St. Louis Cemetery No. 1

Historical narrative

Established in 1789, St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 is the oldest surviving cemetery in New Orleans and one of the city’s most distinctive historic landscapes. Established after fires, flooding, and disease had overwhelmed an earlier burial ground, it became known for its above-ground tombs, a tradition shaped by New Orleans’ high water table and French and Spanish cultural influences. This painting captures the cemetery’s narrow passageways, weathered mausoleums, crosses, flowers, and lush vegetation—the distinctive architectural character associated with New Orleans’ cemeteries. Visitors come to explore its funerary architecture, learn about generations of New Orleanians, and see the tombs of notable figures including Marie Laveau, New Orleans Voodoo practitioner, healer, community leader, and legendary “Voodoo Queen,” and Homer Plessy, civil-rights activist whose challenge to racial segregation became the landmark Supreme Court case *Plessy v. Ferguson*. The cemetery also provides an important record of New Orleans’ cultural, religious, and social history.

Oil

© Stephen B. Hales — All Rights Reserved