NEW ORLEANS, LA
Narrative courtesy of Save Our Cemeteries:
On an area once known as Metairie Ridge, this cemetery is one of New
Orleans’ largest and most historic resting grounds. The history of the
cemetery dates back to its days as a racetrack, and the oval shape of
the track can still be seen on the property today. However, it was
converted to a cemetery following the Civil War. The decision to turn
the land into a cemetery was accompanied by desires to make it resemble
the rural cemeteries of the east, with spacious, landscaped grounds,
lakes, and broad roads connecting smaller paths.
A charter was granted to the Metairie Cemetery Association in May of
1872. It was planned and designed by the architect Benjamin F. Harrod,
who also designed the receiving vault that exists to this day near the
cemeteries’ entrance. The cemetery was placed on the National Register
of Historic Places in 1991, bestowing a great honor on one of the
cities’ most prized cemeteries.
Metairie Cemetery holds the graves of over 9,000 people, amongst
those many distinctive persons and families. It includes at least nine
governors of the state of Louisiana; seven mayors of New Orleans; 49
kings of Carnival; and three Confederate generals, including P.G.T.
Beauregard and Richard “Dick” Taylor, son of U.S. President Zachary
Taylor. Jefferson Davis, the only president of the Confederate States of
America, was entombed here temporarily after his death in New Orleans
in 1889. Louis Prima, the world-famous singer and entertainer, is also
buried here, as is Marguerite Clark (an early movie actress) and Harry
Williams (her sportsman husband).
Lake Lawn Metairie Cemetery
