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Audubon Park Review
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Audubon Park
- Address: 6500 Magazine St., Uptown, New Orleans, LA | Map It
- Phone: 504/586-8777
- www.auduboninstitute.org
Fodor's Review:
Formerly the plantation of Etienne de Boré, the father of the granulated sugar industry in Louisiana, Audubon Park is a large, lush stretch of green between St. Charles Avenue and Magazine Street, continuing across Magazine Street to the river. Designed by John Charles Olmsted, nephew of Frederick Law Olmsted (who laid out New York City's Central Park), it contains the world-class Audubon Zoo; a 1.7-mi track for running, walking, or biking; picnic and play areas; a golf course; a tennis court; and a river view. Calm lagoons wind through the park, harboring egrets, catfish, and other indigenous species. The park and zoo were named for the famous ornithologist and painter John James Audubon, who spent many years working in and around New Orleans. None of the original buildings from its former plantation days remain; in fact, none of the buildings that housed the 1884-85 World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition, which was held on these acres and gave New Orleans its first international publicity after the Civil War, have survived. The only reminder of this important event in New Orleans's history is Exposition Boulevard, the street address assigned to houses that front the park along the downtown side.
If time permits, you may want to venture beyond the zoo, cross the railroad tracks, and stroll along Riverview Drive, a long stretch of land behind the zoo that is part of Audubon Park, on the levee overlooking the Mississippi River. This area is referred to as "The Fly" by locals, after a butterfly-shape building that was torn down here some years ago, and it is a popular place for picnics and pickup sports. The river lookout includes Audubon Landing, where the John James Audubon cruise boat (nicknamed "the zoo cruise" because it travels between the Aquarium of the Americas downtown and the zoo) docks, and a landscaped walkway.
- Cost: Park free; zoo cruise $17, combination ticket for cruise, zoo, and aquarium $38.25
- Open: 7-mi river ride to French Quarter and Canal St. daily at 11, 1, 3, and 5
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