Is a New Orleans Cemetery Tour Good for Families?

Trying to decide if a New Orleans cemetery tour is good for families? You’re in the right spot – read on for all my tips and recommendations!

New Orleans has a culture and vibe like none other in the United States, and is one of the most fascinating cities to visit in the country. Between the charming architecture of the French Quarter, the jazz music spilling out to the streets, and the delicious beignets to eat all over the city, there is a ton to see and do in New Orleans.

And while New Orleans certainly has a reputation as being a great spot for drinking and partying, outside of Bourbon Street, you’ll find a ton of family-friendly activities and attractions like doing a bike tour and a swamp tour. We love visiting New Orleans with kids! In fact, we’ve visited the Big Easy three times with our kids, and we’re already planning our next trip back!

One of the most unique activities you can do in New Orleans is go on a cemetery tour – a classic New Orleans attraction with a fascinating history. New Orleans is practically dotted with old cemeteries, some of them quite large, and others very small, and they’re certainly worth a visit.

But is a New Orleans cemetery tour good for families? Here are several things to know about cemetery tours in NOLA, our experience doing a cemetery tour with our kids ages 6, 8, 10, and 12, and our overall recommendations.

Do I Need to Book a Tour?

Yes, definitely. With just a couple of exceptions (such as Metaire Cemetery or St. Louis Cemetery #3), cemeteries in New Orleans are closed to the public, and you can only visit with a guided tour. This is to preserve the historic cemeteries and prevent the heavy vandalism that these cemeteries have seen in years past.

Additionally, some of the funds from the paid tours of the cemeteries go to the restoration of tombs. The tombs in the cemeteries are in various states of ruin and disrepair – some are pristine and have obviously been kept up, while others have been neglected and abandoned for decades.

This is a special and culturally significant spot in New Orleans, as well as a continual working cemetery, so there is a lot of reason to maintain these tombs!

But even if you could visit most of the cemeteries without a guide, I still would 100% recommend that you do the guided tour. Walking around the cemetery alone is nothing like going with an expert who can tell you all about how and why people were buried and the interesting stories of the people who reside here.

We opted for a guided walking tour of St. Louis Cemetery #1 with our kids. This is the oldest active cemetery in New Orleans and was established in 1789! Our guide was a native New Orleans resident and his family had lived here since 1700s, which was a very fun touch.

When to Book Your Tour

Cemetery tours are, unsurprisingly, quite popular in New Orleans, and they do fill up. While you don’t need to make reservations months in advance, I’d make them around a week in advance to have the most options available.

Tours are available every day, with multiple time slots throughout the morning and afternoon.

>>Click here to reserve your spot for St. Louis Cemetery #1

Why This is a Particularly Good Cemetery Tour for Kids

1. It’s Not Too Long. This tour officially lasts 45 minutes (although ours did go a few minutes longer because the guide wanted to share a couple more stories). This was a great length of time for our kids and we wrapped up with them all feeling happy and intrigued, instead of crossing the line into squirminess and boredom. Many cemetery tours last 1.5-2 hours, which I think would be a bit much for many kids.
   
2. This is where Nicholas Cage’s pyramid tomb is. Nicholas Cage, the actor, has prepurchased and constructed an all-white, pyramid tomb in St. Louis Cemetery #1, which is certainly a novelty.
   
3. Visitor Center: There is a Visitor Center for the cemetery across the street where you check in and meet your group. The Visitor Center has bathrooms, drinking fountains, air conditioning, a gift shop, and a small area with informational displays. The facilities were very much necessary for our kids!

Our Cemetery Tour Experience

On our tour, we walked around with our guide and a small group through St. Louis Cemetery #1, learning about what makes cemeteries in New Orleans special, why they are built this way, and about the fascinating stories of some of the people buried here.

Because the rivers and bayous are the highest point in Louisiana, everyone needs to be buried above ground. Tombs in New Orleans are family affairs. Many people in the same family are buried in a single crypt – the remnants of the previous person’s bones are moved to the side to make room for the new body.

So in St. Louis Cemetery #1, there are over 100,000 people interred in just 700 tombs!

It was cool to learn more about the logistics and rules of burials in these unique, above-ground cemeteries, as well as some of the mix-ups that have happened with burials.

While each tour through St. Louis Cemetery #1 is a little different, a few of the notable tombs we saw were for the first Black mayor of New Orleans, different politicians and governors responsible for securing the Louisiana Purchase, and Homer Plessy of the landmark Supreme Court case, Plessy v Ferguson, which established the rule of “separate but equal.”

We also saw and learned about some of the large, grand tombs that were made for benevolent societies.

A highlight of Louis Cemetery #1 is the tomb of Marie Laveau, the notorious “Voodoo Priestess” of New Orleans. This is by far the most famous tomb in the cemetery, and any tour of the cemetery will stop by the tour and talk about her history and the superstitions around her gravesite.

The cemetery offered so much variety as the tombs are in various shapes and sizes; some tombs are just standard towers, while others are much more ornate and large. The whole thing was a great experience and the whole family stayed engaged.

Overall Thoughts – Is a NOLA Cemetery Tour Worth it for Families?

Our entire family had a great time on our St. Louis Cemetery #1 tour. It was a fascinating peak into the city’s history and culture. The kids were engrossed with the stories and the methods used in the cemeteries and had questions for the guide, and of course, the adults really enjoyed the experience as well. These historic cemeteries are definitely worth visiting when in NOLA!

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