New Orleans has five major Catholic cemeteries, featuring above-ground graves due to the swampy terrain. The oldest, Saint Louis #1, is the most famous and includes the grave of Marie Laveau. Other cemeteries, such as Saint Louis #2 and #3, feature the graves of famous musicians and historical figures. Greenwood Cemetery has a memorial to Civil War Veterans, while Maiterie Cemetery is the most prestigious and features the largest collection of marble structures.
New Orleans cemeteries are perhaps the most famous in the United States. There are five major cemeteries within the city, all primarily Catholic: Metairie, Greenwood Street, and three in the French Quarter vicinity collectively called Saint Louis. Due to the swampy terrain in the area, settlers soon found that burying people underground was impractical, as the bodies would wash up whenever it flooded. As a result, cemeteries in New Orleans feature above-ground graves resembling those in European cemeteries such as Pere Lachaise in Paris.
The graves in New Orleans cemeteries are often quite elaborate and accompanied by some of the best examples of funerary sculpture in the country. Many of the graves are family crypts that have been in use since the cemeteries opened in the 18th or 19th century. Also common in the past were graves for members of a certain company or organization. These are often the largest and most elaborate structures in the cemetery, as everyone in the organization could contribute towards the purchase of a grave that a single family could never afford or fill.
The oldest cemetery in New Orleans is Saint Louis #1, located on the northern edge of the French Quarter. Saint Louis #1, opened in 1789 as part of a rebuilding of the city after a major fire, is today the most famous of the city’s cemeteries and the most visited by tourists. This cemetery includes the grave of Marie Laveau, the last voodoo queen of New Orleans. In the small Protestant section, there are large stone slabs covering the graves instead of above ground graves, as Protestants believed that their dead should only be buried underground. Saint Louis #1 is a great place to visit on a city trip, but it’s important to go with a tour group due to the high crime rates in the cemetery.
Saint Louis #2 and Saint Louis #3, opened in 1823 and 1854, respectively, both feature the graves of many famous blues and jazz musicians and other important figures in New Orleans history. Saint Louis #3 is the furthest from the French Quarter borders, about two miles away, but it has more elaborate gravesites than either of Saint Louis’ other two cemeteries, including many impressive marble monuments dating back to the 19th century. Saint Louis #19 also has a Greek Orthodox portion.
Greenwood Cemetery, located in the Navarre neighborhood, was founded by the Charity and Charity Association of Firefighters in 1852. While not as commonly visited as other cemeteries in the area, it features many interesting graves and monuments, including a memorial to Civil War Veterans. Greenwood is the final resting place of a number of New Orleans Confederate mayors and generals.
Maiterie Cemetery is the most prestigious of New Orleans’ cemeteries and features the city’s most magnificent tombs and statues and the largest collection of marble structures. It was built in 1872 on the site of a former racetrack. Bandleader Louis Prima and poet Stan Rice are among the celebrities buried at Maiterie.
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