New Orleans Cemeteries

St. Louis King of France

There are three cemeteries in New Orleans named after St. Louis King of France.  St. Louis Cemetery #1 and St. Louis Cemetery #2 are located just outside the French Quarter.  Cemetery tours visit #1, where Marie Leveau is interred.  I don't think they go to #2, but I am waiting for one of our guests to take a tour to confirm this.

I do know that tours visit St. Louis Cemetery #3, which is on the end of Esplanade Avenue, right before City Park.  How do I know this?  Because the tour buses pause in front of La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast to talk about Gayarre Park and the three picturesque homes in the middle of the 2200 block.

La Belle Esplanade at 2216 Esplanade Avenue, New Orleans

After us, the buses pause on the 2300 block to discuss the Degas House, where the impressionist painter used to live.  At the next corner they discuss the Museum of the Free People of Color.  The whole trip to the cemetery is like that.  There is a lot to see and to talk about along Esplanade Avenue.

As I was commenting to a lovely couple from Idaho who are staying with us this week, picturesque decay is one of New Orleans' many-fabled charms.  While you will find very little of it on Esplanade Avenue, you will find plenty of it in St. Louis Cemeteries Numbers 1 and 2.  

St. Louis Cemetery Number 3, is another matter altogether.  It is a necropolis, but it doesn't make you feel like it is haunted, the way the other two boneyards do.  It could be because St. Louis Cemetery #3 is the final resting place for many priests and religious.  There are also numerous well maintained statues of saints, like the one of St. Louis King of France, for whom St. Louis Cathedral is named.

What cemeteries look like in New Orleans

What tombs look like in New Orleans

That's an apartment building for the living in the background

Like all Catholic cemeteries, the graves at St. Louis #3 are blessed every All Saints Day.  This year, the archbishop presided over mass across the street,  Then the archbishop, Father Robicheaux, and Deacons Bialas and Zaiontz, walked across Esplanade Avenue, respectfully stopping traffic on their way to bless the graves.

The 14th Archbishop of New Orleans on All Saints Day

During his homily, the Archbishop said: "The Church recognizes many saints, but there are many more that it does not officially recognize.  Some of those are buried across the street."  

Still more are scattered all over New Orleans.  It is that kind of a city.

The name says it all

I was late coming home on All Saints Day.  "Where have you been?" Frau Schmitt asked.  

"You won't believe this," I answered, "but I had to stop so that Archbishop Aymond could cross the street."

She believed it.  Unexpected surprises happen in New Orleans every day, and we are more blessed for them.

To learn more about La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast: click here.  If you are thinking of visiting New Orleans, there is no better place to stay, and no more interesting neighborhood.  

A votre sante.