Through February 29: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday – 10:30am
After March 1: Daily, Monday through Saturday – 10:30am
Departs from the main gate at the 1400 block of Washington Avenue
Tour lasts a little over 1 hour
Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 is located in the historic Garden District of New Orleans. It is among the city’s earliest and most significant above-ground burial sites. Once part of the Livaudais Plantation, Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 was designated a city burial site in 1833, and has been in continuous use since.
Distinguished by its intersecting avenues designed to accommodate funeral processions, it was the City’s first planned cemetery. Placed on the National Register of Historic Places by virtue of its significant history, location, and architectural importance, it retains its original size and configuration, and contains a variety of tomb types and styles.
There are about 1,100 family tombs and over 10,000 people buried in the cemetery, a single city block. Famous figures include Judge Ferguson of the Plessy vs. Ferguson “separate-but-equal” case, Brigadier General Harry T. Hays who led the 1st Louisiana Brigade in the Civil War, and the Brunies family of jazz musicians. Perhaps the most famous residents of the cemetery are fictional, however. Anne Rice’s family of Mayfair witches and the vampire Lestat have (fictional) tombs in this cemetery, and the movie Double Jeopardy was filmed here in 1999.
Save Our Cemeteries is the only non-profit in New Orleans that offers cemetery tours. Currently, all of our tour guides are volunteers, and much of our marketing & materials are donated, so over 90% of your tour ticket price will go directly towards our mission of cemetery restoration, education and advocacy.
