Music Continues to Heal at 1700 Moss

[Charlies Neighborhood News]

1700 Moss used to be the Old Soldiers' Home.

The excerpt below is from a April 14, 1911 article in the Times Picayune.

The article outlines how musicians visiting New Orleans brought rival factions together at 1700 Moss for some soul healing music. The Deutsches Haus now occupies the property at 1700 Moss. The Deutsches Haus is also a place where people can heal their souls.

Some may gravitate to the beautiful bar inside the Deutsches Haus for that while others will partake of the Haus Social on Friday, August 30.

Haus Social is a get-together and sing-a-long. German songs will be sung in German and English to get folks ready for Oktoberfest. So much to do and see at the Deutsches Haus. Check it out at https://deutscheshaus.org/events/ I hope the excerpt from the article below inspires you to heal your soul at 1700 Moss much like the folks in the article did over a hundred years ago. :) Veterans Fiddle for Brethren in Soldiers' Home on Bayou St. John and Music Draws the Blue and Gray together and Stirs Many Memories "The Army of United America invaded Camp Nicholls, the Old Soldiers' Home and took it by storm. They carried no artillery. Even their muskets and side arms were left at home. The old "before the war" tunes played on their fiddles did the trick. They are of the Grand Army of the Republic. At half past 10 yesterday morning the redoubtable five entered a automobile in front of the Orpheum Theatre trailing their fiddles. When the car stopped at the gates of the home they were greeted with cheers and the deafening rebel yell that no longer disturbs a Union soldier's sleep. There was much shaking of hands. Right away they were swapping war tales about how they used to drink each other's coffee and swap biscuits on the banks of the Shenandoah where two armies camped and watched each other for months. Soon they were escorted into the reception hall. There the old soliders of the home listened enraptured while their brothers of the blue and the gray played the old tunes with which they serenaded their sweethearts so many years ago. It was not technique that made the music wonderful. It was reminiscence. Some of the old men looked far off and back. The soldiers played from their hearts, not from notes. They played "Yankee Doodle" and the soldiers cheered. Then, for the last they played that immortal Southern air that thrills and makes people keep time with their toes whether the place New Orleans or London or New York or Paris or Vienna. The old Southerners grew fifty years younger and rose and sang: "Away Down South in Dixie" They sang it as only people can who mean what they sing. Then there was ice cream and cake and more war stories.

Everybody agreed that it was the best and most pleasant day spent in the home for a long time."