Urban Enslavement Tour At Hermann Grima House

This was a very interesting tour and it was great to see inside the house and find out about urban enslavement . Our tour guide (Maddie) was very good!

The tour guide was a little all over the place, but you could feel the passion and education behind his words. I especially appreciate the personal stories and touches.

I’ve been to NOLA a number of times but this house museum never before made it onto my radar. Tour guide Maddie, an architectural historian, was excellent: engaging and passionate about her subject. The tour focuses not just on the house but on the subject of urban slavery. She brought the stories of the enslaved residents to life. Highly recommend.

Excellent information. We put this tour on our schedule at the last minute, and were so glad we did. The guide walked us through the housing of those enslaved, and shared how urban day to day living was different. Then, we saw the house itself, and the life of the home owners and the children who lived there with them. Just the right amount of information and insight. Friendly and knowledgeable guide. Don't get us wrong, we love the NOLA cocktails and ghost tours, but this was a nice something different.

The HGH Urban Enslavement Tour was so informative and eye opening. It really brought to life what things were like for enslaved people during this time and all the work that occurred "back of house" in order to ensure the "front of house" remained as impressive as it did. Robert was a fantastic guide.

This was an exceptionally good Tour. Our guide, Maddie was extremely knowledgeable, engaging and thorough as she took us through the quarters of the enslaved people and the main house. I would highly recommend this museum and tour.

The story of Urban Enslavement is told through the artifacts and in the work areas and sleeping quarters from historical records of the Hermann and Grima household in the 1800s. The experiences of enslaved people who served in a home like this is explained with compassion, highlighting details about daily life, and references to actual people, like an enslaved woman named Marie. I highly recommend this tour.

Very informative. Our guide answered a lot of questions we had. Makes us look at history a little differently.

Amazing experience. If you are considering this tour it will exceed your expectations.

This was a choice between visiting the plantation and this option. I am glad I chose this option . Our guide (Alan ) was very good he took the time to explain everything and answered the mountain of questions we had, I could visualise living in that era. The location was easy to find and convenient to centre of Nola hustle and bustle

Robert was the absolute best! My family and I can tell he is extremely proud about sharing the important historical facts surrounding Black culture and background. We truly appreciated his hospitality and hope he is given his flowers for the amazing work he is doing in the Black community.

Always an interesting tour. The staff is so warm and friendly. I love this house and have done the tour many times over the years. Tour guide was thoughtful and you could see he loved his job.

Outstanding tour guide. He was extremely knowledgeable of the history and made the hour go by very fast

This was great. Our lovely guide was just perfect. We are so thankful to her. Very personable and yet presented well and very knowledgeable. Thank you!

Very interesting part of New Orleans history.

A must see for those interested in learning about the real New Orleans

Beautiful Home and Great History. Tour Guide was excellent and very knowledgeable about the living conditions of both slaves and master.

Our knowledgeable and passionate tour guide provided a very educational and “eye-opening” portrayal of the lives of enslaved people in an urban setting and offered thoughtful comparisons to the experiences of those on plantations. She handled sensitive topics with expertise and respect. It was a thought-provoking experience, and one that I highly doubt you’ll regret.

Excellent tour with Alan. A lot of good information and very responsive to questions.

We probably would not have chosen this site on our own but it was part of our package tour. It's an urban estate that features quarters for slaves. You read a lot about plantation slaves but not really about urban slaves, so that part was fascinating to us. The docent took us through various areas of the estate and gave us a good history of the property and its evolution throughout the decades. Definitely for history buffs but I think kids might not be interested in it. Since it was part of our tour, I can't comment on what the admission price is.

What an amazing backstory on this home and the inhabitants. So helpful to research what life was like, what emancipation “opportunities” really looked like, and the life of the very very rich.

This was an excellent tour and I’m so glad we came across it. Our tour guide Anna was absolutely amazing. She was so knowledgeable and friendly and passionate about the stories and the history of the home. I would recommend this to anyone.

Our group really enjoyed this tour. A rare opportunity, this is of the very few tours in the French Quarter that give you a look inside the home and lives of people who lived and worked there. Tour guide Katie was super-knowledgeable and a great historian. She gave excellent information and perspective on the lives of the enslaved workers as well as the wealthy families living in the estate. Very nice small gift shop with locally made artisan items as well! Highly recommend!

I've done this tour a few times by using the NOLA Public Library Cultural Pass. For those who live in LA and have never heard of this, go to your local library and inquire. It is a great way to learn about your city, and it's FREE! This tour never fails to impress. All three tour guides I had were phenomenal and very informed. Each one brings a slightly different style, perspective, and focus, which is a good thing. Katy was the tour guide this time. She was great! She even got the young kids there involved with the tour, which was very sweet. Someone made mention that the HG House was thinking about ending the Urban Enslavement Tour and turn the house into an event place. Please do NOT do this! I know the BK house has tours AND events. That would be a good compromise. This tour, along with the BK House and Gallier House, are too important to our beloved city and her rich history to neglect and not offer these tours to the public. Thanks for your time, and I will be back again. I learn something different every time, and I always bring out-of-town friends, who thoroughly enjoy the tours and also learn something. Thanks.

Incredible tour of the house. Our guide was amazing and gave us so much knowledge of urban enslavement. The house is an amazing insight into the history of New Orleans.

Robert was incredibly knowledgeable and led a great tour. The stories and the historical context of not just the house, but the world at the time was very informative.

I enjoyed this tour and learning about what the enslaved workers were expected to do in a city house. TOO MUCH! I appreciated how our guide, Anna, was able to enforce this and inform us of the expectations through her story telling on this sobering and sad subject. This house has an actual working kitchen that they still use for demonstration and it was fascinating to see how someone might have used it.

This tour exceeded my expectations! I learned so much and what a jewel of a museum. It truly felt like stepping back in time. Kudos to our tour guide, Anna. She was so knowledgeable and loved her sense of humor. 10 out of 10

Our guide was knowledgeable, fun but serious, portraying in an articulate way the lives of the urban enslaved people. Her enthusiasm and insights were contagious and appeal to both those new to the subject and those of us who knew something of the subject. thank you.

The guy was very knowledgeable about that time. He didn’t hesitate to answer questions. He remained respectful at all times.

This tour did more to explain the ways in which slavery has impacted most aspects of US society directly, indirectly, socially and economically than anything else I've experienced. Robert did a wonderful job.

Hanna did a magnificent job of recreating life in the house with her descriptions of the owners and more importantly the enslaved people who lived there. She was able to poignantly convey the reality of the day and was able to evoke the atrocity that slavery was.

While listening to music and having yummy food and cocktails are obvious New Orleans activities, the Hermann-Grima House Urban Enslavement tour should also be a must do for visitors and locals alike. Sure you could go and just tour the beautiful house, but what really makes this historic landmark so special is its understanding and acknowledgement of the impact of slavery for both for Herman-Grima families, the enslaved people themselves, and the city of New Orleans.

This was a very educational experience! Our tour guide was awesome; my friends and I really enjoyed learning and site seeing

The fee was well worth the tour we received. The tour guide was amazing. You can tell how much she loves the history of the house and the families and slaves that lived here. She made you well so welcomed. Thank you for all the details of the history and showing us the many rooms from the yard, alaves quarters and the house.

One of the most informative and brilliantly conducted tours I have experienced anywhere. Katy a really superb guide, with relevant knowledge across political, social history and extremely insightful about slavery and the urban household. Unmissable.

Robert did a great job of explaining the history of the urban slaves. We learned a lot from him. The house is also stunning.

We walked by the Hermann-Grima House and were intrigued by the offer of an urban enslavement tour. As northerners, we were somewhat familiar with the experiences of enslaved people (house and field) but knew little of the urban experience for people who were enslaved. Being able to discuss how much the wealth of the upper class depended not just on the labor, but on the actual cash value of the people they held in slavery was sobering. Also, seeing the level of surveillance during all of their daily activities showed how difficult their lives were, and how it made escape nearly impossible. Our docent, Katy, was extremely knowledgeable and was able to describe, in detail, the lives of all who inhabited the house. She was able to create a vivid picture of the Grima family, living in high style, eating like gourmets, while their enslaved servants were crammed into small rooms, bathing in public, and working sunup to sundown, with no privacy and little hope for escape. Also, the interior of the home is beautiful, making the contrast that much more blatant.

I felt the tour was a little more focused on the "masters" of the house than expected. I learned about the house's builder, his financial issues, his wife's wealth, his daughter and her husband, the family that purchased the house and so forth, but not much about the enslaved people other than their economic value. I'd love to have learned more about their humanity and lives and remove focus from the slave owners.

Our tour guide was absolutely amazing. The tour was very informative and interesting. We learned a lot and the guide made it fun.

We visited both the Hermann-Grima House and the Gallier House, which are both run by the Women’s Exchange. Excellent tour with history of both houses but also the history of urban enslavement. A must see when you are in New Orleans

I highly recommend this tour. The content of the tour was interesting and our guide was very knowledgeable. The best part is that we went on the second day of our trip and spent the rest of the time in the city noticing things about houses, out buildings, and passage ways that we wouldn’t have understood in the same way. I’m very glad we chose to do this!

Really interesting tour of this historic home. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and answered all of our questions. I wish we could have gone upstairs, but I'm sure there's a good reason for limiting the tour to the ground floor. I'm glad the focus is on the enslaved people's lives.

When I hear the guide tell us at the start of the tour, “this home represents the 1% of the wealthiest people” you know where this tour is going to take you. Sorry, but we need rich people in society. Enough said. There is too much a political slant felt in this tour. Just keep to the facts.

Amazing tour guide! Learned a ton, think it's really worth doing if you're visiting the city for a few days. Also, strangely good gift shop

Our tour guide was very knowledgeable. This was a very educational experience. I wish we could have eaten the food prepared

Excellent guide for family house pre-civil war ( and after) showing where and how enslaved people lived in the city of New Orleans.

Add this to your to do list! Awesome tour and opportunity to lean about the experience of those living in urban enslavement. Tour is great for locals or tourists regardless of what you think you know about historic homes, history, enslavement, etc. You will leave with new learnings and peaked curiosity to learn even more. Guides are great. I've had Robert and Anna and gold star for both. They don't just regurgitate a script but personalize the core information shared and incorporate questions and comments from guests into the narrative. Check out the Gallier house as well. Different theme and focus but a similar experience.

It was worth the time and effort. It was an interesting tour and the guide was informative. I recommend.