Greenwood Cemetery- New Orleans

November Obscura

Greenwood is across the road from Metarie. What struck me most about Greenwood was the state it is in. The older section at least has more or less been left to crumble away. The plus to this is that you can really get a good idea of the construction of the tombs. 

 

Most are red brick barrel vaults that are then covered with a thick plaster. There were some absolutely stunning Family Tombs such as the one above, that were covered in metal siding. Alas with the constantly moist air in Louisiana, the rust has set in, but it creates a beauty all its own. 

Greenwood had quite a bit of marvelous rusted wrought iron. New Orleans is full of beautiful wrought iron on both the homes of the living and the dead. I just could not get enough of it!

In most of the older cemeteries there, the cement bases for some tombs and even walkways is made out of cement that has shells like this mixed in. Here in Greenwood, there were some family plot areas covered in these white shells.

This metal covered tomb had a lovely fresh coat of paint!

The cemetery was opened in 1852, and is located on City Park Avenue (formerly Metairie Road) in the Navarre neighborhood.

The cemetery has a number of impressive monuments and sculptures. Notables interred here include several mayors of New Orleans, Confederate Generals Young Marshall Moody, who died of yellow fever in 1866, Thomas M. Scott and James Argyle Smith, Confederate supporter and resister of Union occupation William Bruce Mumford, who was hanged for tearing down a United States flag during Union Army occupation of New Orleans during the American Civil War, Union Army Brigadier General and Brevet Major General William Plummer Benton, who was Collector of Internal Revenue in the City of New Orleans after the Civil War and died of yellow fever in 1867, jazz legend Leon Roppolo and novelist John Kennedy Toole.

Metarie Cemetery New Orleans, LA.

November Obscura

Metarie was the first NOLA cemetery we visited. So huge and incredibly beautiful. Of course most of the cemeteries we saw were fabulous. 

It was Mothers Day when we went, and a lady at the entrance gate was giving out small Begonias. I named mine Metarie and took her home with me. She is thriving and blooming in the hot dry shade in my patio garden

On to the photos! As always some Wikifacts too.

Metairie Cemetery is a cemetery in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. The name has caused some people to mistakenly presume that the cemetery is located in Metairie, Louisiana, but it is located within the New Orleans city limits, on Metairie Road (and formerly on the banks of the since filled in Bayou Metairie).

This site was previously a horse racing track, Metairie Race Course, founded in 1838.

The race track was the site of the famous Lexington-Lecomte Race, April 1, 1854, billed as the "North against the South" race. Former President Millard Filmore attended. While racing was suspended because of the American Civil War, it was used as a Confederate Camp (Camp Moore) until David Farragut took New Orleans for the Union in April 1862. Metairie Cemetery was built upon the grounds of the old Metairie Race Course after it went bankrupt.

The race track, which was owned by the Metairie Jockey Club, refused membership to Charles T. Howard, a local resident who had gained his wealth by starting the first Louisiana State Lottery. After being refused membership, Howard vowed that the race course would become a cemetery. Sure enough, after the Civil War and Reconstruction, the track went bankrupt and Howard was able to see his curse come true. Today, Howard is buried in his tomb located on Central Avenue in the cemetery, which was built following the original oval layout of the track itself. Mr. Howard died in 1885 in Dobbs Ferry, New York when he fell from a newly purchased horse.

Beautiful