/exit for supplies and finished goods being delivered from the bakery. The bakery was located on the first floor with personal residences on the second floor and the third floor was used for storage. A pulley system was used to move goods and supplies between the first and third floors. The bakery is reported to have provided baked goods for the Spanish, and later French soldiers, who were stationed in the Place d’Armes (now Jackson Square).

Around the 1830’s, the Baroness Micaela Leonard Antonie Almonester (also known as the Baroness Pontalba) purchased the building and surrounding lots or use as an inn for friends and family. The Baroness was a wealthy aristocrat and real estate developer. Her father died when she was two years old, leaving her as his sole surviving heir. Like many Creole daughters of the French and Spanish rich, she was educated at the Ursuline Convent. She was well versed in English. French and Spanish. She married her French cousin, Joseph-Xavier Celestin Delfau de Pontalba and moved to France. The marriage was a cover for her father-in-law, who saw the marriage as a way to get the young woman’s fortune. When he could not get the money, he attempted to murder her, but she survived the attempt (she was shot multiple times in the chest). After the death of her father-in-law and her husband obtaining the title of Baron, she received a legal separation from her husband. She is credited as the designer and developer of the Hotel de Pontalba in Paris (the home of the US Ambassador to France) and the Pontalba Buildings in New Orleans (which form two sides of what is now Jackson Square).

The building is once again a successful inn known as The French Market Inn. Its rooms still contain remnants of its past, with exposed brick walls and rusted metal hooks and exposed iron beams. Guests report hearing the cranking of metal and chains…almost as if a ghostly pulley system is transferring goods and supplies from the third floor to the bakery down below. Guests have also heard voices and footsteps outside of rooms, and when doors are opened, are greeted to a strange mist or by an empty hallway. The most eerie guest complaint was the report of bloody handprints being found in the room.

The French Market Inn The French Market Inn, 509 Decatur Street Running parallel to the Mississippi is Decatur Street, with a long historical relationship with the river and with those who depended on the river for employment and sustenance.

[ayeayeayepapi]

In Jackson Square the condos along St Ann and St Peters St are adorned with cast iron balconies with the initials "AP" woven into their design. The AP represents Micaela Almonester, Baroness de Pontalba, a wealthy real estate developer who inherited her father's fortune when she was two years old. As a young woman she was married off to her French cousin whose father tried for 20 years to acquire her fortune unsuccessfully. He eventually shot her four times at point blank range with dueling pistols, then killed himself, unbeknownst to him that Michaela had survived. Upon moving back to New Orleans she personally designed and oversaw the construction of the new buildings within Jackson Square and is regarded as the first woman in New Orleans to wear pants, so that she could climb the scaffolding. You go, girl. 💪🏻👷🏻‍♀️✊🏻 (at Jackson Square)

[bespokehandengravedstationery]

September 25th at The Cabildo on Jackson Square, New Orleans, Louisiana. The Louisiana Museum Foundation, Louisiana State Museum, Letters Read, Antenna, and stationer Nancy Sharon Collins bring an intimate, performative evening celebrating our love for history and architecture, and a unique understanding of our relationship with property. For one night only, professional actors will read and interpret contemporary and historic communications surrounding the current exhibit The Baroness de Pontalba & the Rise of Jackson Square at the Louisiana State Museum’s Cabildo. This event weaves the legacy of Don Andrés Almonester (1728–1798), his formidable daughter, Micaela, the Baroness de Pontalba (1795–1874), and specific members of her descendent family into an exploration of our notions of property and property ownership. Special guests include emcee Christopher Kamenstein and Grace Kennedy. The image featured is “Spanish Cabildo” by artist Jim Blanchard, 1992. From the exhibition The Baroness de Pontalba & The Rise of Jackson Square at the Cabildo, French Quarter, New Orleans. . . #history #neworleans @louisianastatemuseum @the_lmf https://www.instagram.com/p/B2zPS4bphO-/?igshid=1veg0gzmur8w0

[bespokehandengravedstationery]

Join us Wednesday, September 25 at The Cabildo on Jackson Square, New Orleans, Louisiana. The Louisiana Museum Foundation, Louisiana State Museum, Letters Read, Antenna, and stationer Nancy Sharon Collins bring an intimate, performative evening celebrating our love for history and architecture, and a unique understanding of our relationship with property. For one night only, professional actors will read and interpret contemporary and historic communications surrounding the current exhibit The Baroness de Pontalba & the Rise of Jackson Square at the Louisiana State Museum’s Cabildo. This event weaves the legacy of Don Andrés Almonester (1728–1798), his formidable daughter, Micaela, the Baroness de Pontalba (1795–1874), and specific members of her descendent family into an exploration of our notions of property and property ownership. Special guests include emcee Christopher Kamenstein and Grace Kennedy. The image featured is “Spanish Cabildo” by artist Jim Blanchard, 1992. From the exhibition The Baroness de Pontalba & The Rise of Jackson Square at the Cabildo, French Quarter, New Orleans. . . #history #neworleans @louisianastatemuseum @the_lmf https://www.instagram.com/p/B2zPBONJEg-/?igshid=xcmsxo8ivc7z