Cities of the Dead

In recent years, some of the best-known cemeteries in New Orleans have become overpopulated -- not with the dead, but the living. St. Louis Cemetery, for example, draws hundreds of thousands of visitors annually to walk its narrow aisles. By contrast, this city-wide exploration of seldom-seen graveyards offers a less crowded and unhurried experience. From the humble in-ground graves at Holt Cemetery to the marble mansions of the dead in posh Metairie Cemetery, there is endless variety in the New Orleans way of death and burial. And so many stories to tell, as the tombs and those inside reveal their secret histories.