Metairie Cemetery
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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's within the New Orleans city limits, on Metairie Road (and formerly on the banks of the since filled in Bayou Metairie).
Metairie Cemetery covers 150 acres (607,000 m²) with over 7,000 graves.
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[edit] History
This site was previously a horse racing track, Metairie Race Course founded in 1838. The great oval of the old racetrack can still be seen as part of the cemetery roadway system.
According to a story well known locally, one Charles T. Howard, a "new money" wealthy gentleman who came to the city from Baltimore, Maryland, was refused membership in the track's exclusive "Louisiana Jockey Club". In revenge, he purchased the track grounds and converted it into a cemetery. Some local historians accept the story, others say that the race grounds were sold due to financial stress. Either way, the cemetery was opened here in 1872, and the tomb of Charles T. Howard is prominently placed in the center.
A few tombs predating the foundation of this cemetery can be found here; these were originally erected in other local cemeteries and were moved here after Metairie became the city's most prestigious cemetery.
[edit] Sights
Metairie Cemetery has the largest collection of elaborate marble tombs and funeral statuary in the city. Other impressive tombs here include:
- the pseudo-Egyptian pyramid
- the former tomb of Storyville madam Josie Arlington
- Moriarity tomb, with a marble monument with a height of 60 feet tall. A temporary special spur railroad line was built to bring the materials for the impressive monument here.
- Memorial of 19th-century police chief David Hennessey, whose murder sparked a riot.
Notables buried in Metairie Cemetery include:
- P.G.T. Beauregard, Confederate military officer
- John Bell Hood, Confederate military officer
- William C. C. Claiborne, the first U.S. Governor of Louisiana
- Marguerite Clark, stage & film actress
- Dorothy Dix, advice columnist
- Jim Garrison, New Orleans District Attorney
- William W. Heard, Governor of Louisiana
- Al Hirt, jazz trumpeter
- Grace King, author
- Richard W. Leche, Governor of Louisiana
- Samuel D. McEnery, Governor of Louisiana
- deLesseps Story "Chep" Morrison, Sr., Mayor of New Orleans
- deLesseps Story "Toni" Morrison, Jr., state Representative from Orleans Parish
- Mel Ott, Hall of Fame Major League Baseball Player
- Benjamin M. Palmer, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of New Orleans (1856-1902)
- John M. Parker, Governor of Louisiana
- P.B.S. Pinchback, African American Governor of Louisiana for 35 days, 1872-1873
- Louis Prima, bandleader
- Stan Rice, poet
- John Leonard Riddell, Melter and Refiner of Mint 1839-1848, Postmaster 1859-1862, inventor of the binocular microscope
- Norman Treigle, opera star
[edit] See also
