New Orleans Day 4: Walking Tour of Lafayette Cemetery and the Garden District

Saturday was our final full day in New Orleans, and probably my favorite!

We enjoyed sleeping in until 8:45, and then went downstairs for breakfast. It was the nicest day yet, 65° for a high, and the sun was even out!

After breakfast, we walked down to Canal Street to take the St. Charles Streetcar to the Garden District for our 10:30 walking tour. We arrived at the stop at 9:45. The line was already long. The streetcar is supposed to run every six minutes; with a 15 minute ride ahead of us, I thought we had plenty of time. I thought wrong. 

It FINALLY arrived a half hour later, at 10:15. At which point I was full on panicking. It took forever to get everyone on board (standing room only), and then we stopped a bunch to let people on and off. At 10:35, we finally arrived where we thought we needed to be, and got off - except somehow I had the wrong corner as our tour meeting place. We ran a block down to the corner of the Lafayette Cemetery where we were supposed to meet our tour group, but no one was there. I was so disappointed!

I had Adam wait at the corner, while I looked in the cemetery for them. Luckily, I found them just inside and we were able to join up, ten minutes late. I’m so glad we found them, because this tour was my favorite thing that we did.

The tour I selected was by Free Tours on Foot. I picked them because I liked the time it was offered (not too early, but not so late that we couldn't do something else in the afternoon) and that you got a tour of both the cemetery and the Garden District. The premise is that you take the tour, and then “pay” afterward by tipping your guide whatever you want. The guides are local people. Our guide was Sarah, and she was knowledgeable and funny. The two hour tour flew by. I would definitely recommend taking a guided tour of the cemetery as these guides know so much and make it really interesting. 

 

 The first hour was spent wandering around Lafayette Cemetery; which takes up just one city block. This is something I’ve always dreamed of doing as the above ground tombs of New Orleans have always fascinated me.

  

HIGHLIGHTS:

    - The above ground cemeteries are necessary because the water table is very high in this area. If buried, coffins would just pop up.

      - There are Society Tombs for different organizations where people that had that org in common could choose to be buried. This fireman’s tomb is one example.

      - Along the entrance gate, there is a wall of vault tombs that are mostly empty, but sealed, because they had a problem with homeless people staying in them. Some people are buried in them, but they were commonly used as a temporary resting place before being moved to the final resting place if the family tomb was currently full.

 
   - An entire family can be buried in one tomb. There are multiple shelves in most, plus they have an interesting way of making more room. It’s gross, but the above ground tombs act as an oven and speed up decomposition. After one year, the coffin can be removed and destroyed, while the body is put in a bag, labeled, and then placed in the bone repository at the bottom of the tomb. This frees up a space for another coffin to be placed inside.

    - A draped urn was a popular symbol of mourning in the late Victorian period and was a common sight in this cemetery.

  - Lafayette No 1 is an active cemetery and is the oldest owned by the City of New Orleans. People can still be buried here in their family vault or by purchasing an existing vault that’s been used by another family. Additionally, if a plot is considered “abandoned,” and hasn’t had any upkeep, it can be sold. That's why you may see a tomb with multiple last name plaques or engravings on it (one old, and one that obviously looks modern).

    - This is a cast iron tomb, and is what Lestat’s tomb in Interview with a Vampire is based on.

For the second hour, we went out onto the streets of the Garden District, which looks very different from the French Quarter. The reason for this is that the French Quarter was settled by the Creoles, while the Garden District was populated by the Americans after the Louisiana Purchase. We had to be very careful and watch our step as the sidewalks are cracked due to the roots of the old trees.

I took a lot of photos of all the fascinating architecture on the walking tour, and will note interesting things about the houses that I remember.

- Colonel Short's Villa (1448 Fourth St)
It has a corn stalk fence because the Colonel's wife missed her native Iowa, so he brought it to her (as seen in right corner of photo).

 - Briggs-Staub Gothic style House (2605 Prytania St)

- Our Mother of Perpetual Help (2523 Prytania St)
This was once a Catholic chapel and then was owned by Anne Rice. It was the setting for her novel, Violin. Anne Rice owned many houses in the French Quarter at one time. Next, Nicholas Cage owned it, but lost it in foreclosure.

- Davis Seebold House / Women's Opera Guild (2504 Prytania St)

- Archie Manning House (1420 First St.)
This was the childhood home of Eli and Peyton Manning. Their father, Archie, played for the Saints.

- Musson-Bell House (1331 Third St)
Once owned by the uncle of Degas. Also according to our guide, this house was Walt Disney’s inspiration for the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland.

- Brevard-Mahat-Rice House/Rosegate (1239 First St)
This was Anne Rice's main house and the setting for her Witching Hour series. She sold it after her husband’s death because the memories were too much for her.

- Joseph Merrick Jones House (2425 Coliseum St)
Once owned by Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails, but now owned by actor John Goodman. The house is completely sound proofed, yet while Reznor lived there Sound Ordinances were passed and he eventually moved out as he felt unwelcome.

Just as I was taking this photo, dogs came running out into the back yard. I saw John Goodman's dogs! Haha.

- Morris-Israel House (1331 First St)

This is a double-galleried Italianate townhouse. The iron work was gorgeous.

- Koch Mays House owned by Sandra Bullock (2627 Coliseum St)

This chalet style home was known as Freret's Folly (the builder) and is now owned by the actress Sandra Bullock. They love her in New Orleans.

- Nolan House (2707 Coliseum St)

This was Benjamin Button's House from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button film.

Other houses that looked interesting but I don't remember anything notable about -

I loved the amazing architecture in the Garden District, but was surprised by all the low hanging power lines everywhere; making it much less picturesque.