Lafayette Cemetery – New Orleans, Louisiana - Atlas Obscura
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Lafayette Cemetery

New Orleans, Louisiana

This historic "City of the Dead" lies prominently in the center of New Orleans' famous Garden District. 

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Infrogmation/Wikimedia (Creative Commons)
Infrogmation/Wikimedia (Creative Commons)
Infrogmation/Wikimedia (Creative Commons)
Infrogmation/Wikimedia (Creative Commons)
1883 map showing the Lafayette Cemetery in the Garden District Robinson’s Atlas of the City of New Orleans (Public Domain)
Infrogmation/Wikimedia (Creative Commons)
Infrogmation/Wikimedia (Creative Commons)
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frozen in time and shadow forever Blindcolour (Atlas Obscura User)
foot prints to nowhere.... Blindcolour (Atlas Obscura User)
Destitute orphan boys cbraun (Atlas Obscura User)
View from "Secret Garden". cbraun (Atlas Obscura User)
Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 JamieTrie (Atlas Obscura User)
Broken glass sits untouched up top a grave Blindcolour (Atlas Obscura User)
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The lovely tree-filled grounds of Lafayette Cemetery were established in 1833, and it is the oldest of the city-owned and operated cemeteries in New Orleans. More than 7,000 people are buried in the cemetery, which occupies a space roughly equivalent to a single city block.

The cemetery was named for the old city of Lafayette, now incorporated into New Orleans, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. Known for their distinctive above-ground burials and particularly lovely monuments, New Orleans’ historic cemeteries are all worth exploring, including Saint Louis Cemetery #1 (home to the tomb of “Voodoo Queen” Marie Laveau), St. Louis Cemetery #2, and the racetrack-shaped Metairie Cemetery.

If you love the show The Originals, then you might recognize this cemetery as the home of the witches. All the scenes that take place in a cemetery were filmed here.

Note: Lafayette is currently closed for repairs. 

catacombs catacombs and crypts graveyards gravestones graves cemeteries
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Marie Laveau's tomb in 2005
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Atlas Obscura May 28, 2017
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