Three Hour Tour

We began our three hour walking tour of the city on top of the stairs overlooking Jackson Square at around eight in the morning. We were all bundled up, and most of us had hot chocolate or coffee from Cafe Du Monde. It was a bitterly cold day, but standing in the sun helped. Milton, our tour guide, had a loud, deep voice, and he did not stumble once over dates or events in New Orleans. He spoke with confidence, and he had a good sense of humor as well.
My favorite part of the tour had to be the St. Louis Cemetery No. 1. The cemetery was surrounded by a concrete wall, and I discovered that bodies were in the wall. This was once a way of temporarily storing the bodies, but it became a permanent resting place for many. The cemetery was a mix of mausoleums that were in perfect condition, and some that were falling apart such as the one pictured below.

 

Graves in the wall of the cemetery

 In New Orleans, these cemeteries are called cities of the dead. This is because the graves are decorated in a way that resembles buildings in New Orleans. Many graves have iron fences on the front of them that resemble the galleries and balconies on the buildings in the French Quarter. Many of the graves also have roofs that are resemble these buildings as well. Another reason why these cemeteries are called cities of the dead is because the above ground graves are pretty densely packed together, like it is in the city. Lastly, there are multiple bodies in a single grave, and they have different heights.

One of the most interesting above ground graves in the cemetery is the grave of Marie Laveau, also known as the voodoo queen. There are three different places where she may be buried, but most believe that she is in the mausoleum that the rest of her family's bodies are. Milton explained to us that some people believe that if you draw three X's on Marie Laveau's grave and wish for something, you invoke the spirit of Marie Laveau to make it come true. If the wish did come true, people would come back and circle the three X's that they drew. Unfortunately, this had led to extreme vandalism to Marie Laveau's grave. They have since attempted to cover these marks, but as shown below, people still get into the cemetery to make a wish at her grave.

Marie Laveau's Grave

Circled X's drawn on after it was repainted.

We ended our tour at the historic Congo Square within Louis Armstrong Park. This spot was considered sacred ground by the Indians before the arrival of the French. When the French arrived with slaves, the slaves would gather here and sell and trade goods in order to buy their freedom. This spot is most famous for the gatherings of enslaved Africans who would sing, dance, drum, and sell and trade on Sunday afternoons. These gatherings would involve as many as 600 people. This square is surrounded by unique tress that are hundreds of years old.