A False Perspective: the True Story of Cornstalk Fences in New Orleans

These fences are Monuments. One might not consider this a monument because it is masked as a fence with a cornfield design, but that is misleading, as the complete original design was never erected. The truth is a bit different. Cornstalk fences have a particular relationship to the antebellum South and the Civil War that ended it. They hold within them a story of what it was like living in southern society during the nineteenth century as a Jew, and they have a direct connection to my home in Raleigh, North Carolina. This is the story about the cornstalk fences, how they came about, why they ended up in New Orleans, and the love story surrounding them. It is a story that illustrates how our human nature and ideals can go in unexpected directions, leading to disasters no one wants or can foretell.