When French hatmaker Claude Trémé married Julie Moreau, he not only gained a wife but the plantation she inherited. But running a business did not appeal. Trémé began selling parcels of land as early as 1798, five years before the U.S. acquired New Orleans as part of its Louisiana Purchase of 1803. The city acquired the majority of his land by 1810 and dubbed it the Faubourg Trémé.
Today, the neighborhood remains a cultural heartbeat of the city.
“Welcome to Trémé, just steps from the French Quarter in New Orleans—and one of the oldest historically integrated communities in America,” says REALTOR® Wendy Wiltz, an agent eXp Realty, a professional model and a member of the New Orleans Metropolitan Association of REALTORS®.
The entire area of Trémé is relatively small—about 150 blocks on 442 acres, with part designated as an historic district in 1998 under jurisdiction of the New Orleans Historic District Landmarks Commission.
“Trémé was actually one of the first neighborhoods in New Orleans,” Wiltz says. “It was a community built by free slaves, and there were hundreds of homes that existed between North Rampart and Claiborne.”
Jari C. Honora, family historian at the Historic New Orleans Collection (HNOC), a museum, research center and publisher in the French Quarter, says the neighborhood was also occupied by Creoles, immigrants and workers over several decades.
“We have a long history that goes back to the French,” says Denise Augustine, a seventh-generation Afro Creole born in Trémé and founder of Our Sacred Stories, a tour company. “We (New Orleans) had the largest slave port in America. Much of this area was settled by people who had fled the Haitian Revolution and gone to Cuba. And then in 1808, when Spain declared war in France, they wanted them to declare allegiance to the Spanish flag. The [settlers] said, ‘We are French.’”
From Varied Trades, a Community Grew
“This is a neighborhood of craftsmen, and people didn’t have to leave the neighborhood for anything,” Augustine says. “So, it was in our DNA to work. And we also like to own our own spaces. The area that we’re sitting in was once owned 80% of the property was owned by Black women at one point.”
“When it comes to the architecture in Trémé homes, you see raised homes, Creole cottages, small porches, maybe two or three steps at the front of the homes,” Wiltz says. “They’re built very close to the street. And this is because the community of Trémé was known to live outdoors and to be able to talk to one another.” The iconic porches and steps led to a “stoop culture” where people gathered.
There are also single-story shotgun houses with long, narrow footprints and rooms inside arranged one behind another without hallways, shotgun double classics, townhouses and homes divided for multiple families, says REALTOR® Joshua Walther, co-owner of Witry Collective.
In many cases, homeowners try to replicate houses that didn’t survive or weren’t habitable. That was the case for Adolph and Naydja Bynum. “We really didn’t buy the house that we are living in. We built it from new,” says Adolph, a developer, preservationist and retired pharmacist, whose home resembles a 1832 Creole cottage.
“But before that, he invested in older properties across the street in the ‘80s,” says Naydja, a preservationist and retired nurse administrator and educator. “His mother introduced him to older homes, and he was fascinated with the French Quarter but couldn’t afford those, so right next door he began buying what he could. Friends thought he had lost his mind to move here because of the blight.”
Since their marriage in 2000, the couple has bought and preserved about 30 houses. “We both like older houses and like renovating older houses and had vision for what these older houses that were blight could look like,” she says.
The architecture helped foster a community bond. “The stoops, every Sunday morning you would hear gospel music in the elderly would play like they were in church,” Adolph says.
In 2006, the Bynums helped found The Historic Faubourg Trémé Association to address crime, cleanliness, other neighborhood concerns and quality of life. Among efforts: planting trees, putting up signs, having streets cleaned and connecting with police and politicians.
With another couple, they also founded the nonprofit Friends of Trémé Culture, which hosts events like an annual Trémé Fall Festival. The outreach has proved successful.
“Yes, it’s a real close knit (community) and driveways are like a premium if you can find a place with it,” Naydja says. “But the culture is so much that’s involved with the community because there’s music of course and there’s the second lines that could happen. It happens on a regular basis with organizations a certain day.”
Gathering Outdoors Remains Integral
The tradition of second-line celebratory street processions is that anybody can step in line behind a band to form another line, often for a funeral or wedding.
Multiple venues have also became places to gather such as the 31-acre Louis Armstrong Park opened in 1980; Congo Square, an historic open space now within the park that was considered sacred; the 1841 St. Augustine Catholic Church established as a territorial parish, and the 1996 New Orleans African American Museum that showcases history, art, culture and contributions of African Americans in New Orleans and the African Diaspora.
A combination of challenges occurred, beginning with construction between 1966-68 of Interstate 10 that bisected the neighborhood, displacing residents, spurring others to leave and eliminating many businesses and walking traffic. In fact, construction of I-10 took out the area’s “Black Wall Street” and removed 500 oak trees, Augustine says.
When Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, the area of Trémé that sits on higher ground closer to the French Quarter flooded less than other neighborhoods, says Walther, who relocated four years before.
These homes hold that history. And when families can stay in them, the music, the traditions, the spirit of Trémé lives on for generations to come.” -Wendy Wiltz
“After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, a mix of people returned to Trémé,” Wiltz says. “Some of them were homeowners who had the resources and were able to return and restore their homes. And others were investors looking for the homes that were left to blight that were taken over by the city and placed in tax auction sales. And when investors bought the homes, they bought just that home. They weren’t interested in purchasing the culture or the history.”
Today, residents contend with an evolving market, increasing real estate taxes and homeowners’ insurance premiums. Prices vary in Trémé, with some single-family houses selling for $265,000 and others north of North Cliborne Avenue commanding closer to $400,000 because of proximity to the French Quarter, Wiltz says. New businesses are slow to move in, in large part because renovation costs have doubled because of higher material costs, Augustine says.
Enduring Pride
Yet, a strong attachment for the neighborhood continues. “There are people who still (feel) connected to Trémé, but they don’t live here anymore because their houses were taken away,” says Naydja Buynam. “So, it’s about the people, it’s about the food, it’s about the culture, the architecture. It’s a special place that really has an international connection. And so, part of what we want to do is spread the world. We want to lift Trémé.”
“The French Quarter is where people visit to experience New Orleans culture,” Wiltz says. “But that culture was born in right here in Trémé. These homes hold that history. And when families can stay in them, the music, the traditions, the spirit of Trémé lives on for generations to come.” Trémé has one of the most active communities among New Orleans’ historic districts, she says.
Walther agrees, which is why, he says, many want to live there. Some learned about the neighborhood from the HBO series, which focused on residents trying to rebuild their lives post-Katrina. “Once New Orleans proved we had a rebirth and were back, Trémé brought more exposure to the city and neighborhoods not as well known,” he says.
“The story of Trémé is not going anywhere,” Augustine says. “We will fight to our last breath to retain the culture that was born in Trémé.”
