Although Frances Parkinson Keyes was born and raised in Charlottesville, Virginia, she is known to most people as a true Louisianan. Keyes immersed herself in every aspect of culture in not only the city of New Orleans, but also the entire state of Louisiana. She first visited New Orleans during a carnival in 1940 and never looked back. Keyes needed to be inspired when she wrote her stories as we have seen with her dedication in her research, but it seems that out of all her research and correspondence with people from all around the country, her biggest inspiration has been New Orleans. The culture, architecture, and the people that inhabited the city were all so unique to Keyes and each facet of the city had a different story that she believed she could tell.