Entry No. 86 — the New Orleans file — filed under: traditional jazz
Dew Drop Jazz & Social Hall
The Dew Drop Social and Benevolent Association was formed by Black residents of Mandeville in 1885 to cover the sick, the burials and the housing that insurers wouldn't, and in 1895 it put up a small unpainted wooden hall on Lamarque Street, three and a half blocks off Lake Pontchartrain — the same year scholars date the birth of traditional jazz. Buddie Petit, Kid Ory, Bunk Johnson and Papa Celestin all played the little stage inside; there is decent evidence Armstrong did too. It went dark by the mid-1940s and sat unused for sixty years until the National Park Service and the New Orleans Jazz Commission put a band back in it in 2000, and the volunteer Friends of the Dew Drop have run roughly twelve concerts a year since 2007, split between a spring and a fall season. Inside is about a hundred people on ancient church pews with the big shutters thrown open; most of the crowd sits outside on the grass in lawn chairs, and dinner is fried chicken or fried fish sold by the Ladies of the First Free Mission Baptist Church next door.
→ Three more underground music & performance in New Orleans — never the same twice
The story
On May 5, 1885, Black residents of the village of Mandeville, led by Olivia Eunio, formed the Dew Drop Social and Benevolent Association — a mutual aid society doing what insurers would not do for Black families: feeding and sitting with the sick, paying for funerals, housing people who needed it. A decade later it put up a small unpainted wooden building on Lamarque Street, three and a half blocks off Lake Pontchartrain, in a grove of live oaks. That was 1895, the year scholars generally give for the birth of traditional jazz in New Orleans, which is how the hall got its title: the world's oldest virtually unaltered rural jazz dance hall.
Musicians crossed the lake by steamboat from the Milneburg landings to play Saturday night dances. Buddie Petit — the cornetist many contemporaries rated above Armstrong before Armstrong switched to trumpet — played it regularly, as did Kid Ory, Bunk Johnson, Papa Celestin, George Lewis and the Fritz brothers' Independence Band. There is ample evidence Armstrong played here too; he had relatives on Jackson Avenue, a short walk east. By the mid-1940s Black-owned insurers had made benevolent associations less necessary, the founding members had died, and the building sat unused for sixty years.
In 2000 a Mandeville businesswoman, Jacqueline Vidrine, gave the building to the city. Later that year the National Park Service, the New Orleans Jazz Commission and the George Buck Foundation put a band back on the stage for the first time in six decades — Dr. Michael White fronting it, to a full house of English trad-jazz fans on a Ken Colyer Trust tour. Two city council members, Zella Walker and Trilby Lenfant, incorporated the nonprofit Friends of the Dew Drop in 2006; its volunteer board has staged about twelve concerts a year since 2007, and refuses commercial rentals outright.
What it's like
Doors are at 5:30 for a 6:30 downbeat, and the hour in between is half the point. You pay $15 a head at the gate and walk into a yard under live oaks where much of the audience is already set up in folding chairs facing the building. Inside seats about a hundred on old church pews, first come, with the big shutters thrown open so the two crowds are really one. The Ladies of the First Free Mission Baptist Church next door sell fried chicken and fried fish plates; the bar has Abita, wine, water and sodas. Outside food, drinks, ice chests, pets and smoking are all banned, so leave the cooler at home. Kids and students get in free and there are usually plenty of both. Music stops at 9, which makes the drive back across the lake civilised.
The move: Saturday, September 26: drive over the Causeway with two lawn chairs and cash, get there by 5:30 when the doors open, pay the $15 each at the entrance, buy two fried chicken plates from the church ladies and an Abita at the bar, and set up under the oaks for Smoking Time Jazz Club playing Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith from 6:30 to 9. Drive back across the lake in the dark with the windows down.
📍 Before you go Concerts only — roughly twelve a year, Saturdays, in spring and fall seasons; the fall 2026 dates are Sep 26, Oct 10, Oct 24, Nov 7, Nov 14 and Dec 5. Doors 5:30pm, music 6:30–9pm (Nov 14 starts at 6). $15 per adult at the gate, kids and students free; no advance tickets are sold, cash/credit/debit/Apple Pay/Google Pay accepted at the door and at the bar. Inside seating is first-come for about 100 people on pews — most people bring a lawn chair and sit outside. There is a bar with Abita, wine, water and sodas; outside food, drinks and ice chests are banned, as are smoking and pets. Park in the lot across the street or on surrounding streets without blocking driveways. It's owned by the City of Mandeville, run by an all-volunteer nonprofit, and roughly 40 minutes from New Orleans over the Causeway — build in extra time if the bridge is slow.
- 📍 Mandeville
- 💸 $
- ⚡ Big night
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 430 Lamarque Street, Mandeville, LA 70448
Hours: Added 2026-08-26 — confirm current hours before you go.
⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.
Pair it with
- Abita Mystery House (UCM Museum) — Abita Springs is about fifteen minutes north of Lamarque Street, and John Preble's junk-built folk-art warren is exactly the right way to burn an afternoon before 5:30 doors.
- Insta-Gator Ranch and Hatchery — Twenty minutes west in Covington, reservation-only, and its August–September hatching season overlaps the opening weekend of the Dew Drop's fall run.
- Old Town Slidell Soda Shop — Half an hour east in Slidell, pinball and mini-golf and banana splits — the same all-ages register as a jazz hall where kids get in free, if you're making a full north-shore day of it.
More weird in New Orleans
Good to know
How do I get there, and what does the bridge cost?
430 Lamarque Street, Mandeville — roughly 40 minutes from New Orleans over the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway. Tolls are collected southbound only, so the trip up is free and you pay on the way home: $6 cash, or $3.40 with a toll tag. It's a 24-mile bridge with no exits, so build in slack for a crash or fog.
Do I need to buy tickets in advance?
You can't. Nothing is sold ahead — it's $15 per adult at the gate, kids and students free. Cash, credit, debit, Apple Pay and Google Pay all work at the door and at the bar.
When is it actually open?
Only on concert Saturdays, about twelve a year across a spring and a fall season. Fall 2026 runs Sep 26 (Smoking Time Jazz Club, Blues Queens of the 1920s), Oct 10 (New Orleans Legends with Wendell Brunious), Oct 24 (Tom Worrell), Nov 7 (Stephanie Jordan), Nov 14 (Craig Klein Allstars with the Mandeville High jazz ensemble, 6pm start) and Dec 5 (Quiana Lynell with the Northshore Gospel Choir). No show on the calendar means a locked building.
Where do I sit, and what should I bring?
Bring a lawn chair. The pews inside hold about a hundred and fill early, and most of the crowd is outside on the grass under the oaks by design. Bring cash for the church plates, though the bar takes cards. Park in the lot across the street or on the surrounding streets, and don't block anyone's driveway.
Is it family-friendly and accessible?
Kids and students are admitted free, and the outdoor seating is flat grass, so a chair goes anywhere. The hall itself is an unaltered 1895 wooden building — a small stage, pews, no modern retrofit — so inside is tight. It's owned by the City of Mandeville and run entirely by volunteers.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: dewdropjazzhall.com
📷 We made a card for this one on Instagram →
last checked: 2026-08-26