Metairie Cemetery is a
cemeteryA cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term cemetery implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are the place where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
in
New Orleans, LouisianaNew Orleans is a major U.S. port and the largest city in the state of Louisiana. New Orleans is the center of the New Orleans Metropolitan Area, the largest metro area in the state....
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The name has caused some people to mistakenly presume that the cemetery is located in
Metairie, LouisianaMetairie is a census-designated place in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 146,136 at the 2000 census, making it the largest census-designated place that is not a consolidated city-county government. Adjacent to New Orleans, Metairie is the largest community in...
, but it is located within the New Orleans city limits, on Metairie Road (and formerly on the banks of the since filled in
BayouA bayou is a body of water typically found in flat, low-lying areas, and can either refer to an extremely slow-moving stream or river , or to a marshy lake or wetland. Bayous are commonly found in the Gulf Coast region of the southern United States, particularly the Mississippi River region, with...
Metairie).
This site was previously a
horse racingHorse racing is an equestrian sport that has been practiced over the centuries; the chariot races of Roman times are an early example, as is the contest of the steeds of the god Odin and the giant Hrungnir in Norse mythology. It is inextricably associated with gambling...
track,
Metairie Race Course founded in 1838.
The race track was the site of the famous Lexington-Lacompte Race in 1853 billed as the North against the South race.
Discussion
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Metairie Cemetery is a
cemeteryA cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term cemetery implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are the place where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
in
New Orleans, LouisianaNew Orleans is a major U.S. port and the largest city in the state of Louisiana. New Orleans is the center of the New Orleans Metropolitan Area, the largest metro area in the state....
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The name has caused some people to mistakenly presume that the cemetery is located in
Metairie, LouisianaMetairie is a census-designated place in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 146,136 at the 2000 census, making it the largest census-designated place that is not a consolidated city-county government. Adjacent to New Orleans, Metairie is the largest community in...
, but it is located within the New Orleans city limits, on Metairie Road (and formerly on the banks of the since filled in
BayouA bayou is a body of water typically found in flat, low-lying areas, and can either refer to an extremely slow-moving stream or river , or to a marshy lake or wetland. Bayous are commonly found in the Gulf Coast region of the southern United States, particularly the Mississippi River region, with...
Metairie).
History
This site was previously a
horse racingHorse racing is an equestrian sport that has been practiced over the centuries; the chariot races of Roman times are an early example, as is the contest of the steeds of the god Odin and the giant Hrungnir in Norse mythology. It is inextricably associated with gambling...
track,
Metairie Race Course founded in 1838.
The race track was the site of the famous Lexington-Lacompte Race in 1853 billed as the North against the South race. Ex-President Millard Filmore attended. While racing was suspended because of the
American Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
it was used as a Confederate Camp (Camp Moore) until
David FarragutDavid Glasgow Farragut was a flag officer of the United States Navy during the American Civil War. He was the first rear admiral, vice admiral, and full admiral of the Navy. He is remembered in popular culture for his order at the Battle of Mobile Bay, usually paraphrased: "Damn the torpedoes,...
took New Orleans for the Union in April 1862.
Metairie Cemetery is owned, and operated by Stewart Enterprises of Jeffersonville, Louisiana.
Sights
Metairie Cemetery has the largest collection of elaborate
marbleMarble is a non foliated metamorphic rock resulting from the metamorphism of limestone, composed mostly of calcite . It is extensively used for sculpture, as a building material, and in many other applications...
tombA tomb is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes...
s and funeral statuary in the city.
One of the most famous is the
Army of Tennessee, Louisiana Division monument, a monumental tomb of
ConfederateThe Confederate States of America was a separatist political entity existing between 1861 to 1865, established by eleven southern slave states of the United States of America, each of which had previously declared their secession from the United States...
soldiers of the
American Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
. The monument includes two notable works by sculptor
Alexander DoyleAlexander Doyle was a United States sculptor.Doyle was born in Steubenville, Ohio, and spent his youth in Louisville, Kentucky and St. Louis, Missouri before going to Italy to study sculpture in Carrera, Rome, and Florence....
(1857 - 1922):
- Atop the tomb is a 1877 equestrian statue of General Albert Sidney Johnston
Albert Sidney Johnston was a career United States Army officer, a Texas Army general, and a Confederate States general...
on his horse "Fire-eater", holding binoculars in his right hand. General Johnston was for a time entombed here, but the remains were later removed to Texas.
- To the right of the entrance to the tomb is a 1885 life size statue represents a Confederate officer about to read the roll of the dead during the American Civil War. The statue is said to be modeled after Sergeant William Brunet of the Louisiana Guard Battery, but is intended to represent all Confederate soldiers.
Other notable monuments in Metairie Cemetery include:
- the pseudo-Egyptian pyramid
A pyramid is a building where the outer surfaces are triangular and converge at a point. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilateral, or any polygon shape, meaning that a pyramid has at least four faces...
- the former tomb of Storyville
Storyville was the prostitution district of New Orleans, Louisiana, from 1897 through 1917.Locals usually simply referred to the area as The District. The nickname Storyville was in reference to city alderman Sidney Story, who wrote the legislation setting up the district. It was bounded by...
madamMadam, Madame, ma'am, or Mme is a title for a woman. It is derived from the French madame , the equivalent of Mrs. or Ms., and literally signifying "my lady." The plural of madam in this sense is mesdames. The French madame is in turn derived from the Latin mea domina meaning 'my mistress' of the...
Josie ArlingtonJosie Arlington was a brothel madam in the Storyville district of New Orleans, Louisiana.-Early life:Arlington was born Mary Deubler in New Orleans to German parents. Though very attractive and shrewd, Arlington was known to be short-tempered and violent...
- Moriarity tomb, with a marble monument with a height of tall. A temporary special spur railroad line was built to bring the materials for this monument.
- Memorial of 19th-century police chief David Hennessy, whose murder sparked a riot.
List of notable and celebrity burials at Metairie Cemetery
- P.G.T. Beauregard, Confederate military officer
- John Bell Hood
John Bell Hood was a Confederate general during the American Civil War. Hood had a reputation for bravery and aggressiveness that sometimes bordered on recklessness...
, Confederate military officer
- William C. C. Claiborne, the first U.S. Governor of Louisiana
- Marguerite Clark
Marguerite Clark was an American stage and silent film actress.-Early life and theater:Born to a farming family in Avondale, Cincinnati, Ohio, Clark was educated at a Roman Catholic boarding school in Cincinnati...
, stage & film actress
- Dorothy Dix
This article is about the journalist. For the 19th-century activist see Dorothea Dix. Dorothy Dix , was the pseudonym of U.S...
, advice columnist
- Ruth U. Fertel, founder of Ruth's Chris Steak House.
- Jim Garrison
Earling Carothers "Jim" Garrison — who changed his first name to Jim in the early 1960s — was the Democratic District Attorney of Orleans Parish, Louisiana from 1962 to 1973. He is best known for his investigations into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy .Garrison remains a...
, New Orleans District Attorney
- Michael Hahn
George Michael Hahn George Michael Hahn George Michael Hahn (November 24, 1830- March 15, 1886 was a Republican Governor of Louisiana, Congressman, United States Senator during Reconstruction and after.-Early life:...
, Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives and Governor of Louisiana
- William W. Heard, Governor of Louisiana
- Andrew Higgins
Andrew Jackson Higgins was the founder and owner of Higgins Industries, the New Orleans-based manufacturer of "Higgins boats" during World War II. General Dwight Eisenhower is quoted as saying, "Andrew Higgins ... is the man who won the war for us. .....
, inventor of the "Higgins Boat"The Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel or Higgins boat was a landing craft used extensively in World War II. The craft was designed by Andrew Higgins of Louisiana, United States based on boats made for operating in swamps and marshes...
- Al Hirt
Alois Maxwell Hirt was an American trumpeter and bandleader.-Biography:Hirt was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of a police officer, and was known as "Al" or "Jumbo." At the age of six, he was given his first trumpet, which had been purchased at a local pawnshop...
, jazz trumpeter
- Grace King
Grace Elizabeth King was an American author of Louisiana stories, history, and biography, and a leader in historical and literary activities....
, author
- Richard W. Leche
Richard Webster Leche was the Democratic governor of Louisiana from 1936 until 1939. Leche was the first governor of Louisiana sentenced to prison.- Early life :...
, Governor of Louisiana
- Samuel D. McEnery
Samuel Douglas McEnery served as Governor of Louisiana from 1881 until 1888, and as a United States Senator from 1897 until 1910....
, Governor of Louisiana
- deLesseps Story "Chep" Morrison, Sr., Mayor of New Orleans
- deLesseps Story "Toni" Morrison, Jr.
deLesseps Story "Toni" Morrison, Jr. , the older son of four-term New Orleans Mayor deLesseps Story "Chep" Morrison, Sr. , was a U.S. attorney and international business consultant who was a Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1974–1980...
, state Representative from Orleans Parish
- Mel Ott
Melvin Thomas "Mel" Ott , nicknamed "Master Melvin", was a Major League Baseball right fielder who played his entire career for the New York Giants . Ott was born in Gretna, Louisiana. He batted left-handed and threw right-handed...
, Hall of Fame Major League Baseball Player
- Benjamin M. Palmer
Benjamin Morgan Palmer , an orator and Presbyterian theologian, was the first moderator of the Presbyterian Church in the Confederate States of America. As pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of New Orleans, his Thanksgiving sermon in 1860 had a great influence in leading Louisiana to join the...
, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of New Orleans (1856-1902)
- John M. Parker
John Milliken Parker was an American Democratic politician from Louisiana, who served as the state's governor from 1920–1924. He was a friend and admirer of Republican President Theodore Roosevelt....
, Governor of Louisiana
- P. B. S. Pinchback
Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback was the first non-white and first person of African American descent to become governor of a U.S. state...
, African AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa. In the United States, the terms are generally used for Americans with at least partial Sub-Saharan African ancestry...
Governor of Louisiana for 35 days, 1872-1873
- Louis Prima
Louis Prima was an Italian-American entertainer, singer, actor, songwriter, and trumpeter. Prima rode the musical trends of his time, starting with his seven-piece New Orleans style jazz band in the 1920s, then successively leading a swing combo in the 1930s, a big band in the 1940s, a Vegas...
, bandleader
- Stan Rice
Stan Rice was an American poet and artist. He was the husband of author Anne Rice.-Biography:Stan Rice was born in Dallas, Texas 1942. He met his future wife in a high school journalism class in Richardson, Texas, and they married in Denton, Texas in 1961...
, poet
- John Leonard Riddell
John Leonard Riddell was a science lecturer, botanist, geologist, medical doctor, chemist, microscopist, numismatician, politician, and science fiction author in the United States. He was born in Leyden, Massachusetts, the son of John Riddell and Lephe Gates. He received his B.A. and M.A...
, Melter and Refiner of Mint 1839-1848, Postmaster 1859-1862, inventor of the binocular microscope
- Norman Treigle
Norman Treigle was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the fifth and final child of a poor carpenter and his wife. Following his 1946 marriage to the former Loraine Siegel, the bass-baritone began vocal studies with the contralto Elisabeth Wood...
, opera star
- Alton Ochsner
Alton Ochsner was a surgeon and medical researcher who worked at Tulane University and other New Orleans hospitals before he established his own world-renowned The Ochsner Clinic, now known as Ochsner Foundation Hospital...
, Surgeon, Co-founder of Ochsner Clinic (now Ochsner Health System)
- Al Copeland
Alvin Charles Copeland was an American entrepreneur who created the Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits fast food chain. He was also a successful restaurateur who created many successful upscale restaurants.-Personal life:...
, Founder of Popeyes Chicken & BiscuitsPopeyes Chicken & Biscuits is a chain of fried chicken fast food restaurants, owned since 1993 by the Atlanta-based AFC Enterprises...
and several other restaurants.
- Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Finis Davis was an American politician who served as President of the Confederate States of America for its entire history, 1861 to 1865, during the American Civil War....
was buried at Metairie Cemetery, but has since been moved to Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, VirginiaRichmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. Like all Virginia municipalities incorporated as cities, it is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
See also
- List of United States cemeteries
- List of other famous cemeteries
External links