New Orleans is a city of mystery, of history and seeped in the rich traditions of the people who came together to form the city. Once nicknamed the “Necropolis of the South,” I knew I couldn’t find a better place to learn more about the former inhabitants than with a tour of St. Louis Cemetery #1. My family and I met with Judy Bajoie, who owns Tours by Judy, on a hot muggy morning to explore the past. I am not sure what I was expecting on this tour, but I thought it would probably include ghosts, voodoo and creepy stories. Instead, Judy, a New Orleans native and former Louisiana and US history teacher, brought the past to life with colorful characters and tales of the diverse groups that had merged to form the culture of New Orleans, from Creoles, Free Men of Color, Slaves to Americans.
St. Louis Cemetery #1 was founded when the City Council, who believed that “miasmas” (or auras from the dead) caused the outbreaks of yellow fever that plagued the city, wanted to place a cemetery further from the general population in the center of town. Since its inception many people have been delivered to their final resting place, including Marie Laveau, a free woman of color who was renowned around the city for her healing and her status as a Voodoo priestess and the infamous Delphine LaLaurie, a woman so sick and twisted that her home is known as the most haunted house in New Orleans. Driven out of town for her torture of the slaves she owned, she was forced to spend the rest of her life in Paris, but her body was secretly returned to New Orleans for burial. Hated and feared by the general population of the time, her tomb is still unmarked.
While much is said about the Civil Rights movement during the 1960’s, another cemetery citizen, Homer Plessy, was challenging the status quo many years earlier. A Free Man of Color, Homer Plessy sat in the white section of a Streetcar to challenge the Louisiana segregation laws. The resulting court case was taken all the way to the Supreme Court, resulting in the “Plessy Vs. Ferguson Separate but Equal” ruling.
Other notables in attendance at St. Louis #1 are Bernard de Marigny, who introduced the game of craps to New Orleans, several members of the Folgers (coffee) family and the future tomb of Nicolas Cage. The tombs range from simple to elaborate, from the bright Creole colored tombs to the imposing Society tombs. Woven throughout it all is a vibrant past, seething with undercurrents, tensions and secrets. It’s a walk into the past that is still affecting the future.
Judy does a variety of tours including the French Quarter, the Garden district, Free People of Color, a Ghost Tour and a Literary Tour. As a native and through meticulous research, Judy brings the past to life, making the tour both interesting and informative. Her price is reasonable too, only $15 per person.
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Truly one of the best and most interesting tours I’ve taken. The weather was hot, very, but still not as hot as it could be in New Orleans in August! Judy is animated and takes her time making sure we get the full experience! We’re still talking about the tour, the things we learned and Judy! How we wished we could’ve had a history teacher like her!! Thanks for a great tour!! I highly recommend this lady!!
This sounds like a very interesting tour, something I would be interested in doing if I was in the area.
i would be way to scared to go on that tour i spook easy and it would freak me out lol
Not that’s just spooky! That first photograph and the second was enough to give me the shivers!
Wow, what a fascinating tour this would be! I’m so disturbed by the story of Delphine LaLaurie torturing slaves – it’s so important that this history continues to be told and not “Swept under the rug”. I’m glad they’re telling Homer Plessy’s story too – so enraging that it took so long for his fight for basic civil rights to finally be upheld.
On a lighter note, I am totally cracking up at Nicholas Cage’s future tomb!! $15 is a bargain, if I ever get a chance to make it out to NOLA (Which I want to), I’m definitely going on this tour.
Oh wow, what an awesome tour. Creepy but cool at the same time.
That’s some pretty amazing history. I can’t think of anything like that over here on the west coast.
I would really get into something like this. New Orleans is already on my “to-go” list, so I will have to add this, too!
That is so cool! This tour is something I would love to do with my sisters on a girl’s trip.
Okay, I am sufficiently scared, lol! No, really that looks like a lot of fun. I love tours like that, it’s been awhile since I went on one. Will have to check that one out for sure! TY!
This is unusual for me! But an idea to ponder on while traveling!
VERY cool tour! I’ve done a tour of Burial Hill in Plymouth, where many of the Pilgrims are buried. It amazed me how so many of the gravestones were still in tact. My husband and I were just talking about taking that tour again because it’s been a while, too!
What a great way to learn about the history of the town! Sounds so interesting! Why did she end up with XXXX’s all over her tomb?
Because she was a voodoo queen people believe that if you leave three x’s and make a wish she will grant your wish. Our guide, Judy, said they whitewash her tomb often and it is covered with x’s again only a few hours later.
Isn’t it fascinating? The cemeteries in New Orleans are particularly interesting to me, although I find most cemetery tales mesmerizing.
seriously cool. fascinating stuff. i had no idea- haven’t heard of most of the names before.
WOW, that looks amazing! I love everything with history.. ya know. I love hearing about people and their lives from years and years ago!! Amazing!
Very interesting! I’ve always wanted to take a trip to Louisiana, I might just need t plan that now. My fiances family had talked about it for awhile!
What an interesting tour… sure sounds like a lot of fun…The price for the tour is totally reasonable, thanks for sharing with us how much it was and btw in my hometown in Kitzingen Germany we have the grave of Dracula.. real story and node made up at all, so next time you are hunting graves again let’s take a trip to Europe and explore 🙂
This tour really looks fascinating and I have always felt that historical cemeteries can tell us a lot about the communities around them. The price of the tour seems to be very reasonable too.
I’ve always wanted to visit New Orleans. Have seen it in movies and it always looks fascinating. I can’t believe there’s a future tomb of Nicolas Cage. That I would definitely have to see. I’m a huge fan of his and would love to meet him in person. Thanks for sharing your pics.
Wow! This looks pretty awesome! I have never traveled but this definitely looks like somewhere I want to go!
This sounds really cool. I have a friend that organizes groups of friends to go on anything haunted in the North – haunted jails, houses, grave yards, etc. Her wedding shower even had a witches theme! She has never been to New Orleans and would totally love this.
What an interesting tour to go on. I would love to go on the ghost tour. I bet that is fun and a little spooky.
That is an interesting tour. Nicholas’ Cages’ future tomb reminds me of his movie (I suppose that was his intent). Cool share.
I have wanted to go to New Orleans and almost made it last year… but a bad storm was on the way. We ended up just driving North to home. Great tour by the way. If I make it to New Orleans, I will be sure to look up Judy.
Oh wow this looks like an amazing tour – graveyards have always oddly fascinated me – left me wonder what the people were like behind the headstone. x