Glory Days of the Garden District

New Orleans' fabled Garden District was once a vast sugar plantation that was sold and subdivided in 1832 to become one of the most beautiful and historic urban environments in America today. At first, though, it was a suburb. On huge building lots, along wide oak-shaded streets the newly-minted millionaires of the antebellum South could display their wealth with palatial homes, extravagant architecture and lush gardens. Most of these houses survive, lovingly preserved by present-day owners. And each has a story. Starting from the heart of the district at Washington Avenue and Prytania Street and ending at the grandest home of all -- the 21, 000-square-foot Buckner Mansion on Jackson Avenue -- the fascinating history of wealth and misery in 19th Century New Orleans unfolds over a short walk of seven or eight blocks.