Went down town for a tour of the famous Saint Louis Cemetery, Number One this morning – the oldest and most famous of New Orlean's Catholic cemeteries. There are apparently three Catholic cemeteries in town, and this one primarily has tombs from the 17-18thC but is still very much in use by many local families.
Depending on who is talking there are 'many thousands' or up to '1.2 million' people interred in this tiny cemetery that takes up about two city blocks. Each of the layered crypts holds as many or as few individuals as the family who owns it feels like adding in there. Apparently when another member of the family dies, the remaning family will remove the last coffin who was in there take the (now rather decomposed) remains and put them into a bag and replace them back in the crypt before putting the most recently deceased person's coffin back in. The only way of knowing how many are in each crypt is by looking back through old records held by the archdiocese. The crypts above are some of the oldest in the cemetery and they were three tombs high, however, New Orleans is shrinking and the ground level is rising (with floodwaters etc) so the lower crypts are no longer in use.
There are several well known an important people burried in this cemetery too, though the most famous is probably Marie Laveau, reknown voodoo priestess. Her tomb is a regular place for visitors and attracts all sorts of tributes – beads, lipsticks, bottles of rum and bourbon are not uncommon, but our guide informs us that as recently as two months ago, he looked down and found someone had left her two breast implants! Though god knows why!?! You can see all over her tomb people have been scrawling 'xxx's everywhere… and naturally we asked the meaning/origin of these 'xxx's. Apparently it has absolutely nothing to do with voodoo or local tradition or anything at all. No one knows the origin of these 'xxx's, but it seems people now come here and scratch or write their 'xxx's on the crypt while making a wish for something they desperately want. Which probabaly just increases the upkeep on the tomb and does very little to fulfill people's wishes.
Now, you lot know me – I love history! Unfortunately, our tour guide, Glen, was very informative but listening to him was like listening to paint dry… so monotonous, so dry, so I found myself tuning out and just taking some photos of the place.
A strange little chocolate tribute left on another heavily 'xxx' tomb that apparently has no voodoo connections or history but which local visitors have decided to turn into a 'voodoo' plae of tribute.
This enourmous mauseleum was built c.1825-1826, and the first lucky entrant just happened to be the designer (the guide didn't give us his name). It was designed for a large segment of the local Italian community and many hundreds of people were interred here, though they can't say for sure how many. Unfortuantely, no descendants of the people burried here or the local Italian community are prepared to undertake restoration or upkeep costs associated with this tomb and so it is slowly rotting away… rather quickly too as the salty conditions and heat wear the granite and marble in a process called 'sugaring' which leaves the stone looking like it has been at the beach and worn smooth. Many of these tombs have been affected by vandals over the years as well, which is unfortuate but inevitable. Surprisingly this tomb still has all it's ironwork intact, as many of the other tombs have been raided for iron at various points throughout history when scrap was a desirable commodity.
This large tomb belongs to the New Orleans Artillery Battalion and is covered in symbols of victory (wreaths), life snuffed out (quelched torches), and artillery soldiers (the grenades/cannon balls). Again, this tomb has no names or dates on it to inform visitors who is buried here just a number on each plaque that can be cross reference in parish records.
Then there is this, which seems totally out of place in an old cemetery like Saint Louis cemetery…
This pyramid (there are a few pyramids here) belongs to Nicholas Cage, he apparently bought this plot (you can still get space here – it costs around $35,000 for a smallish plost), and he is allegedly going to be buried here when he passes away. At this stage, it is just a large concrete pyramid with the words “Omnia Ab Uno” inscribed on a plaque and no other mention or reference to Nicholas Cage at all. But seeing it is known to be where he is going to be buried, women have taken to leaving big lipstick kisses on the second, currently blank, plaque… go figure.
Tonight… more Mardi Gras parade nonsense! 🙂
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