Lafayette Cemetery No. 1

Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, at 1427 Sixth Street in the Garden District of New Orleans, Louisiana, was established in 1833 on land that had belonged to the Livaudais plantation, when the independent City of Lafayette, later annexed by New Orleans, needed a burial ground. It is one of the best-known cemeteries in the United States and a defining part of the Garden District's historic landscape. Laid out in a cross-shaped plan with two main avenues dividing the grounds into quadrants, the cemetery follows the New Orleans tradition of above-ground burial, using brick tombs covered in stucco and wall vaults because the water table is high. Many tombs belong to American families who settled the district in the antebellum period, to Irish and German immigrants, and to benevolent societies such as the Jefferson Fire Company Number 22, which built a large society tomb. Thousands of burials took place during the yellow fever epidemics of the 1850s, and hundreds of interments are recorded for those outbreaks. The memorial inscriptions on the tombs, with many giving cause of death and place of birth, document the diversity and mortality of the immigrant city. The architectural character ranges from Greek Revival and Gothic Revival to simple masonry vaults, with cast-iron fences and weathered plaster. The cemetery appears in film and literature, notably in the work of Anne Rice, and is across the street from the restaurant Commander's Palace. Preservation is led by the nonprofit Save Our Cemeteries, which has repaired tombs, cleaned surfaces and offers guided tours, and the grounds have periodically been closed for restoration. Visitors can enter the cemetery on their own when open, though guided tours add historical context. A visit takes 30 to 45 minutes. It is easily reached on the St. Charles streetcar line.