Explore the real-world places that appear in The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include The Yellow House Site, NASA Michoud Assembly Facility, Chef Menteur Highway, Joe Brown Park, Lake Pontchartrain Causeway and 7 more.
Wilson Avenue — The Broom family home destroyed by Katrina
This is where Ivory Mae Broom built her world after purchasing the shotgun house in 1961. The house became home to twelve children after she married Simon Broom, and Sarah describes it as Ivory Mae's 'thirteenth and most unruly child.' The yellow house was the central character of the memoir, representing both hope and decay as the neighborhood declined. Hurricane Katrina destroyed the house in 2005, leaving only an empty lot.
New Orleans East was developed in the 1960s as a middle-class suburban area, with many shotgun houses built for working families. The neighborhood was marketed as the future of New Orleans, attracting African American families seeking homeownership.
Many lots in this area remain vacant after Hurricane Katrina, though some rebuilding has occurred. The exact site of the Yellow House is now an empty lot, symbolic of the broader challenges facing New Orleans East's recovery.
13800 Old Gentilly Road — Space Race era employment hub
Sarah M. Broom writes about how NASA's major facility brought optimism and jobs to New Orleans East during the Space Race era of the 1960s. The facility represented the promise of the future that drew families like the Brooms to the area, symbolizing the postwar economic boom that made homeownership seem attainable for working-class African American families.
Built in 1961, the Michoud Assembly Facility was constructed to manufacture the first stage of the Saturn V rocket for the Apollo moon missions. It employed thousands of workers during the height of the Space Race and was crucial to America's lunar program.
The facility continues to operate as NASA's primary manufacturing center for the Space Launch System (SLS), the rocket designed to return humans to the moon. It remains one of the largest employers in New Orleans East.
Visit: NASA Michoud Assembly Facility (tour)
US Route 90 — Main thoroughfare through New Orleans East
Sarah describes this highway as a central artery of New Orleans East, the route that connected the Broom family to the rest of New Orleans. She writes about traveling this road throughout her childhood and later as an adult returning to witness the neighborhood's decline and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Chef Menteur Highway has been a major route connecting New Orleans to the eastern parishes since the early 20th century. The name comes from the French 'Chemin du Menteur' meaning 'liar's road,' referring to tall tales told by fishermen returning from Lake Pontchartrain.
The highway remains a major thoroughfare, though many of the businesses that once lined it in New Orleans East have closed since Hurricane Katrina. It serves as a reminder of the area's economic challenges.
Read Boulevard — Community gathering place
Sarah M. Broom references this park as part of the community infrastructure that made New Orleans East feel like a real neighborhood during her childhood. The park represented the promise of suburban life that drew families to the area, providing recreation and a sense of community for the growing population of the 1970s and 1980s.
Named after Mayor Joseph V. 'Joe' Brown Jr., who served New Orleans from 1965-1970, the park was built as part of the development of New Orleans East to serve the growing suburban population.
The park continues to serve the community with baseball fields, playgrounds, and recreational facilities, though like much of New Orleans East, it has struggled with maintenance and funding issues since Hurricane Katrina.
Visit: Joe Brown Park (park)
Northern edge of New Orleans East — World's longest bridge
Sarah writes about the Causeway as a symbol of connection and isolation, representing how New Orleans East was both part of the greater New Orleans area yet separated from it. The bridge appears in her reflections on the geographic and psychological distance between her childhood home and the rest of the world.
Completed in 1956 and extended in 1969, the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is the world's longest continuous bridge over water at 23.83 miles. It connected the North Shore to New Orleans and contributed to suburban development.
The Causeway remains a major commuter route and tourist attraction, carrying over 40,000 vehicles daily between the North Shore and the New Orleans metropolitan area.
Visit: Lake Pontchartrain Causeway (landmark)
Western boundary — Hurricane Katrina's devastating breach
The Industrial Canal features prominently in Sarah's account of Hurricane Katrina's devastation. She describes how the canal's levee breach sent a wall of water into New Orleans East, destroying the Yellow House and forcing the final diaspora of the Broom family. The canal represents both the city's industrial ambitions and its vulnerability to natural disaster.
Built in 1923 to connect Lake Pontchartrain to the Mississippi River, the Industrial Canal was designed to make New Orleans a major shipping port. However, its construction and later expansion contributed to land subsidence and wetland loss.
The canal has been reinforced with new flood protection systems since Hurricane Katrina, but it remains a stark reminder of the city's ongoing vulnerability to storms and flooding.
3951 West End Boulevard — Educational institution for Black students
Sarah references the importance of Catholic education in her family's life, and St. Augustine represents the broader educational aspirations of New Orleans' Black community. Several Broom family members attended Catholic schools, which Ivory Mae saw as pathways to better opportunities despite the financial strain on the family.
Founded in 1951 by the Society of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart (Josephites), St. Augustine High School was established to provide quality Catholic education to African American boys during the era of segregation.
St. Augustine continues as an all-male Catholic high school, known for its marching band, the 'Marching 100,' and its commitment to educating young Black men. It remains an important institution in New Orleans' African American community.
Historic heart of New Orleans — Contrast to New Orleans East
Sarah writes about the French Quarter as representing the mythologized New Orleans that exists in the popular imagination, in stark contrast to the reality of New Orleans East where her family lived. She explores how the tourist-focused narrative of New Orleans often ignores neighborhoods like hers, creating a divide between the celebrated city and its overlooked areas.
Founded in 1718, the French Quarter is the oldest neighborhood in New Orleans, known for its Creole architecture, jazz history, and as the birthplace of the city's tourist industry.
The French Quarter remains New Orleans' primary tourist destination, largely recovered from Hurricane Katrina and continuing to attract millions of visitors annually, highlighting the uneven recovery across the city.
Visit: French Quarter Historic District (historic site)
Neighboring community — Shared Katrina devastation
Sarah draws connections between her neighborhood in New Orleans East and the Lower Ninth Ward, both predominantly Black communities that suffered devastating losses during Hurricane Katrina. She writes about the shared experience of displacement and the challenges of return, showing how Katrina's impact extended far beyond the most publicized areas.
The Lower Ninth Ward developed as a working-class African American neighborhood in the early 20th century, bounded by the Industrial Canal. It was home to generations of families who built strong community ties.
The Lower Ninth Ward has seen slower recovery than other parts of New Orleans, with many lots still vacant. Organizations like Make It Right have worked to rebuild homes, but the population remains much smaller than before Katrina.
Visit: Lower Ninth Ward Living Museum (museum)
2601 Gentilly Boulevard — Historic Black university
Sarah references Dillard as part of the educational landscape that shaped Black New Orleans, representing the aspirations that families like the Brooms held for their children's futures. The university symbolized the possibility of advancement through education, even as economic realities often made college attendance challenging for working-class families.
Founded in 1930 through the merger of Straight University and New Orleans University, Dillard University has been a leading historically Black university, training teachers, nurses, and other professionals during segregation and beyond.
Dillard continues as a private historically Black liberal arts university, having rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina damage. It remains an important institution for higher education in the African American community.
5620 Read Boulevard — Community healthcare center
The hospital appears in Sarah's narrative as part of the infrastructure that made New Orleans East feel like a complete community during its heyday. She writes about family members receiving care there and how the presence of essential services like healthcare contributed to the sense that the neighborhood was a place where families could build their lives.
Built in the 1970s to serve the growing population of New Orleans East, the hospital was part of the infrastructure development that accompanied the area's suburban expansion during the post-civil rights era.
The hospital closed after Hurricane Katrina and has remained shuttered, becoming a symbol of the services lost when the population of New Orleans East declined dramatically after the storm.
Major street connecting neighborhoods — Path to the French Quarter
Sarah describes Elysian Fields as one of the routes that connected New Orleans East to the older, more established parts of the city. She writes about traveling this avenue during her childhood and later as an adult, using it as a metaphor for the journey between the forgotten and celebrated parts of New Orleans.
Named after the Champs-Élysées in Paris, Elysian Fields has been a major thoroughfare since the 19th century, originally extending from the French Quarter to Lake Pontchartrain through what would become diverse neighborhoods.
The avenue continues to serve as an important connector between downtown New Orleans and the eastern neighborhoods, though many businesses along its length in the eastern sections have not returned since Hurricane Katrina.
More by Sarah M. Broom: All Sarah M. Broom books
More novels set in New Orleans: Browse all New Orleans books on Map A Story
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