Lafayette Cemetery, bounded by Washington Avenue, Prytania Street, Sixth Street and Coliseum Street, was established in what was once the City of Lafayette in 1833 to accommodate the residents of the adjacent Garden District. The area was previously part of the Livaudais plantation, and the square had been used for burials since 1824. Laid out by Benjamin Buisson, it consists of two intersecting roads, dividing the property into four quadrants.
The first available burial records are dated from August 3, 1843. The second Protestant cemetery to open in New Orleans, it is the resting place of many German and Irish Protestants, as well as numerous Americans who had migrated from the east coast. Yellow fever victims fill much of the cemetery--241 were buried in 1841; and in 1847, another 613 (of the approximately 3,000) victims were buried here. In 1853, an outbreak left more than 8,000 dead, and bodies were often left at the gates of Lafayette Cemetery.
Wall vaults, or "ovens", added in 1858, line the perimeter of the cemetery here. Among the notables buried here are Confederate Brigadier General Harry T. Hays; Samuel Jarvis Peters, an influential city politician and land developer, who was fashioning the area north of Canal Street into a second Municipality; the Brunies family, of jazz fame; and the Smith & Dumestre family tomb, in Section 2, with 37 names carved on it, with dates ranging from 1861 to 1997. Also depicted are veterans of various wars, including the Civil War and a member of the French Foreign Legion. 8 tombs lists ladies as "consorts." Several distinctive monuments are for the deceased of "Woodman of the World," an insurance company still in existence which offered a "monument benefit." The
Lafayette Hook and Ladder Co. No. 1, the Chalmette Fire Co. No. 32, and the
Jefferson Fire Company No. 22, all have group tombs here. The later, one of the more striking monuments in the cemetery, was built in 1852 and embellished with a typical pumper. The "Secret Garden" is a square of four tombs built by friends, "the Quarto," who wished to be buried together. According to Save Our Cemeteries, the Quarto held secret meetings, but the last member destroyed their book of notes. The only evidence of their existence are two keys from their minutes, which have been made into broaches and belong to their descendants.
In her book
Interview with a Vampire, Anne Rice often gives Lestat and Claudia free reign to wander around the cemetery. Rice staged a mock burial here on July 14, 1995 to promoted her book,
Memnoch the Devil.
Garden District National Register #71000358 (1971)
