Touring New Orleans – St. Louis Cemetery #1

As you may know, cemeteries are definitely different in New Orleans and throughout the bayou country.  Cemetery tours are big business for many. These guided tours satisfy curious tourists, history buffs, believers in the supernatural as well as those who lend credence to the practice of voodoo or black magic.

Laurie would have preferred a nighttime ghost tour…but to be honest, I wasn’t sorry that we visited this cemetery in the daytime.  Maybe she’ll get her ghost tour on our next visit to New Orleans…

Saint Louis Cemetery is the name of three Roman Catholic cemeteries in New Orleans, Louisiana.  All of these graves are above-ground vaults with most being constructed in the 18th century and 19th century.  As we learned, the custom of above-ground burial in New Orleans and south Louisiana is a mixture of folklore and fact.  These vaults were built above ground due to French and Spanish tradition, not because of a high water table.

 

St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 is the oldest and most famous of all the New Orleans’s burial grounds.  It was opened in 1789, replacing the city's older St. Peter Cemetery, (no longer in existence), as the primary burial ground when the city was redesigned after a fire in 1788.

Use your imagination as you view the preceding photos.  Pretend that it’s a dark and rainy night, maybe with a little lightning, and you’re lost…just wandering down these dark and spooky aisles.  I’m not easily ‘spooked’, but this nighttime setting would bring out any latent fears that I might be suppressing!

The lady with the badge hung around her neck was our guide for the tour.  She was very knowledgeable and she knew her history as well as tomb architecture… We opted for the Historic New Orleans Tour group/Save Our Cemeteries vs. the Haunted History or Voodoo Cemetery Tour.

This is the tomb for Pierre Derbigny and his family.  Pierre Augustin Charles Bourguignon Derbigny was born in France in 1769 but he fled France in 1791 during the French Revolution.  Derbigny was one of the representatives of the new Americans in Washington seeking self-government for the Orleans Territory.  He was the 6^th Governor of Louisiana…

Derbigny supported the reopening of the slave trade and, as the territory was integrated into the United States, he opposed British common law in Louisiana and defended the retention of civil law practices established during the French and Spanish colonial periods.  As a consequence, Louisiana is unique among the 50 U.S. states in having a legal system for deciding private disputes that is primarily based on French and Spanish codes and ultimately Roman law, as opposed to English common law. 

FYI…These tombs usually contain more than one deceased member from the family, in fact there are normally several corpses are interred in most of these structures.  The remains are basically stacked on top of each other… 

With its multitude of large and small structures, spires, towers, multi-story tombs and monuments, St. Louis Cemetery #1 is indeed a city of the dead… The tall brick structure on the right is a ‘tomb apartment’.  If you couldn’t afford a family tomb and you couldn’t convince a friend to ‘share’ their tomb with you, these stacked apartment burials provided an optional solution. 

This is an example of a shared tomb, with the owner of the tomb sharing it with a friend.  As is the practice, visitors or family members have left flowers, beads and other mementos…such as this bottle of champagne…as gifts to the deceased.  

Our guide informed us that many families actually gather by their family tomb each year to commemorate/celebrate the dead and to have a picnic.  She had come across one such celebration only a week earlier…

This is the “Musicians’ Tomb”.  It’s big and quite new… Back in 2004, local community activists answered the call to properly honor those who gave the city its anthems.  This 18-vault tomb bears a plaque designating it as the Société "L'Union Sacrée"/Barbarin Family/Musicians' Tomb.  A larger plaque lists New Orleans musicians as they are entombed at the site. Inclusion in the tomb will not be limited to those who can't afford another place for burial but most New Orleans musicians are neither wealthy nor international celebrities.

This is the tomb of Jean Étienne de Boré. (1741 – 1820) He was a French planter who was known for producing the first granulated sugar in Spanish Louisiana, essentially making sugar cane profitable as a commodity crop. He was prominent at the time of the Louisiana Purchase and in 1803 the American governor of the territory appointed him the first Mayor of New Orleans under United States administration.

This is the de Marigny family tomb.  Jean-Bernard Xavier Philippe de Marigny de Mandeville, (1785–1868), was a French-Creole American nobleman, playboy, planter, politician, land developer and President of the Louisiana Senate. 

Bernard was also a big time gambler.  He actually introduced a dice game (craps), into New Orleans.  He had so many gambling debts that upon reaching legal adulthood, he divided his family plantation into small lots on what was then the outskirts of early New Orleans.  His development was very popular and it is now called the Faubourg Marigny…a neighborhood in the city.  Jazz musician Jelly Roll Morton was from Faubourg Marigny.   

Among other family members buried in this tomb is Homer Plessy. (1862 – 1925) He was the American Louisiana Creole of Color plaintiff in the United States Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson.  Arrested, tried and convicted in New Orleans of a violation of one of Louisiana's racial segregation laws, he appealed through Louisiana state courts to the U.S. Supreme Court and lost. 

The resulting "separate-but-equal" decision against him in 1896 had wide consequences for civil rights in the United States.  The decision legalized state-mandated segregation anywhere in the United States so long as the facilities provided for both blacks and whites were "equal".  This ruling stood until the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954. 

There are also a number of ethnic or society tombs in the cemetery.  This is the Italian Society's version…

Society tombs for professional or benevolent societies were common in the early history of New Orleans and served to administer to the burial needs of the individuals who belonged to them.  There are many historically important ethnic groups as well as such groups as volunteer firemen that are represented by these tomb styles.  A society tomb is a multi- layered tomb wall that contains several burial vaults.  They are like mausoleums…except that most people in a society tomb are connected in some way.

Scattered tombs throughout the cemetery have slowly collapsed as families either fail to maintain them or family lines have faded into obscurity.

 

Initial burials appear to have taken place in a haphazard manner, leading to the current maze of tombs and aisles.  Current theories about tomb and site evolution suggest that initial burials took place below-ground or in low, quasi-above ground tombs that only held one burial.  As the needs of the site grew, existing burial plots were added on to create additional burial vaults while retaining the original tomb footprints.  So, the one tier semi-below ground burial space became the fully realized above-ground tomb now found throughout the cemeteries of New Orleans and bayou country.

This pyramid is one of the most unusual tombs in the St. Louis #1 cemetery.  As it turns out, this is the only property remaining in New Orleans that is still owned by actor Nicolas Cage.  While he lost his home and other properties in bankruptcy, apparently pre-purchased tombs are exempt from the law.

 

If you’re wondering about all of those stains on the tomb, just click on the photo to enlarge it.  You will discover that those are lipstick imprints… Yikes!

This is the Glapion family tomb.  Allegedly, best evidence indicates the renowned Voodoo priestess Marie Laveau, (1794 – 1881), is interred in the Glapion family crypt.  There is still some debate regarding the whereabouts of Marie and her daughter’s remains…but she had a lover, Christophe Dominick Duminy de Glapion, and they had a plethora of offspring.  

Two known descendants of Marie Laveau (II) supposedly still practice Voodoo.

To learn more about Marie Laveau (I), the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Laveau.

The Laveau-Glapion tomb is a focal point for commercial ‘voodoo’ tours. Some visitors leave small gifts at the site-coins, Mardi Gras beads, candles, etc.-in the tradition of voodoo offerings. Many follow a custom of making a wish at the tomb.  In 2013, this tomb was painted pink by a vandal and it cost over $10,000 to remove the paint and refurbish the tomb.

This is another tomb that is somehow alleged to be connected to the voodoo practices of Marie Laveau and her daughter.  The XXX markings are supposed to bring good luck and there are other rituals that go along with that.  Several tourist operations over the years have sensationalized the voodoo aspect of the cemetery, some going so far as to encourage people to mark on the tombs or even to knock openings in the bricks so they can extract bones to show the tourists…

If you’d like to learn more about Voodoo in New Orleans you can go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Voodoo.

From what we were told, many of the tombs used to be painted and a few families still maintain the practice.  This particular crypt is littered with offerings and gifts.

In January of this year, the Roman Catholic archdiocese announced that, as of March 1^st, St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 will no longer be free to the general public.  This is to protect the cemetery from further desecration.  Tour companies that operate in the cemetery will be required to register with the archdiocese at a cost of $450 a month, $1,200 quarterly or $4,500 a year. People with family members buried in the cemetery also can register for free passes.  To learn more about this new policy, you can go to http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2015/01/new_rules_limiting_access_to_s.html.

We did enjoy our tour.  The “Save Our Cemeteries” organization supports the new controls in St. Louis Cemetery #1 despite the additional costs.  Our tour guide was very good although another ‘guide’ tagged along, interrupted and was a general nuisance.  To learn more about this group and their tours, go to http://www.saveourcemeteries.org/st-louis-cemetery-no-1/. 

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by and accompanying us on our tour!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Streetcars/Trolleys in New Orleans…Plus!

Certain large cities in the USA are special or different than the “typical” metro area.  Certainly New Orleans fits this image.  San Francisco also immediately jumps to my mind.  Both cities have something in common…an old time, unusual and related mode of transportation.

San Francisco has its Cable Cars and New Orleans has these old fashioned streetcars or trolleys. Both are very popular and are heavily utilized.  I think that they really add character to the city scene… This 2000 series trolley is operating on the Canal Street Line.  It’s a replica of the original 900 series that was built in the mid-1920's. (FYI…New Orleans’s residents prefer the term ‘streetcar’ vs. trolley)

With one exception, New Orleans’ trolley or streetcar lines were replaced by bus service in the period from the late 1940's to the early 1960's.  However, in the later portion of the 20th century, trends began to favor rail transit again. Service was returned to Canal Street in 2004…40 years after it had been shut down.

To check out the 4 New Orleans streetcar lines now in use, as well as fares and schedules, just go to http://www.norta.com/Maps-Schedules/Streetcar-Schedules-Maps.aspx.

This is the front of the interior of one of the original 900 series trolleys.  It is one of approximately 35 original units that are still in service. 

These early streetcars/trolleys were built by the Perley A. Thomas Car Works, Inc.  This company was a 20th-century builder of wooden and steel streetcars.  It was based in High Point, North Carolina.  The company later transitioned to building school buses…as Thomas Built Buses.  That company is now a division of Daimler Trucks North America, the parent company of Freightliner.

This is a view of the back of one of the original 900 series trolleys.  All of the trolleys, original or replica, seat 52 passengers.  On our ride on the St. Charles Avenue line out to the Garden District, it was late in the morning and the passenger load was light…

Streetcars in New Orleans have been part of the city's public transportation network since the first half of the 19th century.   Currently, the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority operates 4 distinct trolley lines.  While impressive, it’s a modest operation when compared to the number of lines in operation back in the system’s heyday when there were at least 2 dozen routes.   

While I prefer the streetcars, Laurie would prefer this alternate method of transportation…be it via mule or horse drawn carriage.  Carriage rides are available at Jackson Square in the French Quarter and rides are available from 8:45 am to around 11 pm. 

Despite the fact that I also like horses and mules, one reason that I prefer the trolley is the price!  A half-hour carriage ride is $18.00 per person (plus tip) but to be fair, it is also a tour with the driver acting as your guide.  However, the price of the trolley is a bit more doable as riders can buy an all-day Jazzy Pass for only $3.00!  In this day and age, that is a bargain…

At the end of our second day of walking, walking and walking…first throughout the French Quarter and then throughout the Garden District and part of Uptown, I can’t tell you how glad I was to see old number 920 coming down the tracks on St. Charles Avenue!  It was ‘rush hour’ and the streetcar was crowded with local residents on their daily commute… I was glad to see how popular it was. 

The St. Charles Avenue line is the oldest continuously operating street railway system in the world!  It is also the longest line in the system.  Preservationists were able to convince city government to protect the St. Charles Avenue Line by granting it historic landmark status.  The historic landmark status also applies to the original 900 series streetcars, with 35 or so currently in operating condition.

I was happy to capture this contrasting photograph…an old time replica streetcar trundling along toward us side by side with a Burlington Northern/Santa Fe diesel locomotive.  Unlike the other 3 streetcar lines, the Riverfront Line operates on an exclusive right of way, (no cars and trucks to share the road with), along the river levee beside New Orleans Belt Railway tracks.

The Riverfront Line started service in 1988.  This line uses another 900 series replica streetcar…the 457-463 Series.  It was the third line that we used during our visit.  It operates from the Convention Center past Jackson Square to the far end of the French Quarter.

With the addition of the Riverfront and Canal lines, more streetcars were needed for the system. The New Orleans Regional Transit Authority’s shops built all of the replica streetcars.  They've constructed a total of 31 streetcars to date.  The replica streetcars/trolleys can be distinguished from the older vehicles by their bright red color.  Unlike the original 900 series exempted under historic landmark status, the new streetcars are ADA-compliant and the Canal Street cars are even air conditioned.

Note: The New Orleans Public Belt Railroad is a Class III switching railroad with the primary mission of serving the Port of New Orleans and local industries. The NOPB has direct connections to six (6) Class 1 Railroads.

It may not look like it but this is the former Basin Street Railway Station which is located just outside the French Quarter.  A tour guide explained that the 4^th floor is an addition to the original structure.  This structure was also formerly known as the New Orleans Terminal Company/Southern Railway Freight Office Building.  It was built in 1904. 

The sign above the archway is inscribed ‘Basin Street Station’.  Actually this re-purposed building contains elements of 5 different railway stations that once served New Orleans but which have now been demolished.  To view old photos of some of the original railroad stations, you can go to http://old-new-orleans.com/NO_Stations.html.

  

For railroad aficionados, there is a giant showcase containing some very nice model railroad equipment and rolling stock.  Other exhibits, maps and information can be viewed while exploring the building or waiting for tours.  Seating consists of what appears to be old railroad depot benches. 

Today, this historic railroad building is staffed with travel counselors, murals, art, music, crafts, refreshments and entertainment.  Coffee and snacks are also available.  I think that while it’s a positive thing that the building has been re- purposed and it’s well used, it just doesn’t feel like a railroad station.  

FYI…tours of historic St. Louis Cemetery #1 start here.  The cemetery is located right next door. (More on the cemetery tour in another posting)

That’s about it for now… Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Thanks for stopping by for a streetcar ride!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

A Walk Through New Orleans' Garden District

We devoted most of one day to an exploration…a self-guided trek through the Garden District of New Orleans.  I refer to it as a ‘trek’ because after walking 8 – 10 miles in and around the French Quarter in the previous 24 hours, I learned a lot about the limits of my questionable knees, bad hip and my replacement hip too… I was dragging by day’s end!

Getting there and returning to our hotel was thankfully easy enough…via the St. Charles Avenue trolley line.

New Orleans’ Garden District is a fairly compact area…about 6 or 7 blocks wide by 14 blocks long…but the walking route, even well thought out, zig-zags back and forth.  This is the Garden District's only example of Gothic Revival Architecture.  The Briggs-Staub house has a matching Gothic guest house, (built as servant’s quarters), that repeats the lines of the main cottage.

 

I’ll tell you up front that I can’t identify some of the homes in the following photos.  I generally don’t take notes and work from memory.  It must be said that there are a plethora of beautiful old homes, one after another for the viewing pleasure of the home architectural aficionado. 

Originally laid out in 1832 by Barthelemy Lafron, the Garden District was created after the Louisiana Purchase as a settlement for the new American residents of New Orleans.  They were not eager to mingle with those of European descent, (i.e., the Creoles), who were primarily concentrated in the French Quarter.

It’s very impressive when you consider that an entire neighborhood of old homes and mansions have survived old age, war, fire, and a bevy of devastating hurricanes. (The Garden District is 3 to 4 feet above sea level)  

A combination of both wealth and obvious pride created the Garden District and provides the motivation to maintain the neighborhood.  In addition to local money, a number of celebrities own or have owned homes in the Garden District.  These are Drew Brees, Nicolas Cage (lost it in bankruptcy), John Goodman, Gloria Henry, Archie Manning, Eli Manning and Peyton Manning.   

This is the Pritchard-Pigott house.  It’s an example of a Greek Revival double-galleried town house.

This is one of eight “shotgun” houses known as the Coliseum Street Row.  “Shotgun style” houses get their name from the fact that the rooms are lined up so that you could fire a gun through the house without hitting anything.  This style is one room wide, one story tall and several rooms deep and has its primary entrance in the gable end.

Laurie and I loved these Oak tree root systems gone wild!  Old trees with roots like these are scattered throughout the Garden District. 

This mansion was built in the 1860's by builder-architect Samuel Jamison in the Italianate style.  Landscape architect and author Andrew Jackson Downing, with his 1850 book “The Architecture of Country Houses”, actually made the Italianate style so popular in the U.S.A. that for a while it was known as "The American Style."

More unidentified but handsome old homes along our route…

This is the Claiborne Cottage.  This home was finished in 1857 and it’s one of the oldest in the Garden District.  It was built for Louise Claiborne-Marigny whose father, William Claiborne, had served as Louisiana's 1st Governor in 1812.   He later served in the US Senate and before he’d moved to Louisiana he’d once filled Andrew Jackson's seat in the US Congress from Tennessee.

Louise Claiborne-Marigny's father in-law Bernard Marigny was also famous as he served as President of the Louisiana Senate and he was a hero in the Creole community.  To learn more about Bernard Marigny, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_de_Marigny.

Note: After living down the road at 2301 St Charles Ave for most of her childhood, author Anne Rice and her family moved to this house when she was 14 years old.  Rice was inspired by the home and in 1995 she bought it and moved back in.  While she didn’t live here very long, this home was used as the setting for her well-known ghost novel “Violin” published in 1997.

Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 is one of the City’s oldest cemeteries and it's right in the middle of the Garden District.  This historic cemetery was first opened in 1832 in a classic French style with above ground tombs.   Famous figures buried here include Judge Ferguson of the Plessy vs. Ferguson “separate-but-equal” case, Brigadier General Harry T. Hays who led the 1st Louisiana Brigade in the Civil War, and the Brunies family of jazz musicians.

  

However, perhaps the most famous tombs of the cemetery are the fictional ones.  Among the fictional characters to buried here are family of Mayfair Witches from Anne Rice’s Witching Hour book series and the vampire Lestat from the another Rice novel Interview with a Vampire.  In 1994, ‘Interview with a Vampire’ was made into a movie starring Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise and the cemetery scenes were filmed here.    

If my memory serves me right, this is the home that Jefferson Davis, (eventual President of the Confederate States of America), occupied for a short time toward the end of his life.

This home is unusual in the Garden District in that it’s a multi-family dwelling.  Warwick Manor is an example of Georgian architecture. 

This Italianate style villa hidded behind the tree is one of the homes in the Garden District that is noted for its fancy cast-iron fence, in this case, shaped like cornstalks intertwined with morning glories.

I love this home.  It reminds me of some of the French style homes from the early plantations or from historic Ste. Genevieve Missouri.  It was the only one in this style that I saw during our walk…

This Victorian style homes is typical of those popular in Uptown New Orleans at the end of the 19th century.  They were probably built for people who left town in the summer since this style of home was really designed for cooler northern climates.  Love that skeleton horse with what has to be New Orleans style Christmas decorations! 

One more attractive unidentified home along the way…

Most of the garden/landscaped areas were small but well done.  In the early days, the original properties had broad expansive yards, landscaped to reflect the wealth of the owners.

This is the Montgomery-Hero House.  It was built in 1868 by Archibald Montgomery.  It is one of the few houses that still have a lawn almost completely surrounding the house…

This is part of the small but quaint ‘shopping area’ in the Garden District.  This is “The Rink”, a former skating rink that has been converted into a coffee shop, book store and other small retail shops.  The Rink was originally built in 1884 as the Crescent City roller Skating Rink.  It was intended to lure passing tourists during the World's Cotton Centennial Exposition.  Since then the building has housed a livery stable, mortuary, grocery store, and gas station. 

This is the "Stained Glass" House.  It’s very unique to the Garden District and the Victorian style was used mainly in the Uptown neighborhood of New Orleans.  What really stands out though is the extensive amount of stained glass that lines the doors and windows of this home.

Speaking of celebrities, this ornate Victorian home belongs to actress Sandra Bullock…

This is the "Benjamin Button" House.  Although it’s a fairly plain home by Garden District standards, this house draws a lot of tourists as it served as the main house in the Brad Pitt movie “Benjamin Button”.  If you've seen the movie you can recall main scenes taking place on both the porch and steps leading up to the home. 

For information about the movie, you can go to http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421715/.

This is the well-known Commander’s Palace Restaurant.  It’s located right in the heart of the Garden District, across from Lafayette Cemetery #1.  Emile Commander established the only restaurant patronized by the distinguished neighborhood families back in 1880.  In 1854, it was engulfed by the city of New Orleans and by 1900 Commander's Palace was attracting gourmets from all over the world. 

Under different management in the twenties its reputation was somewhat ‘spicier’.  Riverboat captains dined here and ‘sporting gentlemen’ met with beautiful women for a rendezvous in the private dining room upstairs. Downstairs however, the main dining room with its separate entrance, was maintained offering respectability for family meals after church and family gatherings of all sorts.

To see the upscale menus for Commander’s Palace, just go to http://www.commanderspalace.com/menu/index.html. 

One more beautiful old home…which I can’t identify.  The 2010 census revealed that just under 2,000 people reside in the Garden District.

Just a block from St. Charles Avenue we noted this “French Second Empire-style” mansion.  It was built in 1872 at a cost of $100,000 for Bradish Johnson by Beaux Arts-trained architect James Freret. 

Note: Bradish Johnson was an American industrialist who owned plantations and sugar refineries in Louisiana as well as a large distillery in New York City.  In 1858 his distillery was at the heart of a scandal when an exposé in a weekly magazine accused it (and other distilleries) of producing altered and unsafe milk, called "swill milk", for sale to the public.  The swill milk scandal helped to create the demand for consumer protection laws in the United States.

For some really great photos of many of the historic homes in New Orleans’ Garden District, check out the many pictures posted on TripAdvisor at  http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60864-d105733-Reviews-Garden_District-New_Orleans_Louisiana.html.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a lengthy walk!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave