It’s 27 degrees with windchill making it feel like 15. But it’s a beautiful, cloudless sky. (Which is messing with my head because it looks like it’s 70 degrees.) But I learned from my Salt Lake City days that you can still go outside if you wear all your clothes. So with my double socks, double pants, three shirts, boots, scarf around my face, and jacket with the hood up, I wandered to Jackson Square to look at St. Louis Cathedral.
The St. Louis Cathedral (named for King Louis IX of France) is the oldest cathedral in continuous use in the United States. It was elevated to cathedral status in 1793. They still hold services there–there were signs outside asking for quiet in the church zone. Rumor has it that it’s haunted by a priest who attends Christmas midnight mass and a friar who chants on rainy days.
It’s across the street from Jackson Square, which features a statue of Andrew Jackson. In addition to being president, Jackson was a hero of the Battle of New Orleans in 1815 where he was victorious against a poorly executed British attack. In 30 minutes Jackson’s entrenched forces lost 13 men while the British lost 291. The War of 1812 had ended already, but the news hadn’t reached the United States yet.
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