Innkeeper's Story

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Hugh and Mary Good

from 1870 Banana Courtyard Inn

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Running a B&B has been great fun. Even before turning our house into a bed and breakfast, we've always enjoyed having folks over to enjoy all the "stuff" in the house and its colorful history. In the late 1800s, our house was a high class bordello catering to society’s elite and politicians. Earlier, it was home to a male voodoo practitioner, a rival of Marie Laveau II. The builders of our house were influenced by Chinese workmen who persuaded them to use Feng Shui orienting the staircase of the house, and the brass doorknobs were also influenced by Oriental patterns.

Until the late ‘70s, we lived in Georgia. While our children were young there, we hosted exchange students from many countries: Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Panama, Columbia, Brazil, France, and Afghanistan (in our minds, it will always be
Persia).

Also in the ‘70s, we were Ambassadors on the inaugural trip of former President Jimmy Carter's Friendship Force. We traveled to Newcastle Upon Tyne, England, and the next year reciprocally hosted Newcastle visitors. We are members of Servas, another cultural exchange program, and for many years served as hosts.

When we purchased this house, we bought it as a family home in an effort to downsize as the children and our exchange students ‘left the nest,” One day, a friend called saying that friends from Australia were coming to visit. They had prepaid hotel accommodations for Mardi Gras, but when they arrived, the hotel had overbooked rooms, and had none left, eturning their money. (That’s of no value when there are no rooms available in the city.) Our friend asked if they could stay in our guest room. We said, “Yes.” They insisted on paying us and that was the beginning.

In the mid 90s, we decided to go ‘whole hog,’ and turned our home into a B&B, initially specializing in hosting international travelers and the medical/academic community. Now, we host folks from ALL walks of life and all points of the compass.

Sharing travel stories over a meal is something we've done all our lives. Now we get to meet even more interesting folks than we used to, AND we get paid for what we love doing!! Who could ask for more? We especially enjoy helping first time visitors enjoy the rich cultural diversity of our great city. We say to folks, “Don't just visit N'Awlins – please let us help you LIVE IT, like a local.”

We enjoy independent traveling by train, subway or car, discovering off-the-beaten path sightseeing and restaurants, books, art and history. Learning about other cultures is very important to us. Like many of our guests, we frequently return to places we love.

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