Social Life in Old New Orleans

Book excerpt: A Southern woman details life in antebellum New Orleans society as she witnessed it in this 1912 memoir. The wonder and beauty of the antebellum South comes alive once again in the memory of Eliza Ripley. Born in 1832, Ripley witnessed firsthand the changing South and lamented the loss of elegant Southern balls and wedding traditions, such as having the ceremony in the house’s parlor. Having spent most of her childhood in New Orleans, Ripley documents every facet of life in New Orleans and along the river, from spring housekeeping to slave narratives. She recounts past journeys on steamboats, which she calls palatials, and her favorite ship, the Grey Eagle, which featured staterooms and a social hall. She remembers the songs her own mother once sang to her and the simple joy of an old wooden rocking chair. In this memoir, Ripley masterfully creates the New Orleans that existed before the Civil War. Her plain but descriptive language captures the essence of the time and the sweet nostalgia of her memories of a lost era.