Lafayette Cemetery No. 1

Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 is the Garden District's 'City of the Dead' — a block-sized grid of above-ground tombs established in 1833 that has become one of the most visited cemeteries in America, thanks partly to Anne Rice, who set key scenes from 'Interview with the Vampire' here, and partly to the cemetery's genuinely atmospheric combination of crumbling tombs, live oak shade, and the silence that descends when you step through the gates from busy Washington Avenue.

The cemetery was the burial ground for the American sector of New Orleans — as opposed to the French Creole cemeteries closer to the Quarter — and the tomb inscriptions reflect the immigration waves that shaped the city: Irish families who arrived during the Famine, German merchants, and the wealthy American planters who built the Garden District mansions across the street. The yellow fever epidemics of the 1850s filled the cemetery rapidly — at the epidemic's peak, families were burying multiple members in a single week.

The tombs are built in the New Orleans style — raised brick vaults sealed with plaster, usually whitewashed, with the family name carved above the door. The largest are elaborate structures with multiple chambers designed to hold generations of a family, while the wall vaults around the perimeter (called 'oven vaults' for their resemblance to bread ovens) were used for less wealthy burials. The cemetery is free to enter during daylight hours, and its location directly across from Commander's Palace makes it an easy stop on any Garden District walk.