Kid Ory House — 1811 Slave Revolt Site

On January 8, 1811, approximately 500 enslaved people organized on the German Coast and marched toward New Orleans — the largest slave insurrection in American history. The uprising was crushed, its leaders executed and beheaded along River Road as a warning. Charles Deslondes started the revolt at what was then known as Andry Plantation. In 1886, Edward 'Kid' Ory was born at the same site. He invented the tailgate trombone style and led the first Black jazz band to record commercially in 1921. He wrote 'Muskrat Ramble,' one of the most recorded jazz standards. The museum holds both histories. They are not unrelated stories. Housed in the historic plantation building now called the Bonnet Carre Historical Center, it holds exhibits on the 1811 revolt, Ory's life, antique phonographs, and the history of plantation life. Sisters Joy and Jo Banner of The Descendants Project purchased the property in January 2024 to preserve local Black history and environmental health. This is where the violence happened, and where the music came from. The same ground.