Entry No. 22 — the New Orleans file — filed under: outdoor

Music Box Village

A one-acre forested lot crowded with more than a dozen artist-built shacks and structures that are also playable instruments: walls strung with harp strings, floors that boom, chimes and horns embedded into the architecture. Run by the nonprofit New Orleans Airlift, it grew out of a post-Katrina experiment in 'musical architecture' and became permanent in 2016. Visitors are handed mallets and turned loose to play the whole village, and at night it hosts experimental concerts where dozens of performers activate the houses around you.

The move: Go during an evening open-hours session, split a drink from the bar, and improvise a duet by banging and plucking your way across two different musical houses.

📍 Before you go Limited seasonal schedule; if a date isn't on their online calendar they are not open, so check tixr before going.

• 📍 Bywater / Upper 9th Ward
• 💸 $$
• ⚡ Up for anything
• 🌗 Indoors

Where: 4557 N. Rampart St, New Orleans, LA 70117

Hours: Added 2026-06-22 — confirm current hours before you go.

⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.

Plan a visit & invite your people →

Proof: source 1 · source 2 · source 3 · source 4

last checked: 2026-06-22