Canal Place and Audubon Riverfront Overlook
Why is it significant?
Conclude your historical journey through New Orleans' American Sector and Warehouse District at the riverfront overlook near Canal Place, where Canal Street terminates at the mighty Mississippi River.
Key Facts
| Place | Canal Place and Audubon Riverfront Overlook |
|---|---|
| Address | 333 Canal St, New Orleans, LA 70130, United States |
| Geo Coordinates | 29.95050, -90.06300 |
| Part of Walk | Warehouse and Arts District to Mississippi Riverfront: The American Sector |
| Generated | Generated |
Conclude your historical journey through New Orleans' American Sector and Warehouse District at the riverfront overlook near Canal Place, where Canal Street terminates at the mighty Mississippi River. This historic river landing represents the great symbolic crossroads of New Orleans: here, at the foot of the city's widest commercial boulevard, the French Quarter to the north meets the American Sector and Warehouse District to the south.
Look down the wide expanse of Canal Street: originally planned in the early nineteenth century as a drainage canal connecting the river to Lake Pontchartrain, the canal was never dug; instead, the excavated median became the famous "neutral ground" separating Creole and American cultures.
At this river terminus stands the world-renowned Audubon Aquarium, celebrated for its immersive thirty-foot Caribbean reef tunnel, Mississippi River delta wetlands exhibit, and marine conservation programs. Just outside, the historic Algiers Point Ferry has carried passengers across the river since 1827, making it one of the oldest operating municipal ferry services in North America. Looking upstream along the river bend, the modern Crescent City Connection twin suspension bridges soar across the Mississippi, while downstream, the paddlewheels of the Steamboat Natchez churn the brown river waters. In the nineteenth century, this exact river landing was crowded with hundreds of Mississippi steamboats stacked four deep along wooden wharves, their boilers belching woodsmoke as thousands of roustabouts unloaded cotton, tobacco, and coffee beans from across the globe.
Standing at the river railing as the golden sun sets behind the downtown skyscrapers, casting amber reflections across the churning waters of the Mississippi, the breathtaking scope of New Orleans' history envelops you. Here, the river gave life to a legendary American city.
Linger by the riverfront watching the evening ferry depart or explore the vibrant shops and bistros along Canal Street.