New Orleans, LA           March 2000

We’re in the Big Easy and having a ball. Our RV park is near the river about five miles from the French Quarter.  A quick bus ride and we’re in the heart of everything.  On our way in to town the first day we were discussing where to disembark, and the woman in the seat in front of us turned around to help us out.  Turns out she was a tour guide, so we got the benefit of her expertise.  Stopped at the French Market first then we took the Cemetery Tour praised by Frommer’s and enjoyed the tales of our Acadian (Cajun) guide reinforcing the information we had recently learned about the whole France/Nova Scotia/Louisiana exile.  His added comment was to thank the British for deporting his ancestors or he would be “freezing his butt” off in Nova Scotia with his cousins.  Quite a character!   (Continued below)

Anyway, the cemetery tour took us to the Archdiocesan Cemetery known as St. Louis 1, the oldest cemetery in New Orleans.  We all know they bury their dead above ground because the area is a swamp and if buried in the ground, the coffins float up when the water table rises.  But, the practice of removing the earlier deceased from their coffins and scooping their remains into the basement of the tombs to make room for the more recently deceased was new information for me.  However, the modern way of making room for the next guy isn’t as romantic, they put grandpa in a plastic bag, label it and then throw him in the cellar of the tomb.