1833 Garden District City of the Dead
1400 Washington Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70130
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Cemetery is temporarily closed for repairs as of 2024-2025; tours operate from the gates. Free to visit when reopened.
Access
Limited Access
Uneven brick and shell paths between above-ground tombs
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1833 · Historic Cemetery · Above-Ground Tomb Architecture · Anne Rice Literary Setting · Immigrant Heritage
The City of Lafayette, then a separate municipality across the upper boundary of New Orleans, established Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 in 1833 to serve its growing population of German and Irish immigrants. New Orleans annexed Lafayette in 1852; the cemetery continued as a municipal burial ground under the new jurisdiction.
The cemetery's roughly seven acres are divided into two main blocks separated by a central cross-axis. The above-ground tomb tradition characteristic of New Orleans cemeteries reflects the city's high water table, which makes below-ground burial impractical. Many of the tombs are family monuments; others are society vaults built by mutual-aid and benevolent associations that served their immigrant member populations. The cemetery contains approximately 1,100 family tombs and society vaults representing more than 7,000 documented burials, with substantial additional informal use over its 190-year history.
Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 entered American popular consciousness through Anne Rice. Rice's Vampire Chronicles, beginning with the 1976 novel Interview with the Vampire, used the cemetery and surrounding Garden District as recurring settings. Neil Jordan's 1994 film adaptation filmed scenes among the tombs, and the cemetery's appearance in the Mayfair Witches series and television adaptations has cemented its association with Rice's body of work.
The cemetery has been temporarily closed for repairs since 2020, with successive reopening dates pushed back due to the scale of restoration work needed on the tombs and walls. The City of New Orleans Property Management Division administers the site. Tours from the gates have continued throughout the closure. Save Our Cemeteries, the New Orleans cemetery preservation nonprofit, has historically led tours and conservation programming at the site.
Sources
Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 carries less specifically named haunted folklore than St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, which is anchored by the Marie Laveau tradition. Lafayette's atmospheric weight derives instead from its architectural density, its literary associations, and its cinematic presence in the Interview with the Vampire adaptation.
Local tradition does include a few specific accounts. A figure of a woman in mourning has been reported at the Brunies family tomb at dusk. Visitors have described the smell of pipe tobacco near the Karstendiek tomb, one of the cemetery's distinctive cast-iron monuments. Tour guides from Save Our Cemeteries and other operators describe consistent cold pockets in specific society-vault sections, particularly the German Society vault.
The cemetery's association with Anne Rice has substantially shaped its public reception. The Lestat character's preference for Lafayette Cemetery in the Vampire Chronicles, the cemetery's role in the 1994 Interview with the Vampire film, and its use in subsequent Mayfair Witches adaptations have made it a literary pilgrimage destination. Rice was a Garden District resident herself; her former home on First Street is a frequent stop on the same tour circuit.
Visitors interested in New Orleans cemetery culture should treat Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 as a working historic burial ground first and a haunted location second. The Save Our Cemeteries conservation framing offers a more textured engagement with the site than the standard ghost-tour patter.
Media Appearances
Multiple New Orleans walking-tour operators offer tours of the Garden District that include Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, even while the cemetery interior is closed for repair work. Tours discuss the cemetery's appearance in Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, the Mayfair Witches series, and the 1994 Interview with the Vampire film.
When open to the public, the cemetery's two main blocks of above-ground tombs and society vaults can be walked in roughly 45 minutes. Check the City of New Orleans Property Management page for current access status before visiting.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
New Orleans, LA
St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 is the oldest surviving cemetery in New Orleans, established in 1789 after a fire and yellow-fever epidemic destroyed the previous burying ground. Its above-ground tombs hold generations of French, Spanish, Creole, free people of color, and enslaved African burials. The Archdiocese restricted general public access in 2015.
Hartford, CT
Cedar Hill Cemetery in Hartford, Connecticut, was established in 1864 and designed by Swiss-American landscape architect Jacob Weidenmann, who also designed Hartford's Bushnell Park. The 270-acre rural-movement cemetery holds more than 35,000 burials including actress Katharine Hepburn, financier J.P. Morgan, and women's rights activist Katharine Houghton Hepburn.
Key West, FL
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