The gate at 1400 Washington Avenue was locked to the public for seven years. The city closed Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 to the public in 2019, and the gates stayed locked until Oct. 1, 2026, when FOX 8 reported that tours had started again.
The cemetery that reopened runs on different rules from the one that closed. Before 2019, anyone could walk in. Now the families with relatives buried there decide the shape of the calendar. Visitors come in small, scheduled groups, and part of what each one pays supports restoration at Lafayette No. 1 and the city's other cemeteries.
Why the gate stayed shut so long
Burials never stopped. The city kept the cemetery working for families the whole time it was closed to the public. Jessica Strawn, the city's acting superintendent of cemeteries, told NOLA.com that limited staffing, personnel changes and time spent researching families' concerns kept it closed through two mayoral administrations and the pandemic.
The concerns were real. "The cemetery had become a bit of a circus out there," Strawn told NOLA.com. "There was a complete lack of respect for people using the cemetery as it was meant to be used." Much of that traffic traced back to Anne Rice's "Interview with the Vampire" and the film made from it, which put the cemetery on the itinerary of people who had never heard of the Garden District.
Tomb owners organized in response. NOLA.com reported that the Tomb and Coping Owners' Association was formed in 2019, after a tourist trying to look inside a tomb broke off a piece of it. Paul Pastorek, who sits on the group's board, told the paper that people burying family members were sometimes photographed by tourists, and called it "very obtrusive." That history is why the new rules start with the families.
Who gets in, and on which days
The city chose the Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans, known as PRC, as the only tour operator after a public bid process. Save Our Cemeteries, the long-running preservation nonprofit, is now a department of PRC and runs the program. Other than PRC's tours, the gate is open only to family members of the people buried there.
| Who | Access |
|---|---|
| Family members of those interred | Permitted to visit |
| PRC guided tour guests | Groups of 16 or fewer, up to six sessions a day, scheduled mostly in the morning |
| Everyone else | No walk-in access |
| Closed to the public | All Saints' Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day and other traditional family-visitation days |
According to PRC's announcement of the partnership, family visits, funerals, maintenance and cemetery operations all come before tours. Guides are told to reroute or pause a group so they don't interrupt a family. Ghost tours, supernatural stories and entertainment-style content are not allowed.
"This is an active burial ground and a sacred place of memory for families and communities, and that must come first." Sara Lowenburg, Director of Save Our Cemeteries, in PRC's announcement
In practice, the days when the cemetery matters most to families are the days the public stays out. All Saints' Day passed on Nov. 1 with the gates closed to tours, and the same will happen next Mother's Day and Father's Day.
What changed on the grounds
The tombs at Lafayette No. 1 are privately owned and kept up by their owners. The city is responsible for the shared spaces: walkways, walls, gates and lights. Those shared spaces are where the city did its work during the closure. Strawn told NOLA.com that crews replaced the broken asphalt paths with gravel laid over a drainage liner. They also removed dead magnolias, treated the living ones, and brought in a structural engineer to review the foundation of the cemetery wall.
Gravel paths and treated magnolias are the city's part. The tombs themselves depend on their owners and on preservation money, and that's where the ticket price comes in.
Where a $30 ticket goes
PRC charges $30 for adults and $15 for children ages 6 to 12. Children under 6 get in free. The tour page lists the visit at an hour and a half. The city's contract with PRC, which NOLA.com reviewed, splits that money several ways:
- The city's share for maintenance. The city receives 20% of tour revenue up to $150,000 and 27.5% of revenue above $350,000. It uses that money to maintain the cemetery.
- A preservation fund. Five percent of PRC's tour revenue goes to a fund that pays for tomb repairs in city-owned cemeteries. PRC says its share of proceeds supports restoration and preservation in Lafayette No. 1 and the other city-owned cemeteries.
The higher rate above $350,000 means that the more popular the tours become, the larger the share that goes to upkeep.
Even before the gates reopened, PRC's work showed what this money can do. This summer, PRC paid for a full restoration of the German Presbyterian Society Tomb, a 20-vault Gothic Revival tomb built in 1866. According to PRC's account of the project, Bayou Preservation and Nola Cemetery Renewal repointed the joints, replastered the tomb, repaired its roof drainage, reopened several vaults and cleaned it. The Presbytery of South Louisiana owns and maintains the tomb, and the restoration lets it accept burials again for families in need.
That tomb is one of more than 50 family and society tombs Save Our Cemeteries has restored inside Lafayette No. 1. PRC also works with World Monuments Fund on Bridge to Crafts Careers, which offers paid, hands-on training in traditional building trades through cemetery restoration. Neighbors who would rather help with the work than take the tour can watch for PRC's volunteer days. Its most recent cleanup at Lafayette No. 1 was held on a Saturday morning in late October.
Going as a neighbor, or with guests in tow
The tours are small and run mostly in the morning, so plan ahead. That's especially true over the holidays, when guests may ask to see the cemetery they remember from earlier visits.
- Book through PRC. Reservations go through the booking calendar linked from PRC's tour page. Through November, many dates showed morning slots starting at 9 a.m.
- Check the date. Tours run on a seasonal schedule seven days a week, subject to cemetery operations and closures. A funeral or a family-visitation day can change what's available.
- Plan for 90 minutes. PRC's tour page lists the visit at an hour and a half, so a 9 a.m. tour ends around 10:30.
- Cross Washington Avenue afterward. Commander's Palace sits directly across the street from the cemetery gate.
Expect a history tour. PRC describes guides who cover the cemetery's above-ground tombs, its historic societies and the people buried there. The cemetery dates to 1833 and is owned by the city. One person quoted in NOLA.com's coverage called it "an architectural library." The tombs are above ground because of flooding, as in other New Orleans cemeteries.
This isn't the only cemetery in the city that has narrowed who can lead tours. NOLA.com notes that the Archdiocese of New Orleans limited tours of St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 to a single company in 2021. In the Garden District, the operator is a preservation nonprofit with a contract requiring part of its tour revenue to go into tomb repair at city-owned cemeteries.
Some of the best conversations Ashley has with Garden District clients are about the history around them: who built the house, who lived on the block, and how places like Lafayette No. 1 are cared for. If you're planning holiday visits or want help understanding the historic streets around the cemetery, Ashley Nesser would be glad to share what she knows. Let's Connect.
