Margaret's Place and Walk / Lower Garden District

Margaret's Place and Walk, also, Lower Garden District. . , Margaret’s Place and Walk , Margaret’s Place and Walk honors Irish Immigrant Margaret Gaffney Haughery (1813-1882), who devoted her life to orphaned children and the needy. An orphan herself, Margaret lost her husband and baby to illness. Although illiterate, Margaret established a dairy and a bakery and became quite wealthy. Her wealth funded seven orphanages which she established with her friend, Sister Regis and the Daughters of Charity. The names of the orphanages are shown in the pavement leading to her statue, sculpted by Alexander Doyle of New York in 1884. The funds for the statue were raised by public subscription after Margaret’s death. The statue was located within sight of the New Orleans Female Orphan Asylum (demolished 1965) and the Louise Day Nursery, which she helped to found., Lower Garden District , Margaret’s Place leads the visitor into the Lower Garden District, now a National Historic District. In 1806-1807, city surveyor Barthelemy Lafon laid out the neighborhood upon the lands of the Delord-Sarpy plantation and the boundaries of the faubourgs LaCourse and Annunciation. Lafon’s classical plan featured a series of parks with basins, fountains and tree-lined streets, some of which bear the names of the nine Muses of Greek mythology.