St. Louis Cemetery No. 2 was established by the Catholic Church in 1823. It was an extension to St. Louis Cemetery No. 1. The city was being ravaged by cholera, typhoid, diphtheria, smallpox, bubonic plague, yellow fever and malaria. The stench of the French Quarter at that time was quit foul because of the chamber pot refuse, dead animals and kitchen slop. However, the residents thought that these odors were caused by evil spirits spread by the deceased. So Saint Louis #2 was built far from the border of the French Quarter to keep evil spirits away.  

For most places in the USA burial means “planted 6 feet in the ground.”  But New Orleans is below sea level and the water table is extremely high here. It is hard to dig graves because they often fill up with water before you can get them dug. Even worse yet is floating corpses and coffins. When it floods in an area with a high water table the coffins may simply float up through the sandy soil and float down the street. This is not only a problem in Louisiana but it is a more constant problem in New Orleans. One casket company actually uses pictures taken of caskets that are floating along just to show how airtight their products are. The federal government now requires that all bodies be buried with a metal ID tag on their toe and a water proof vile that seals into the casket lid so that bodies can be identified and returned to their proper resting place when this kind of thing happens. 

Many family members are buried in each tomb. With the heat and humidity is does not take long for the deceased as well as the coffin to disintegrate and the remains are moved to the back for the next family member.

There are a lot of decisions to make when you bury someone above ground. First you have to decide what kind of tomb you want. There are  - box tomb, barrel vaulted tomb, oven vault, coping grave, ledger stone grave, parapet  tomb, pitched roof tomb, sarcophagus tomb, society tomb, temple tomb and even  pyramid tomb.

 

Then you have to decide on what kind of headstone. There are simple headstone, block headstone, pulpit tombstone, raised top tombstone, scroll tombstone, tablet tombstone, ground level adstone stele and gothic headstone. There are compound markers. Such as table, basal, die, pedestal, column and cross vault. And you can include any architectural or sculptural combinations. And don’t forget Obelisks markers.

  Besides choosing the tomb type and the headstone, families also chose symbols they want to adorn the tomb. There are many symbols to choose from. There are the obvious – The Virgin Mary, crosses, doves, lambs, angels and clasped hands But you can also choose ivy, poppies, lions, palms, hearts, sea shells, hourglass, flowers, columns, etc.

Once you’ve made all of the above decisions you have one more important decision to make. Whether to fence or not fence. Ornate metal fencing is a big part of New Orleans’s architecture so including it at the grave site is not surprising.

 


 
Jim and I found graves that date back to the 1700’s. Many of these older tombs are no longer cared for because the entire family has passed away. The older tombs are falling into severe disrepair because of this.  A New Orleans organization called “Save Our Cemeteries” is working hard to restore the cemeteries.

 Reading the headstones makes you wonder about the occupants. I found a tomb that had three adult children who all died on the same day. How do parents survive the death of three children all at the same time?

More surprising to me was the tomb for Sisters of the Holy Family, a black sisterhood.

Henriette Delille, was born a "free person of color" in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1813. Delille, founded the Sisters of the Holy Family, though they were not acknowledged at the time  as a religious sisterhood by the Catholic Church. The order was devoted to the poor and uneducated. They nursed the sick during epidemics that devastated New Orleans. They provided hospice care and created an annex for the city's many orphans. The fact that these black ladies are buried in this cemetery is a testament to their good works.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After Delille died in 1862, there were only 12 members of the order. Soon after, only five of these remained. Under their care, the order thrived and grew. Ultimately the Sisters had missions in California; Texas; D.C. and Belize.
 

In the late sixties, the Sisters of the Holy Family approached the archbishop of New Orleans about embarking on the canonization process. When they asked for his support, he replied, "Why did you all wait so long?" according to the Los Angeles Times. "Clearly this is a life that needs to be elevated to sainthood." The sisters had waited because, before 1960, they doubted the Church would elevate a black woman to sainthood. In 1989, the Sisters of the Holy Family formally opened Delille's cause for canonization with the Catholic Church, a process which can take decades, sometimes centuries. If the process is successful, Delille would become the first American-born black saint.
 

The cemeteries were really interesting, a must for all visitors to this incredible city.