There is an old wise saying about being humble that all graves are same size.. but being a very avid Graveyard/ Cemetery explorer, I know this to be false.
My birthday week journey led me to New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. This city specifically the French Quarter has been on my bucket list for some time and I was able to cross it out finally.
Todays journey starts with the St. Louis Cemetery No 1. It has a rich history and we will get into that shortly.
ISO 100 ♡ 34mm ♡ f5.0 ♡ 1/640
In the 1700s Yellow Fever struck the town and the belief was it spread by air. They didnt have a valid way of properly procuring the dead. The city started to smell and more people got sick. Yellow fever is actually transmitted by mosquitoes but they didn’t know that back then.
ISO 100 ♡ 24mm ♡ f4.5 ♡ 1/640
So they went to the north of the city and buried their dead. Which if you notice these tombs are not in the ground. Popular belief is that this town has above ground tombs because when it floods grandma would be floating down the street. However, these are above ground because the city is below sea level and they couldn't dig more than a few feet down without water rising from the ground and flooding the hole.
ISO 100 ♡ 15mm ♡ f4.0 ♡ 1/400
Remember I said earlier according to that saying all graves were the same size? 6 feet down was not possible. So they built these ovens, yes ovens not tombs. Still to this day, the body remains in here in a standard wooden box, not even a coffin, for 366 days. This is to ensure that the only thing that remains is about 3 to 5 lbs of bone. They then open it up, place your bones in a bag and drop it down a hole in the back and wait for the next family member to pass. If someone in the family passed before the 366 days the family then had to rent a wall space from the diocese for a year.
One of the most famous people supposedly here is Marie Laveau. Self proclaimed Voodoo Queen. (I may use some of these photos again in another full article about her).
ISO 100 ♡ 16mm ♡ f5.0 ♡ 1/500
This does have her name on it. It was purchased by her 3rd and final husband. Him and her 7 children are reported to be here. If you look you can see the list of names.
ISO 100 ♡ 15mm ♡ f4.0 ♡ 1/1250
There is actually no one in here yet. This is the future spot of Nicolas Cage (the actor).
There is much more history here which I will save for a later date.
ISO 100 ♡ 25mm ♡ f4.0 ♡ 1/500
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ALL PHOTOS ARE TAKEN BY ME ON MY CANON M SERIES MIRRORLESS CAMERA EDITED IN LR
