Day 2, January 4th:
The musty smell of a graveyard mixed with the smell of rain from the night before. Sunny, but windy and cold, the sound of passing cars and laughing people walking down the street drowning out our tour guide, Milton. And then it hits; the eerie feeling as we entered into the city of the dead, otherwise known as St Louis Cemetery Number 1. It was a neighborhood of tombs. One-story, two-story, even three-story tombs could be seen. They looked like small houses covered in white stucco. Some had courtyards, some had wrought iron fences, and some even had a gallery (or balcony) on the top floor. The elegant design of the final resting place for so many people was incredible. They had the architecture of the houses we had seen just a few hours before. They were not just caskets, but they were houses for the dead. While death is seen as something we do not talk a lot about at home, it is something that is very open here in New Orleans. Some were black, decaying, and had growth, while others had been recently renovated. Some of these elaborate tombs had a plaque at the base that read Perpetual Care. This meant that the Arch Diocese would take care of the family tomb. To say the least, people are dying to get in this neighborhood of New Orleans. Not all of the tombs were this elaborate, however. This was the Catholic section. The Protestants have their own section of less elaborate, but still above ground graves. The city is below sea level and they are unable to burry anything in the ground.
The musty smell of a graveyard mixed with the smell of rain from the night before. Sunny, but windy and cold, the sound of passing cars and laughing people walking down the street drowning out our tour guide, Milton. And then it hits; the eerie feeling as we entered into the city of the dead, otherwise known as St Louis Cemetery Number 1. It was a neighborhood of tombs. One-story, two-story, even three-story tombs could be seen. They looked like small houses covered in white stucco. Some had courtyards, some had wrought iron fences, and some even had a gallery (or balcony) on the top floor. The elegant design of the final resting place for so many people was incredible. They had the architecture of the houses we had seen just a few hours before. They were not just caskets, but they were houses for the dead. While death is seen as something we do not talk a lot about at home, it is something that is very open here in New Orleans. Some were black, decaying, and had growth, while others had been recently renovated. Some of these elaborate tombs had a plaque at the base that read Perpetual Care. This meant that the Arch Diocese would take care of the family tomb. To say the least, people are dying to get in this neighborhood of New Orleans. Not all of the tombs were this elaborate, however. This was the Catholic section. The Protestants have their own section of less elaborate, but still above ground graves. The city is below sea level and they are unable to burry anything in the ground.
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