Three blocks from our address on Esplanade Avenue, in New Orleans, sits a grove that is home to the Historic St. Ann Shrine, in Tremé.  It was built in the 1920s, a time when the Greater Tremé neighborhood filled in after the swamps were drained.

No story in New Orleans is simple.  I will be talking to somebody visiting from out of town, answering a question, and, when I look at them, I realize that I have to start all over again.  Conversations in New Orleans often end in blank looks until you learn to speak the language.  Things are different here, with many, may layers.  Many of them are left unsaid, so, out of necessity, I will skip them here.

A story in New Orleans, like a day, can last for as little or as long as you like.

The St. Ann Shrine on Ursulines Avenue is open Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings.  It is a reproduction of the grotto in Lourdes.  The fenced in yard is full of statuary and the shrine, itself, is maintained by volunteers, many of which live in the St. Ann Apartments next door.  The senior housing building used to be a school.

It happens, probably more often than it should.

St. Ann was Mary’s mother.  Mary was the mother of Jesus.  I sometimes have to explain that part, too.

St. Ann Church used to be a block away, but it’s now called St. Peter Claver.  There is a new school there.  It is also where people in this voting precinct (6th Ward) cast their ballots on Election Day.

Look at the cornerstone of the St. Ann Apartments.  This whole square is dedicated to the honor of the great St. Ann.

This was the location of the National Shrine of St. Ann until the 1980s.  Then, the shrine moved to the new shrine, in a new, modern building, in the suburbs.  You can go there if you want.

For the people in this part of New Orleans, the Historic St. Ann Shrine in Tremé is all they need.  It is one of the traditional nine churches that Orleanians visit on Good Friday.  Even though it’s not a church, it counts.

You should go see it while you are here.  It’s only a few minutes walk away from La Belle Esplanade.  You belong here.