Jackson Square holds more secrets than its pristine gardens suggest. This French Quarter landmark began life as Place d'Armes, a muddy parade ground where soldiers drilled each morning and public executions drew crowds. The statue of Andrew Jackson that dominates the center commemorates not his presidency but his role as "Major General" during the 1815 Battle of New Orleans.

The square's transformation from grim military plaza to Parisian-inspired park came courtesy of Baroness Micaela Almonester de Pontalba, whose father, Don Andres, had earlier funded St. Louis Cathedral's construction. In 1850, she personally financed the landscaping that created the formal gardens, walkways, and iron fencing that mirror Paris's Place des Vosges.

The red-brick Pontalba Buildings flanking the square are America's oldest continuously rented apartments, their cast-iron galleries bearing the intertwined initials "AP" for Almonester and Pontalba. Street artists have claimed the iron fence for over fifty years, creating an outdoor gallery that shifts daily.

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours reveal how this seemingly peaceful square connects New Orleans' colonial layers, tracing French, Spanish, and American influences while explaining how the Baroness's Parisian vision transformed a site of public punishment into the cultural heart of the French Quarter.