Just past the French Market sits the old imposing mint that made Confederate coins. Now it's a museum. The first floor contains some interesting artifacts from the coin making operation, including a 19th century conveyor belt that automatically flipped coins, the better to be inspected. But the real fun is the upper floors, where the history and great figures of jazz are explored. On our visit, we viewed an exhibit on Louis Prima, a big jazz name in the 30s, 40s, and 50s, though I'd never heard of him. What I gravitated to was the cornet Louis Armstrong played while sentenced to two years at the Colored Waif's Home after shooting a pistol into the air on New Year's Eve, 1913. While at the home he joined the band, and really, the rest is history. Armstrong is pictured in green in the painting above, based on the famous photo.
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