From the Party Life to the Afterlife...New Orleans

Burial in New Orleans is usually above ground given the high water table. Since New Orleans is an old city, there are a number of very large cemeteries filled with burial vaults. Burial vaults are a status symbol. A large elaborate burial vault is your statement of status if you were wealthy and could afford one. The less well-to-do may rent a vault for five or ten years. These vaults, like the row pictured are nine feet deep. Your remains go into the vault at the front and remain there to the end of your lease. Then your remains are pushed to the back

and another "renter" takes up the front.

You will notice the community vault for the Sisters of Mt. Carmel. There are also extended family vaults.

Note in the third picture, the woman putting flowers in a vase at the front of the St. Leon the Great Mausoleum.

Not every family maintains the rental vaults as can be seen in the fourth picture (a row of vaults with apartment buildings in the background). Typically these less expensive burial options are around the exterior wall of the cemetery.