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To the Heavens

New Orleans is home to roughly forty-two historic cemeteries — above-ground Cities of the Dead, laid out in streets of neo-classical family tombs and wall vaults dating back to the 19th century. Time, war, weather, and neglect have left their marks; a 1974 Times-Picayune series called them the “Slums of the Dead.” Today they are both a pilgrimage site for the grieving and a magnet for tourists — a tension the city has yet to fully resolve. They are also, unmistakably, hauntingly beautiful.

Imagine a mausoleum with a statue of an angel raising her arm up to Heaven at the top.
Image of a vase and flowers in the entrance of a crumbling tomb.
Image of the entrance to a crumbling mausoleum.
Image of a white vase with the letter A on it.
Image of the items left on a grave.
image of a white vase with ferns sitting in front of a brick-walled tomb entrance.
Image of the light coming through a bouquet of fading, frazzled cloth roses.
Image of an urn with the name Fortish and a set of Mardi Gras beads around the base.
Image of a white vase with white cloth roses, with a sports medal wrapped around it.
Image of a white vase marked INEZ, on the ledge of a tomb.
Image of a square urn with flowers marked ERNST, and a weather-worn stuffed puppy with "LOVE" stitched in its tongue.
Image of a white vase with just the stems from plastic flowers in it.
Image of a mausoleum stone door worn through by the elements.
Image of a vase with flowers and an American flag in it.
Image of a grey stone vase with white plastic flowers in it.
Image of a mausoleum and vase covered in river pebbles.
Image of a multi-unit mausoleum and an empty vase.
Image of a mausoleum door patched up with only part of its door, and that is upside down.
Image of a grey vase with darker colored veins running through it.
Image of a vase being held together by wire.
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