A Romantic, Boutique Hotel in the
Heart of the New Orleans French Quarter
You will not be surprised to learn that history, myth and legend abound in the old French Quarter and at the Cornstalk Hotel ... to say nothing of ghost stories.
The Cornstalk, the early 1800's home of Francois-Xavier Martin, a native of Marseilles, France, has long been a landmark to locals and tourists alike visiting the Vieux Carré. Judge Francois Xavier Martin, author of the first History of Louisiana and Chief Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, was the first of many illustrious names connected to this house. Judge Martin had the house constructed to his specifications after previous structures burned in major French Quarter fires. He lived here from 1816 to 1826. The earliest structure on this site goes back to 1730 and is seen on the french colonial Gonochon map.
Harriet Beecher Stowe allegedly stopped here and was inspired to write "Uncle Tom's Cabin" from the sights at nearby slave markets. That novel incited the Civil War. Countless movie stars and a former U.S. President have stayed at the Cornstalk.
The hotel is set behind the iconic "cornstalk" cast iron fence. It was commissioned and erected in 1856 by Dr. Joseph Secondo Biamenti who had purchased the mansion in 1834. The famous Cornstalk Fence is truly a landmark that in itself has helped make the old French Quarter famous. Natives and tourists alike never cease to wonder at its beautifully ornate and delicate iron handicraft. Ripe ears of corn a-shucked on their stalks are seemingly ready for the harvest, each kernel a work of art. Pumpkins form the base of the massive iron columns around which are entwined by pumpkin vines and the leaves and morning glories. A yellow butterfly is spotted on the front gate.
There is a lovely story of the early owner who brought his young bride to live here far from her native Iowa. To soften some of her loneliness for the waving fields of corn back home, he caused this replica to be made in graceful iron so that from her front gallery she could forever see something of her native land. One of the highlights of any visit to "America's Most Interesting City" is viewing the cornstalk fence and staying at the Cornstalk Hotel.
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