Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 Reopened on Different Terms, and Every Tour Helps Pay for the Grounds

Seven years after it closed, how does a Garden District neighbor get inside Lafayette Cemetery No. 1? Since Oct. 1, there are three ways in: a booked historical tour, a family appointment arranged by phone, or a cleanup morning organized by preservation volunteers. You can no longer just walk through on a whim. The city built the reopening so that visits help fund the cemetery's care, and the rules for getting in follow from that.

The cemetery is the block bounded by Washington Avenue, Sixth, Prytania and Coliseum streets, set aside as a burial ground in 1833 when this area was the City of Lafayette. It is the oldest of New Orleans' seven municipal cemeteries. The city's Division of Cemeteries notes that it is a National Historic Landmark and that it served the old suburb that took in today's Irish Channel, Garden District and Central City.

Three ways through the Washington Avenue gate

The city's Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 page still calls the cemetery closed to the public, with exceptions for guided tours and family visits. Its hours are listed as "TBD." In practice, here is how each way in works.

The tours run in the morning, cap groups at 16 people, and last 75 or 90 minutes, according to NOLA.com's report on the reopening. The PRC's announcement describes a seasonal schedule that runs seven days a week. Fox 8 reported six sessions a day in the first week. Departure times change on the online calendar, and some slots have to be booked by phone, so check the PRC page before planning your morning around a particular start time. The tour page gives the meeting location only as 1400 Washington Ave., right across from Commander's Palace.

Neighbors who trace family history have one more resource. The city points to a database of the cemetery's inscriptions and tablets, transcribed in 1996 by Fred and Heath Hatfield, at lafayettecemetery1.com.

Why the gate works this way now

A single nonprofit operator, small morning groups, and no ghost tours all answer the problems that led to the 2019 closure. Jessica Strawn, the city's acting superintendent of cemeteries, put the earlier situation bluntly to NOLA.com: "The cemetery had become a bit of a circus out there." She also said, simply, "No ghost tours."

The same report described what families went through. Paul Pastorek, a board member of the Tomb and Coping Owners' Association, said people burying relatives were sometimes photographed by tourists. He told NOLA.com the group formed in 2019 after a tourist trying to look inside a tomb broke off a piece of it. Burials continued throughout the closure. Lafayette No. 1 is still an active cemetery, and the reopening rules are written with that in mind.

The physical repairs serve the same purpose. The city replaced the broken asphalt paths with gravel laid over a drainage lining, removed dead magnolias and treated the living ones, and had a structural engineer review the foundation of the perimeter wall. The city sent out a request for proposals in May and chose the PRC as the sole tour operator. The PRC has a long history here through Save Our Cemeteries, which was founded in 1974, is now a PRC department, and has restored more than 50 family and society tombs inside these walls.

Where a tour ticket goes

Ownership inside the cemetery is split. Every tomb in Lafayette No. 1 is privately owned and maintained by its owners. The city is responsible for the shared spaces: walkways, walls, gates and lights. The tour contract links ticket sales to both sides of that split. According to the copy of the city's contract that NOLA.com reviewed:

• The city receives 20% of tour revenue up to $150,000 and 27.5% of revenue above $350,000, and uses its share for cemetery maintenance.
• Five percent of the PRC's tour revenue goes to a preservation fund that pays for tomb repair in city-owned cemeteries.

Since the city's share rises as revenue grows, a busy tour season puts more money toward the walks and walls the city maintains. A neighbor who books a $30 tour pays the same price as an out-of-town guest, and in both cases part of that money goes back into the grounds.

The kind of work the preservation share is meant for

The German Presbyterian Society Tomb shows the kind of repair that preservation money supports, although its restoration was finished before tours restarted. It is a 20-vault Gothic Revival tomb built in 1866 for low-income German immigrants. Its pediment still reads "Deutschen Presbyt. Gemeinde" and "Mai 1866."

This summer, ahead of the reopening, the PRC paid for a full restoration. Bayou Preservation and Nola Cemetery Renewal repointed failing joints, reapplied plaster, repaired the sloped roof and scupper so water drains properly, cleaned the whole structure, and reopened several vaults. The Presbytery of South Louisiana owns and maintains the tomb, and the reopened vaults will again take burials for families in need.

That kind of maintenance never really ends. In the PRC's account of the restoration, the organization explains that New Orleans has no natural stone, so tombs were built from local clay fired into brick, with lime-based mortar and plaster made partly from oyster shell. Those materials need ongoing care in this damp climate. The same article notes that the cemetery never segregated burials by race or religion, and that its graves include immigrants from more than 25 countries. The tour covers that history, and the PRC says revenue from its tours goes directly to tomb restoration, both in Lafayette No. 1 and elsewhere in the city.

The family calendar comes first

On the days families traditionally visit their tombs, the cemetery runs on a different schedule. NOLA.com reported, citing Save Our Cemeteries director Sara Lowenburg, that Lafayette No. 1 closes to the public on All Saints' Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day and other traditional visiting days. The city's page lists 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. hours for those same holidays. In the same section, it calls the cemetery closed except for tours and family appointments.

The All Saints' Day just past was the first since the reopening. Because the two sources describe holiday access differently, families planning a Mother's Day or Father's Day visit should call (504) 658-3781 well ahead of time. Pastorek told NOLA.com he thinks the plan "is going to be done in such a way that it does respect the fact that it's still an active cemetery."

Getting involved without a ticket

The volunteer route is the one most closely tied to the neighborhood. The PRC describes the Tomb and Coping Owners' Association's work as cleanup days and advocacy. The most recent cleanup ran Oct. 24 from 9 to 11 a.m. Registration was required, and every spot was taken. If you want to help with the next one, watch the PRC's event listings and sign up early.

The next date on the PRC calendar connected to the cemeteries is a talk:

1. "Jewish Geography through New Orleans Cemeteries: 1718–2026", Tuesday, Nov. 17, 6 to 8 p.m., at 923 Tchoupitoulas St. Tickets are free for PRC members and $10 for nonmembers. Details are on the PRC event page.
2. A morning tour at Lafayette No. 1, any day the PRC calendar shows an open slot. Groups max out at 16, so weekend mornings may fill up fast when family is in town.

Mayor Helena Moreno said in a statement that reopening the cemetery to tours lets residents and visitors learn from its history "while ensuring we continue to treat this sacred space with the care and respect it deserves."

Owning a home near Lafayette No. 1 means living beside a place that is cared for by many hands: tomb owners, preservation volunteers, the PRC's restoration crews and the city's maintenance staff. Burk Brokerage Real Estate has worked on Garden District properties for more than two decades, and we know how much the blocks around Washington Avenue owe to that kind of upkeep. If you're curious what your Garden District home is worth today, request a free home valuation and we'll walk you through it.