Built St. Louis > > On the Road in New Orleans
The Garden District
Photographs from December 28, 2006
After a bit of wandering, we chanced across Lafayette Cemetery, one of the city's famed above-ground graveyards. The cemetery is at the center of the neighborhood, like some sort of strange central square.
The cemetary occupies a city block and is completely walled and gated off. One wall is actually a mausoleum.
Lafayette Cemetery did not flood, but like everything in New Orleans it is subject to the decaying forces of heat, humidity and rain. A group called Save Our Cemeteries has emerged as the primary caretakers of the city's various Cemeteries, giving tours and raising money to maintain the graveyards.
