Cemetery sights in Louisiana
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A
St Louis Cemetery No 3
This relatively tiny cemetery was established in 1854 at the site of the old Bayou Cemetery and is worth strolling through for a few minutes (longer if you’re a cemetery enthusiast). Of particular note is the striking monument James Gallier Jr designed for his mother and father, who were lost at sea. The cemetery’s wrought-iron entrance gate is a beauty.
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B
St Louis Cemetery No 1
This cemetery received the remains of most early Creoles. The shallow water table necessitated aboveground burials, with bodies placed in the family tombs you see to this day. The supposed grave of voodoo queen Marie Laveau is here, scratched with 'XXX's from spellbound devotees – this is graffiti you shouldn't add to, per the request of the family that owns the tomb.
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C
St Roch Cemetery & Chapel
One of New Orleans’ more interesting cemeteries, and arguably the most eccentric chapel, is dominated by a necropolis and ‘relic room’ that’s a great example of the old Catholic practice of offering fake body parts to the healing power of a sacred site. You’ll see all sorts of ceramic body parts (ankles, heads, breasts), prosthetics, leg braces, crutches and false teeth hanging from the walls. these are ex-votos, testaments to the healing power of St Roch. The chapel has been appropriated by syncretic voodoo worshippers as well, and if you take a picture inside, floating orbs may appear in your photo, which could be spirits of the dead, or manifestations of saintly…
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D
Lafayette Cemetery No 1
This necropolis was established in 1833 by the former City of Lafayette. Sitting as it does just across from Commander’s Palace and shaded by magnificent groves of lush greenery, the cemetery has a strong sense of Southern subtropical gothic about it. The layout is divided by two intersecting footpaths that form a cross. As you walk about, look out for the constructs built by fraternal organizations such as the Jefferson Fire Company No 22, which took care of their members and their families in large shared crypts. Some of the wealthier family tombs were built of marble, with elaborate detail rivaling the finest architecture in the district, but most tombs were…
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E
Metairie Cemetery
Visiting other New Orleans cemeteries doesn’t quite prepare you for the architectural splendor and over-the-top extravagance of Metairie Cemetery. Established in 1872 on a former race track (the grounds, you’ll notice, still follow the oval layout), this is the most American of New Orleans’ cities of the dead and, like the houses of the Garden District, its tombs appear to be attempts at one-upmanship. This is the final resting place for many of New Orleans’ most prominent citizens. William Charles Cole Claiborne, Louisiana’s first American governor, rests here, as does Confederate General PGT Beauregard. Jefferson Davis was originally interred here, only to be moved to…
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