340 Acres of Green in a City Below Sea Level
Audubon Park stretches across 340 acres of Uptown New Orleans, from St. Charles Avenue to the Mississippi River, and it is one of the great urban parks in America. The live oaks that canopy its lagoons and walking paths are among the oldest and most magnificent in the South — some are estimated to be over three hundred years old, with trunks wider than a car and branches that sweep the ground before reaching back toward the sky.
The land has a history that predates the park by centuries. It was a sugar plantation in the colonial era, then served as the site of the World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition in 1884–1885 — a world's fair that, despite being a financial disaster, left behind the bones of what would become the park. The Olmsted Brothers firm redesigned the grounds in the early 1900s, creating the lagoons, meadows, and winding paths that define the park today.
The Zoo
Audubon Zoo occupies the river side of the park and has been a New Orleans institution since 1914. For decades, it was a modest, somewhat shabby facility — the kind of small-city zoo that featured concrete enclosures and a single sad elephant. That changed dramatically in the 1970s and 1980s, when a massive renovation transformed it into one of the top-rated zoos in the country.
The Louisiana Swamp exhibit is the star — a recreation of a bayou environment complete with alligators, black bears, raccoons, nutria, snapping turtles, and a Cajun houseboat. It's the only zoo exhibit in America where you can learn about an ecosystem by walking through a life-sized version of it, and it gives visitors — particularly those who'll never venture into an actual Louisiana swamp — a sense of the landscape that defines South Louisiana.
The zoo also features a world-class African savanna exhibit, a jaguar enclosure, and one of the finest collections of reptiles in the country. But the real charm is the setting — old oak trees shading the paths, the smell of the river drifting over the levee, and the unmistakable feeling of being in a New Orleans institution that has been part of the city's family life for over a century.
The Park
Outside the zoo, Audubon Park is where Uptown New Orleans exercises, socializes, and exhales. The 1.8-mile jogging path that loops the park is packed with runners every morning. The golf course — an 18-hole public course that is one of the most democratic sporting facilities in the city — occupies the center of the park. The lagoons are home to ducks, egrets, herons, and the occasional roseate spoonbill, and fishing in the lagoons is a tradition that goes back generations.
On weekends, the park fills with families — picnics under the oaks, kids on the playground, dogs chasing each other across the meadows. Tulane and Loyola students jog the path or study under the trees. The St. Charles streetcar stops right at the park's entrance on the avenue side, making it one of the most accessible green spaces in the city.
The Aquarium
Audubon's reach extends beyond the park. The Aquarium of the Americas, located on the riverfront at the foot of Canal Street, opened in 1990 and immediately became one of the city's premier attractions. Its Mississippi River gallery, Gulf of Mexico exhibit, and Amazon rainforest environment bring the aquatic world of the Americas into downtown New Orleans. The Insectarium — now housed inside the Aquarium — adds another layer, featuring the world of insects with a New Orleans twist: the Bug Appétit café serves insect-based snacks to adventurous visitors.
Together, the zoo, the aquarium, the park, and the affiliated nature centers form the Audubon Nature Institute — named for John James Audubon, who lived in New Orleans in the 1820s while painting the birds that would make him famous. It's a fitting namesake for an institution that connects the people of New Orleans to the natural world that surrounds their city — the swamps, the river, the Gulf, and the ancient oaks that have watched over Uptown for longer than anyone can remember.
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