Pitot House

What a great peek into what life was like way back when. Yesterday we visited the Pitot house, which was the home of New Orleans' first mayor. They were hosting a tricentennial celebration complete with exhibits such as weaving, hand beading, quilting, pottery making, basket weaving, wooden canoes and indigo dying. There were people dressed in period costumes too. For years I've been meaning to tour this house and finally did so. Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and was great with the teen girls we had with us. She made things interesting and fun. The house is beautiful and is fully furnished in period accurate pieces. I was surprised at the difference between this place and the grand mansions In the Garden District. Very different. Bottom line is that it's a cool place to pick up some local history. Bayou St. John was a very important area of the city and Pitot is a significant landmark.

I just happened across this small, pretty, yet iconic looking house on a walk. It's nestled along Bayou St John outside of City Park. Worth a five minute stop, if you're so inclined.

Definite ONE STAR, how could you double book an event, let them set up for the event, and then tell them they can't have their acting like you didn't know anything about the event...Paper trail is everything, Bad Business, Bad, Bad, Bad!

The Pitot House, like many homes in New Orleans, is well-aged. The Pitot House dates back over 200 years. I thought the grounds was pretty and on a beautiful sunny day there aren't many places in the city that can offer you a better setting for your special event. With the bayou and the beautiful mansion in the background it is just gorgeous.The exterior of the house is more prominent than the interior. The interior has some nice antique furnishings but otherwise it isn't too memorable. The guided tours of this mansion cost $10 and are only offered Wed-Sat. I would only come here if I was hanging out on the bayou or going to City Park. I don't think it really is a special trip kind of museum.

Pitot house is a beautifully preserved Creole home. It is nicely furnished with period furniture and has been fabulously restored. So why 4 stars instead of 5?Like most period homes, it's really small so touring it takes maybe 30-40 minutes. Definitely worth a drop in when you're in the area, but maybe not a special trip.

This old house is really amazing. What is more amazing is that all the crimes committed to the house (removing of original fireplaces, having to move the whole structure, etc.) have not cause a permanent loss of its mystique and the sense of its place in time. It is real history that you can walk through.

Great old creole house tour. Our tour guide was excellent and answered all of our questions. Some really interesting stuff. About a 30ish minute tour. If you're in the area and the Museum of Art didn't have the exhibit you went there for (curses!), then check out this place!

We took a tour of the house when in town recently and had a great experience. No, the house isn't huge but there is still a ton of history to learn about the area through the house. Jenny was our tour guide who did an awesome job asking what we were interested in about the house (history, architecture, etc) and was sure to include those sorts of details as we moved through the house. I felt it was quite thorough and she did a wonderful job really bringing to life the time period of the house and was great at helping us imagine and visualize the house in its heyday. She answered lots of our questions and was very engaging. The only FYI I would really share is that it is a small non-profit operation, so you may wanna call to check on hours before heading there. (I know festivals can change hours, but it was hard to find any mention of revised hours online.)

My experience at the Pitot House was terrible. I was visiting from out of town and had arranged to take photographs at the house for it's beautiful scenery. My photographer had called the day before to ask if we could take photographs at the house and spoke to an assistant who said it was fine as long as we did not take photos inside the home. On the day of, we arrived and my photographer greeted the ladies in the home and let them know we would be outside shooting. As we began preparing to take photos, one of the ladies, who is the director over the Pitot House, rudely approached us saying we were not allowed to take "photographs" at the home claiming it is a service that is usually charged for. She was under the impression that we would be using our camera phones to take pictures of the home. There clearly was a misunderstanding between us, the assistant, and the director but instead of calmly assessing the situation she accused us of taking advantage of her assistant and disrespecting the Pitot House. When we tried to offer a resolution to the issue, she said "just finish what you're doing and leave." Seeing as she was highly annoyed and unwilling to negotiate with us, we quickly wrapped up what we had started so we could leave ASAP. A few minutes later the director storms out in a rage saying "OK Now it's time for you to go! You have got to go, you conned my assistant into thinking you were just taking *air quotes* "photographs" and you're having a full photoshoot-get your things and leave" This woman wasn't trying to listen to anything we had to say even tho we weren't the ones to blame for this simple misunderstanding. As we left the property, the director started slamming the doors and shutters of the home closed. Since our plans had been ruined by her unnecessarily hateful attitude, we took advantage of taking photos on the sidewalk with the house in the background. Moments later I see the crazy director walking towards us with her phone and I assumed she was up to no good and possibly calling the cops so we headed to our cars to get away from her ridiculousness. As we loaded up, she pulled out her phone and proceeded to take photographs of our license plates threatening us that if she saw our photographs in the press she'd sue. We couldn't believe her level of disrespect over a simple miscommunication and told her that this was harassment. Later we spoke with the assistant and she agreed her actions were totally uncalled for and apologized for the entire interaction. Apparently the director wasn't trying to hear what the assistant had to say either smh. Outside of my opinion of this being a racially charged incident, it was just bad customer service! And I will never recommend using this venue. It all could've been so simple but some people are too hateful to reason with. I'd give it zero stars if I could.

Horrible experience at the Pitot House. Working on a personal photography project with my team of four people. We called in advance to inquire about shooting at the location and if there were any fees. We were told by the person on the phone that due to the nature of our project, there would be no fee as we are not professional photographers. A friend of mine was actually being mentored that day in his study to become a professional. Upon arriving to the location, we checked with the assistant. She let us in and we began prepping the subject for the photos. As soon as makeup was done, who I would assume is the owner came out angrily accusing us of "taking advantage" of the location because they usually charge for fashion shoots. This was a personal project and we called ahead of time to ask, so I don't understand why she approached us so angrily. She said "hurry up. Make it quick. And leave." After shooting for less than 10 minutes, she came out yelling and angrily/loudly slamming the shutters and demanding that we leave. On top of that humiliating experience, as we were discussing the wrap of the shoot and preparing to leave OUTSIDE of the premesis, she came and TOOK PICTURES OF OUR LICENSE PLATES. This is ridiculous and completely unacceptable. I don't understand why she went overboard. She literally could have just quoted us a price and we could have paid just like we do at city park. But unlike city park, this establishment is clearly prejudiced and I guess we didn't look like we could afford it lol. As much as we tried to explain that we were not shooting for fashion or print, she wasn't trying to hear it. This was a completely personal project for team building and artistic growth. Everyone was there by volunteer. The clothes were thrifted. No one was being paid or published. You can't reason with someone who is screaming at you though. If this is how they treat "professionals" I would hate to see how they treat regular guests. I do not recommend this property and will not be supporting their business in the future.