Saint Louis Cemetery No 1

Thanks to Nancy, we have a much better understanding of not only the history of the cemetery and of New Orleans. She left us with some stories to read about further: the whole voodoo stuff associated with the area; similarities between the Catholic religion and Haitian voodoo rituals; and many of the family names and their history in the area… great tour and well worth the tour! Thanks to other reviews this is how we picked this one!!!

This will remain as my favorite thing about my trip to NOLA. I went with friends who probably had no idea what my draw was, but left in awe. I have always been into old cemeteries, but this one has a very rich history. Before you go, please know that you MUST have a guided tour or they will not allow you entrance. No smoking. No drinking. No acting a fool. Be respectful. AND SEE IF YOU CAN GET ASHLEY TO DO YOUR TOUR! Her mom works there too, but we had Ashley and she is THE greatest. Ok. Onto the tour.
Part of the draw beyond it being a very old and beautiful place, this is the supposed resting place of the famous voodoo queen, Marie Laveau. I won’t ruin the stories you will hear on this tour. Just know that you will walk out with a great deal of new knowledge on what actually is going on in those above ground tombs filled with folks, and you might just punch Nicholas Cage in the face next time you see him. Oh and one more thing, bring three offerings to post up for the queen. That third tomb of hers has some serious energy about it.

On our cross country road trip we wanted to see some of the historic cemeteries, so we decided to stop at St. Louis Cemetery #1. When we entered the place was bustling with visitors and there were a lot of «vendors» selling water and soda.
The cemetery itself is filled with unique graves as well as some interesting history. Some of our favorite sites were Nicolas Cage’s future site as well as the possible grave site of Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau.
In the end, this was a great place to visit and we think that this should be a go-​to for any tourist visiting the area.

Saint Louis Cemetery No. 1 is a must-​visit for any visitor interested in history and preservation. As of this posting, you’re only authorized to enter this above-​ground cemetery with a credentialed tour guide by your side.
With that said, you need to research your selected guide ahead of time to ensure you don’t end up rushing around the cemetery and being told to get out of the way for other guests throughout your time here.
My guide also made incorrect statements based on my own knowledge of history, which leads me to wonder how much he actually knew about the cemetery and its inhabitants.
This is a place that deserves time and understanding. There are so many important historical figures who rest here, including a monument and the possible remains of famed voodoo practitioner Marie Laveau.
Be sure not to wander from your group and never write XXX on a grave for good luck, or you may find yourself $ 10,000 in the hole. However, you are able to «mark» the sign with your fingers for an apparent similar good-​luck result. Unfortunately, I learned this fact from another guide after our cemetery tour, so I guess I’m out of luck.
I’d love to go back one day with a different guide to take in more of the character of this unique cemetery. Hopefully the weather will be just as nice as it was on the day we visited — breezy, sunny and in the 70s.

If this is your first time visiting New Orleans, I’d 110% recommend visiting Saint Louis Cemetery 1. I would even recommend going back again. I was only there once, but I feel like there’s so much more that I could have seen.
You need to be accompanied by a tour guide. Be sure to do your research about the company you pick. Maybe I feel the need to go back because my tour guide was rushing through the cemetery and definitely missed things that other groups were covering.
It does get crowded with overlapping tour groups. As long as you (or your tour guide) aren’t in a rush, taking a little extra time to explore wouldn’t kill anyone (cause all the cemetery residents are already dead… hah hah hah).
The whole New Orleans above ground burial system is just fascinating. I came into this experience with very little knowledge of how it worked. Learning about the movement of bodies after a year and a day, how different classes and religions were handled different and of course the voodoo practitioners was so interesting. I probably could have spent hours soaking in the experience.
My group happened to go on a gorgeous, 70 degree day in January so that helped the experience. I could imagine it being less fun in the rain. Nonetheless, I absolutely recommend a visit and repeat visit.

Apparently you need a tour guide to get in. So don’t waste your time walking over without one. They won’t let you in.

The Witches Brew 3 – 1 tour took us to St Louie Cemetery #1, which has Madam Lauree, Voodoo Queen, her husband and daughter’s plots. I also saw Nicolas Cage’s tomb, and several other historical figures. We spent a great deal of time there, especially since we were waiting for other tours to complete their explanation of sites. This tour is definitely a must, since you can only go into that cemetery with a tour guide.

Had the most amazing tour. Our tour guide was FANSTASTIC, I don’t remember her name, but she had red hair and mentioned she’d been working there for 14 or so years. This was the highlight of my trip.

I had no intention of going to see a cemetery in NOLA. I’d been to the smaller ones in neighborhoods. I’ve also toured a couple (and a catacomb) in Paris and a few good, old ones in Houston. But going to a cemetery in NOLA is just so… touristy.
It is, but it’s also educational and not solely about Marie Laveau at St. Louis #1.
I’m going to back up a second. Take what I said above as a truth — and add these: you don’t drink hurricanes or hand grenades, you avoid Midtown Manhattan, and you don’t eat at McDonald’s, especially on vacation. Maybe add a few more tres grotty, touristy things. Good, now we’re on the same wavelength. Let’s move on to the rest of my review.
Book your tour through Save Our Cemeteries (SOC) — online is best, but you can also show up at the yellow building next door (across the street, same side of Basin street). They donate their money back to the cemeteries. The other tours, no idea. Plus their guides are a bit snippy (I noticed when I was on a SOC tour).
$ 20. Yes and yikes, but worth it. Our guide was awesome and we learned more than we would have if we just walked in cold. For example, the above ground tombs are not to keep the bodies from flooding/​floating away — they act as crematoriums. For one year (and a day), the decedent lays in a pine box in the tomb. As the August sun (which along the coast means the June through October sun) heats up, so does the oven-​like tomb. The body cremates. Turns to ash.
Again, why are you having to pay $ 20? Mainly, because some Fool of a Took painted Marie Laveau’s tomb neon pink (with latex house paint) last year, just prior to All Saints Day. It was restored incorrectly, then properly. Just in time for the festival. This entire exercise was also costly very costly. Your $ 20 goes to fund the non-​profit (SOC), helping them to maintain and restore tombs.

Alors à savoir que depuis le début de l’année vous devez obligatoirement passer par un tour guidé pour visiter ce cimetière, faute à de trop nombreuses dégradations.
J’ai donc opté pour la compagnie Free Tour où le principe est que le tour est gratuit et à la fin on donne un pourboire au guide.
On était une vingtaine à avoir choisi ce système un dimanche matin à 9h30, pendant une heure trente la guide nous a donc baladé de tombes en tombes en nous donnant quelques explications.
Je voulais surtout voir la tombe de Marie Laveau la célèbre prêtresse Voodoo, je m’attendais justement à une tombe dans ce thème, en fait pas du tout mais bon je l’ai vu.
Ainsi que celle en forme de pyramide achetée par Nicolas Cage pour son futur enterrement!
Pour info la plupart des tombes sont écrites en français.

We were skeptical if this would be worth the time and money. It was so informative and interesting. Our guide, Nu’Awlons Natescott, was so much fun and full of stories. We are so happy we decided to indulge and tour this historic part of New Orleans.

The city of the dead amidst the city of the living. Because of increased senseless vandalism, the Church has stipulated that you can only enter if you’re part of a tour. It was sad to see the wanton destruction of not only history but monuments to people who were loved or who mattered to someone. It’s best to come with a tour anyway since you’ll get a lot of information in a short period of time. I’d do the research on the cemetery myself because I like doing that sort of thing but being a tourist with limited time, the tour guide is the way to go. Besides, you’re giving someone a job (which is why I’ll not write the details of our tour here).
Having a beignet and drinking chicory coffee at Café du Monde, listening to music at Jackson square, and taking the St. Charles trolley through the Garden District, a cemetery stop is a must when visiting NOLA. It kills me when people say it’s a «sketchy» neighborhood with people lurking behind every edifice to rob you or worse. True, it’s not an antiseptic, just built yesterday area with shiny corporate stores and equally shiny people – but all of the most interesting places aren’t like this anyway. The Vieux Carre, Frenchman Street, or CBO, doesn’t fit this description but then most people don’t come to the Sliver on the River to walk in a mall (now ironically called town centers).
Exercise caution in all you do, be respectful, dust off your sense of adventure and ramp up your street smarts and go enjoy Life – even if it’s in a place of people who formerly had it.
Requiescat in pace.

It is unsafe to go to the cemeteries on your own. Go with a tour. one of the cemeteries is so dangerous they can’t get insurance to do tours. naturally you want to skip that one. But St Louis No 1 is worth the tour. It was informative. and interesting.
I hear people wait in the cemetery to rob .or worse. its easy to hide behind one of the monuments and then disappear between them. The neighborhood around the cemeteries is very sketchy. So once again … don’t go on your own. Go with a tour group
=

One of the main things I wanted to do while in New Orleans was visit Marie Laveau’s tomb. I wasn’t aware you must enter with a guide. I would’ve done so but found this out while standing at the front gate. A VERY large man came & stood in the open gateway blocking us from entering with no explanation. He just stood there, awkward & silent. If he had explained things that would’ve been great but he made me ask if we could go in & then he said we needed a guide. I asked where to find one, he just said «over there». Over where? I just left after paying $ 5 to park. I respect wanting to keep this beautiful historical cemetery pristine but please hire people who can efficiently & kindly explain how it works. I missed out on something I really wanted to experience because the gate-​keeper is a jerk.

Beautiful and really that word does not do this place justice. Things have changed but for the better. Cemetery closes around 2pm because the surrounding neighborhood can be dangerous. You also cannot enter unless you have a tour guide!!! People are defacing the tombs, taking pieces, destroying property and it is disgraceful!
Please do some detective work when finding a great tour company. It is worth every penny if you do as they are insightful and not only tell you about the cemetery but NOLA in general.

Very enjoyable. Robert was a wonderful guide. Very knowledgeable. Affordable. Worth doing. Stay hydrated.

BE RESPECTFUL WITH A RESPECTFUL TOUR= By now the news has spread that you NEED to be part of a tour to enter this working cemetery. There are actual, beloved people buried here – so I recommend entering with a tour that still remembers this as opposed to some hokey, ‘haunted themed’, voodoo stops, tour group.
BEAUTIFUL YET EERIE= The contrast between the tombs is crazy. Some are dilapidated, vandalized, and falling apart while others are meticulously modern and clean (like Nicolas Cage’s future tomb). Restoration and security efforts are working to prevent further destruction (they painted over all the XXXs written on Marie Laveau’s – supposed voodoo priestess – tomb) but I hope they don’t drastically change everything because there’s something both eerie and capturing about the ruined ones.
There’s something about the angles, modern meets history, and knowledge this is a burial place that makes almost everything here picturesque.
SO MUCH IN SO LITTLE= So many tombs packed into an area the size of an acre. Even with about seven tours taking place at the Cemetery, our guide from Save Our Cemeteries was deft at altering her plans and moving to another sight even when another tour was in our way. Besides famous ‘residents’ there’s also lots of subtle art scattered around.

We found out that day that you have to have a tour guide to go in and rightfully so since in the last few months they’ve had some people breaking into the tombs. So be prepared to pay for a tour guide. Over all this was a great experience and our tour guide was awesome. She was very informative and also didn’t rush through anything. So much history and very interesting stories. I would recommend this to anyone who visits New Orleans.

Never, ever thought I’d be walking through a cemetery for leisure. But a tour of Cemetery No 1 was part of our 1 hour carriage ride. You can only enter with a tour guide due to recent vandalism. What a shame. I don’t know how anyone could go in there and be so disrespectful.
We received an interesting history lesson that was quite eye-​opening. I had never seen anything like it before, but walked away with a deep appreciation of how New Orleans honors the lives of it’s loved ones. We saw the tomb of Marie Laveau — the Voodoo Queen. Someone was there that appeared to be praying or speaking to her tomb, so we quietly stood back. Her tomb has been obviously whitewashed to remove all the XXX’s and recent paint incident. We also saw the tombs of Homer Plessy (Plessy v. Ferguson) and Nicolas Cage’s supposed final resting place — a large, pyramid-​shaped tomb. The society tombs were quite large. Some were very dilapidated, it was really sad.
The cemetery invokes a sense of respect. It’s definitely something worth experiencing to learn more about the diverse culture of this amazing city!

Privately owned cemetery with hours that vary according to season. The oldest and most famous of the St Louis Cemeteries. Many of the tombs have collapsed or in awful shape. Many names have been lost due to wearing away or destruction of markers. The organization «Save our Cemeteries» is restoring this and other cemeteries. Marie Laveau’s recently restored tomb and Nicholas Cage’s pyramid are here.

St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 is the oldest and most famous of the three.
This is a must see on a visit to the Crescent City! I would also recommend signing up for a walking tour to fully appreciate what you are looking at.
Notable sites to see include: renowned Voodoo priestess Marie Laveau, Homer Plessy, (of 1896’s Plessy v. Ferguson), and Nicolas Cage’s pyramid shaped tomb (he will reportedly be buried here).
They are in the process of revamping some of the graves, but it would help if tourists stopped defacing the property. Leave your respects, leave a token of your appreciation if you will, but don’t touch and don’t take anything away with you except pictures. You would think that this is common courtesy, but from what I witnessed this is not the case. OK, fine, I’ll get off my soapbox now; thanks for listening! :)