Algiers Point
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Detail from an 1888 German map of New Orleans
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Location | New Orleans, Louisiana |
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Coordinates | 29°57′19″N 90°3′19″W / 29.95528°N 90.05528°WCoordinates: 29°57′19″N 90°3′19″W / 29.95528°N 90.05528°W |
NRHP Reference # | 78001428 |
Added to NRHP | August 1, 1978 |
Algiers Point is a location on the Lower Mississippi River in New Orleans, Louisiana. In river pilotage, Algiers Point is simply one of the many of land around which the river flows—albeit a significant one. Since the 1970s, the name Algiers Point has also referred to the neighborhood in the immediate vicinity of that point.
The course of the Mississippi River past and through New Orleans is in the shape of a crescent. As the river reaches the downriver end of that crescent, flowing by then in a northerly direction, it makes a sharp "right-hand" turn to the east. The French Quarter, Faubourg Marigny and Bywater lie on the outside of the bend on the river's left descending bank. The point of land on the river's right descending bank is, and has historically been, called Algiers Point.
Just off this point is where the Mississippi River is at its deepest, approximately 60 meters (200 ft) deep. This depth varies from year to year as the river alternately scours and deposits silt. A U.S. Coast Guard aid to navigation, Algiers Point Light "95," marks the point. Its geographic coordinates are 29°57′19″N 90°03′19″W / 29.95528°N 90.05528°W
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' linear description of the location is mile 94.6 AHP (above Head of Passes) on the Lower Mississippi River.