Dew Drop Jazz and Social Hall
HURRICANE IDA WAS NONE TOO kind to Mandeville, Louisiana—Katrina and Zeta didn’t pull their punches either. Through it all, the Dew Drop survives, a wooden shack elegantly framed in Spanish moss. It’s too storied to succumb to a 100-year storm: this building was the headquarters of a historic Black benevolent society and remains the oldest virtually unaltered jazz hall on earth.
Built in 1895, the structure was once home of the Dew Drop Benevolent Society, an association offering social services to Black community members barred from healthcare, loans, childcare, and other services. The Benevolent Society held fundraisers, collected donations, and once in a while, put on legendary live performances.