Our tour guide, Hope, was fantastic and provided very interesting information and insights about the history of New Orleans. After the Voodoo Lounge we made a quick stop at the Basin St. Visitor Center where there are various railroad displays.
There are three separate cemeteries now called St. Louis Cemetery 1, 2, and 3. All of them have above ground vaults due to the below-sea-level, swampy terrain of the region. Most of them were constructed in the 18th and 19th centuries. We toured #1 that was established in 1789 and is the oldest cemetery in New Orleans. It has been in continual use since that time with several burials occurring per year even today.
There are 7,000 tombs in this cemetery (approximately the size of one city block) but about 100,000 people are buried here. This is because of the practice of unlimited burial in a single tomb or plot. Some families have buried family members (and sometimes friends too) in the same tomb over a period of 150 years. Plaques can be found at many tombs listing who is buried there. Over time many plaques have deteriorated and fallen off the tomb, but they are just leaned against the tomb until a new one is funded by the family that owns it.
Here is the oldest tomb in the cemetery. It is known as a "step" tomb and is designed for only one body. And in contrast here is the newest tomb in the cemetery. Tombs can be sold by the owner to another individual. Starting price for a plot in this cemetery is about $50,000 (plus the expense of the tomb, of course).
Nicholas Cage purchased this pyramid-shaped tomb in 2010 and will be buried here.
This is the tomb of Homer Plessy, the plaintiff for the landmark 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court decision on civil rights.
New Orleans' most notorious voodoo priestess, Marie Laveau, is buried here. Her tomb is the second most visited tomb in the U.S. (Elvis Presley is #1)! The third photo here is a voodoo tomb that visitors have marked with XXX with the intent of casting a voodoo spell on someone!
Bernard de Marigny, a well-known aristocrat and man-about-town, who died penniless is buried here.
Ernest N. "Dutch" Morial was the first African-American mayor of New Orleans.
There are also large "society" tombs representing a burial place for multiple individuals of an organized group. Here is the beautiful marble Italian tomb. The missing heads on the sculpture are due to vandalism.
And finally, this memorial tomb is for all who served in the well-known Battle of New Orleans. AS you can see by the photos, the design contains all types of symbolism ("time flies,", chain and cannon from a warship, etc.)
This is the protestant part of the cemetery. It is believe that these plaques fell off of various tombs and were positioned here.
Notice that lower part of many tombs of sunk several feet due to the swampy terrain.
Below are some final photos showing the diversity of tombs in this cemetery.
On March 15, 2015, the Catholic Archdiocese closed all of the cemeteries to the public (family members can apply for passes for free entry) due to the level of vandalism to the tombs. Our tour guide made this tour very interesting and was a great way to learn about the history of the burial customs is this area where dead bodies refuse to stay underground when buried in traditional graves.
Website: www.saveourcemeteries.org
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