I'm not entirely certain of the format or intention of this thread, so forive me if I overcomplicate things or respond incorrectly.
We only know the French Quarter of New Orleans is one of the better
parts of the city - don't recall the French Quarter being flooded.
The French Quarter has often flooded a foot or two in depth over the years with varying
causes, especially in the 18th century when there only existed a natural levee along the
Mississippi keeping in mind that a natural levee is created by frequent flooding. It's
unique location at the bottom of a sharp turn of the river means that a lot of extra
sediment has been left there making it the higher ground in the area. (The river has
actually drifted about three blocks east at that bend since the city was founded.)
Most notably, in 1831 due to the Great Barbados Hurricane, the Mississippi levee at
St. Louis Street broke and flooded the French Quarter.
I'm interested in landmarks mostly. Monuments and history about it. And I'm always
interested in seeing before and after pictures of places. And seeing how it changed. (On a
related sidenote; the Back to the future movies are totally awesome for such comparisons
with their clocktower through the ages).
My city has a lot of history in a weird way. It's not really old (since in 1816 we
officially became dutch, and were german before). We're a bordertown. A lot of WW2 history
going on here and some of these places still exist like they were in picture. Just over the
border here we still have the "Siegfriend line" which was a giant line of concrete
tanktraps. No one ever removed those. We have a history as a mining town from the 30's to
the 70's in the last century. Also; local dialect and spots that have nicknames in said
dialect, those make up for interesting stories in terms of etymology.
Im not terribly familiar with Europen history or the "Siegfriend line" but having googled it the images look fantastical, almost like a symetrically weathered cemetery. I imagine it has a great ambience in person and would probably make for an interesting photoghraphy session.
Monuments fascinate me just to consider the chosen construction process at the time of it's building. Such as the monument posted by Cerulean, completed in 1901. (I had to look that date up because I can never let things go until I find what I want to know). Even with Victorian technology I marvel at how and why this was built. Especally since the era was well between two major wars. Monuments, however, usually only illustrate what ideals where being utilized by authority figures to motivate, capture the the support of, or control the masses. (Consider the monuments at Machu Picchu).
Landmarks, I like a lot more. They bring history to life within a specific environment and terrain which help to make sense of why events suffered specific outcomes. They also help to understand not only what people of that time thought but how they thought. Etymology and dialect also hold similar clues as to how people thought and what values and concepts they held most important.
