Writers and reporters soon flocked to the French Market to document its layered histories , hoping to unlock its immortal mysteries . Adding to New Orleans ’ radiant literary past , the market became a tourist destination for Americans and Europeans alike during the antebellum period . In 1821 , John James Audubon visited New Orleans and wrote of his love for the mixing of African , Spanish , French and English languages and cultures , each responding to the other in a fluid dance .
During the 1840 ’ s , our port was the second largest port in the country and the fourth largest port in the world . Coffee was the main import crop and formed the basis of our port ’ s development . By 1864 , Italian immigrants had arrived in significant numbers with many setting up businesses in the French Market . Throughout the 1890s , the French Market had a distinctive Italian flair to it . Central Grocery opened across the street on Decatur where they continue to serve their world-famous muffuletta .
After more than a century of success and profitability for the city and the vendors , the French Market arrived around 1890 at two extremes . The place was dirty , the buildings were in disrepair , immigrant market sellers were impoverished , yet it was at the busiest and most photogenic period of its history .
Greek-born Irish-Japanese writer Lafcadio Hearn followed his globetrotting heritage and lived in New Orleans for a decade , writing “ As you approach the French Market , you go down
in the social scale , and the price of dinner grows cheaper ,” and that a visitor “ might here study the world .… Every race that the world boasts is here , and a good many races that are nowhere else .”
Turning to the 20th century , Missouri-born journalist Martha Reinhard Field published “ The Story of the Old French Market ” at the height of the First World War while writing for the Times- Picayune . Publishing as “ Catherine Cole ,” she became the first New Orleanian female professional newspaper reporter . In her travel pamphlet , Field reported that the French Market ’ s story centers on coffee . In Field ’ s French Market , the vendors ’ routine requests for coffee ...“ Café au lait ?” “ Café noir ?” fell like a spell from their mouths , a “ familiar monotone ” bouncing from the aging , greyed walls . The scent of coffee filled the atmosphere with a “ spicy fragrance ” that could awaken the city ’ s ancient ghosts in a ritualistic communion .
But no coffee establishment currently operating in New Orleans could have begun without the efforts of Rose Nicaud . A former slave who bought her freedom in the early 1800s , she sold coffee on Sundays from a portable cart she moved along the market . At the end of Field ’ s pamphlet , she mentions “ Old Rose ” and her “ sparkling coffee .” Her coffee stand inspired other female former slaves to pursue freedom by the cup . With its bitterly brewed flavor , flowing majestically as ink , Field regards her coffee as “ like the benediction that follows after prayer .” After generations of Africans and Creoles sold
26 | The French Quarterly