Thursday, January 8

New Orleans Cemetery Tour

Yes, here it is darlings!  The creepy post!  We New Orleans folks love our history, and well, it's a good thing because just about everything in New Orleans is old!  We were trying to decide where to go after our lovely tea and one of my sisters came up with the brilliant idea to visit the oldest cemetery in New Orleans (also the oldest in the entire Mississippi River Valley)--St Louis Cemetery #1.  It is a particularly famous cemetery because the infamous Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau's tomb is located there.  This cemetery is in an awfully dangerous area of town and it is only open until 3pm each day.  After 3pm, the gates are locked--no one gets in, and most importantly...no one gets out.....muahahahahaha! 
Ooops!  Sorry, I got carried away there for a moment!  Anyhoo, on to the tour!...

tomb of Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau 
(people put all sorts of weird stuff at the foot of her tomb)

Visitors mark three X's on her tomb in the hopes that her spirit will grant them a wish.

This picture came out a little ghostly-looking.  
Maybe there were spirits present!

Our "tour guide"/custodian showing us the water line of the Katrina floods.  It is up at his eye-level! 
Those flood waters sat there for weeks-----imagine what was floating around in there...

Love the fleur-de-lis gate around this tomb!

Some of the oldest unmarked graves are simply crumbling bricks.  They are not allowed to be touched according to the Preservation Society of N.O..

This tomb was open on top! 

We stashed our purses in the trunk and literally ran inside the cemetery.  The housing projects are right next door.

Sign explaining the multiple burials that occur in each tomb.  They just put one right on top of the other.

Sweet dreams!!!

15 comments:

Sandra said...

As creepy as cemeteries are, this one is very interesting. Part of the creepiness is just getting in there, right? Interesting post. Lil P can use these photos for show and tell at school next Halloween :-)

Randall @ Happy For This Moment said...

Agreed, creepy but very neat. I did a few cemetery tours in Paris and they were so interesting. Yours looks fascinating too!

Belle said...

How interesting! Love it. Lil P looks so beautiful and out of place standing in front of those tombs. They ARE creepy. Thanks for sharing!
~Belle

M.Lane said...

OK. I love history. And, you know I love NOLA. But I am NEVER going to that cemetary. Not EVER!!! I'd have to leave the Bombay Club bar...

Thanks for great photos though! Good job!

ML
mlanesepic.blogspot.com

Misty said...

Thanks for sharing, the photos are great.

Heather said...

Creepy but also very interesting! Have a good Friday. Heather from grace303

Anonymous said...

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Alison said...

How cool! I have never been to New Orleans as an adult, and I would love to do that!

Have a great day!

Madeline said...

Cool pics! I missed photographing the crumbling bricks!!! Guess I have to go back...

(It was a good thing Tommy didn't know what we were doing until AFTER I arrived home safely! Tee-hee!)

Jaina said...

Those are creepy photos. I can only imagine how creepy it would be if you snuck in and hid to stay over night. Creeeeeeeeeepy.

LyndsAU said...

I just love New Orleans! We will be there in March for a wedding. I can't wait! My mom and dad visited Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau's tomb! They said it was so creepy!! So cool pictures!!

SouthernBelleJM said...

OMG, thank you for this post. I mean I've been to Nola for birthdays, bowl games, just for fun, and we always talk about a cemetery tour. However, we never end up going. Now, it will be on the MUST TO DO LIST the next time I'm in sweet Nola. Btw, keep me your list:)

Patois42 said...

First where they live and then where they die. Great shots.

University of Iowa Meg said...

OMG! I love it. How interesting. If I ever get down there I totally want to see the cemeteries. I am so intrigued by it!! If you have more pictures I'd love to see them- I did see the ones below- awesome!

Cas said...

I love that you posted those photos! My best friend and I take a road trip each year (no men allowed) and often we stop to take in a cemetery we stumble across.