DIY Metairie Cemetery Tour
Metairie Cemetery is one of the top and most architecturally significant cemeteries in the United States. If you love New Orleans history, architecture and a good story, you’ll want to come explore. Spread across 150 acres beneath shady live oaks, it’s filled with elaborate marble tombs, sculptures and the final resting places of some very familiar New Orleans names.
Best of all, you don’t need a tour guide. Metairie Cemetery is free and open to the public, so you can explore on foot or even drive through at your own pace. Before Metairie Cemetery became a cemetery, it was the Metairie Race Course, one of the area’s most famous horse-racing tracks.
Start With a Lap Around the Old Racetrack
According to local legend, wealthy businessman Charles Howard was denied membership in the exclusive Metairie Jockey Club and vowed that one day he’d buy the property and turn it into a cemetery. After the Civil War, the racetrack went bankrupt, Howard acquired it, and Metairie Cemetery opened in 1872. As you make your way through the cemetery, notice the oval layout of the roads. They still follow the shape of the old racetrack.
Anne Rice Mausoleum
Fans of The Vampire Chronicles will want to find the mausoleum of New Orleans author Anne Rice. She rests here alongside her husband, Stan, and daughter, Michele. The stained glass and Gothic feel make it an especially fitting resting place for the writer who made New Orleans vampires famous. Fun fact: Visit Lafayette Cemetery #2 to see the tomb that inspired Lestat’s Tomb in Interview with the Vampire. While you’re there, make sure you have lunch at Commander’s Palace, one of the best restaurants in the South.
Al Copeland’s Tomb
Popeyes founder Al Copeland was famous for doing things big, and his elaborate tomb is no exception. It’s one of the more eye-catching memorials in a cemetery where standing out isn’t easy.
Louis Prima
Singer, trumpeter and legendary New Orleans entertainer Louis Prima is buried here beneath a monument featuring a bronze figure of the angel Gabriel blowing his horn. Prima, known for songs including “Just a Gigolo/I Ain’t Got Nobody,” brought an unmistakably New Orleans sense of fun to stages around the world. (He was the also the voice of King Louie in Disney’s The Jungle Book. Some say Prima and his wife singer Keely Smith were Sonny and Cher before there was Sonny and Cher.
Al Hirt
Another New Orleans music legend, trumpeter Al Hirt, also rests in Metairie Cemetery. Known as “Jumbo,” Hirt became one of the country’s best-known trumpet players and was a longtime fixture of the New Orleans music scene.
The Brunswig Pyramid
Yes, there’s a pyramid in Metairie Cemetery. Built for pharmacist and businessman Lucien Napoleon Brunswig, the marble pyramid is guarded by a bronze sphinx and is one of the cemetery’s most unusual — and most photographed — monuments.
Look for Mardi Gras Royalty
Metairie Cemetery is also the final resting place of generations of prominent New Orleanians, including Louisiana governors, military figures, business leaders and more than 80 kings and queens of Rex.
Take your time as you wander. Half the fun is discovering the names, statues and architectural details you weren’t looking for.
Before You Go
Admission: Free
Hours: Daily, 7:30 a.m.–5 p.m.
Getting Around: You can walk the cemetery or drive your own car through the grounds. Our suggestion: Take the Canal Streetcar to the Cemeteries from the French uarter.
Metairie Cemetery is large, so comfortable shoes and water are a good idea if you plan to explore on foot. On a hot New Orleans day, driving from stop to stop can be a very welcome option.
And remember: This is still an active cemetery. Enjoy the architecture and history, but be respectful of funerals, visitors and the people who rest here.
Why We Love It: This cemetery is drop-dead gorgeous (if you’ll pardon the pun). Even on a hot day, the live oaks keep it cool. Come on November 1 on All Saints Day when locals come to remember their loved ones for a real New Orleans experience.