New Orleans - Lafayette Cemetery No. 1

Today is the first day of lent, or Ash Wednesday. While the ashes Christian worshippers place on their foreheads are from the palms of Palm Sunday, it made me think of the phrase “ashes to ashes, dust to dust”.

When I was in New Orleans with my book club, another member of my husband’s expansive family, Dr. William Perret, gave us a tour of Lafayette Cemetery No. 1.

Dr. Perret is a retired dermatologist who is now a passionate New Orleans historian. His tour was so good that he made the “City of the Dead” come alive.

He explained why the dead in New Orleans are buried above ground. Since the water table is so high, burial plots must remain shallow. Unfortunately, floods or even strong rainstorms lifted coffins up out of the ground. No wonder there are so many stories about zombies in this town.

Early in the tour Dr. Perret pointed out that one grave is often shared by multiple generations. We all looked puzzled and he quickly said, “I will explain how later.”

In the mean time, he taught us about the different funerary symbols that depict our mortality. A handshake symbolizes continuing links after death.

An upside down torch with no flame conveys a life extinguished.

An hourglass with wings of time depicts our fleeting time on earth.

A vessel with a flame, sometimes draped with a funeral pall, represents the eternal spirit of man.

Hurricane Katrina damaged many of the graves.

Many of the plantings were destroyed, but an occasional cemetery fern persists.

Each grave has its own personality. Many are adorned with cast iron or wrought iron fences so characteristic of New Orleans architecture.

Some graves are adorned in a grand fashion.

Others adornments are heartbreaking.

This cast iron grave is still available via mail order.

Members of the Jefferson Fire Company No. 22 bury theirs here.

The angel with the clipped wing is the iconic image from Lafayette Cemetery No. 1. Her wing was broken long before Hurricane Katrina.

Many of the dead have their stories carved in stone. Mabel L. Shaw "never did a mean act nor said an unkind word".

Charles Beck loved to bowl.

R. Sekinger had a different passion.

A charitable society wrote the ironic message “For the Relief of Destitute Orphan Boys”

Dr. Perret did explain how all those generations can fit into one grave. After at least one year and one day, after the bodies have decomposed, a grave may be opened up and the remaining bones may then be scraped to the back of the grave, making room for the next family member.

On that cheery note, I nevertheless highly recommend taking the tour with Dr. Perret or one of his colleagues. You may make reservations at Save our Cemeteries, the group that trained him. He is a volunteer and does not charge for his services but he would greatly appreciate a contribution to the organization that is pledged to preserving and restoring New Orleans’ Cities of the Dead.

Flickr set here.