The cemeteries in New Orleans are beautiful.
For someone who lives in Ohio, where just about everyone is underground, it’s amazing, eerie, and absolutely awe-inspiring to walk through the mausoleums of New Orleans.
I’ve heard these cemeteries called “Cities of the Dead.” There is some truth to that. All of the mausoleums stand above ground, like little homes for individuals and families. You walk down streets and can visit family members, neighbors, and all sorts of people.
While you’re in New Orleans, there are hundreds of tour offerings from the cemeteries themselves or from other tour companies to show you around the graves. Some are spooky, some are history based, and some are just fun.
However, my travel buddy and I are both big scaredy-cats. Neither of us are fond of ghost hunts or anything like that. And while I love wandering cemeteries, the only actual cemetery tour I’ve been on was Arlington Cemetery in Washington DC, in 2001. (Besides a stop at one in Mexico, but our guide for the day didn’t actually give us a tour.)
Because of this, I can’t tell you how awesome “X” tour was through one of the cemeteries. But I can tell you to definitely check out the cemeteries.
While in New Orleans in February of 2015, my friend and I were wandering the Garden District to look at the beautiful homes and generally just explore the city. While there, we stumbled upon Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 (and a restaurant where we took the best bathroom selfie ever.)
The cemetery isn’t the largest, but it is lovely. Stone slabs cover the ground when there isn’t grass. Stone mausoleums all stand in various states of repair and disrepair, reminding us that not everyone has a family to come back and tend to their graves.
I love cemeteries, so I will be more than happy to spend a few hours walking around, looking at names, finding people, and generally just being in awe of everything. The writer in me also has a tendency to use cemeteries to find names for my characters.
Whether you love cemeteries like me, or just want to soak in a bit of history, I highly suggest stopping at a cemetery in New Orleans. I don’t care if you take a tour, spend hours wandering and making up stories about the people there (seriously, a fun thing to do), or just stop in to walk around for five minutes.
Go to one or more NOLA cemeteries.
For more information on the cemeteries and tours, check out New Orleans Online.
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