Mausoleums or Columbariums

Mausoleums, New Orleans’ Style
Tess Conrad

Seventy five years after New Orleans’ founding, moving to an above ground burial system seemed very practical. It solved the water-table issues that made in ground burial so difficult- when you can only dig three feet before hitting water, keeping coffins underground becomes problematic. When you add in tropical storms coming in from the Gulf of Mexico and flooding from the Mississippi River bringing in even more moisture, you have a recipe for disaster.

"The horrid image of this place is still in my mind. I cannot drive it from my imagination. The tombs are all above ground and those who can afford it will never be buried underground...

This graveyard is all on a dead level and on rainy days inundated with water. It is a morass, a swamp partly rescued from its wilderness. I followed the procession to the grave. The coffin was taken from the hearse.

I now watched the procession of interment...the body was that of a colored person who died of cholera (which is an epidemic now).  They tarried to see the last of their friend.

The grave was not over two and a half feet deep, I measured it for curiosity. The bottom was soft mud into which could be thrust a stick to almost any depth. THe water was within a foot of the top of the grave. The clods of earth around all clay, such as earth could be dug from a bog. The coffin was put into the grave and it floated as to be level with the surface.

I then looked among the graves. A hole here and holes there were all ready for the next comers- some six feet or more long, some three or four feet long. The water was in all the graves. The ground beneath our feet was like that of a swamp the surface of which the sun had encrusted.  I tumbled over broken coffins, pieces of which were piled in little heaps, and pieces of which were placed as stakes to mark the spot of the last buried. 

The very earth gave way under my feet. The rank weeds flourished roughly over many a dead body. Old sticks, old poles, such is our gardeners stick peas with, while sides of coffins were put up as grave stands.  What a spectacle! ... I hurried away, sickening from the spectacle... In many places the odors were insufferable..."

Robert Tallant and Lyle Saxon, Gumbo Ya Ya: Folk Tales of Louisiana (New Orleans: Pelican Publishing, 1987) 337-339. 

            Tombs were also very practical- once you’d purchased your family’s plot, it could be used dozens of times by generations to come. They saved space, they saved money, and they even saved time, because you could honor all of your ancestors at one time, in one location. People found it a comfort to know that one day their remains would be mingled with those of their loved ones, and caring for the tomb became something that families came together around, even having cemetery picnics on All Saints Day- kids running and playing while the adults repaired and whitewashed the grave. 

            But what about those without big families? Being a port city, New Orleans’ population was constantly being refreshed by immigrants and transient workers who often came by themselves and with very little money. Even though most newcomers to the city were young and healthy, they knew they were taking a risk coming to New Orleans-- Yellow Fever outbreaks came along every few years, and work on the docks and the river was lucrative, but dangerous. Sadly, having an idea of what you would do if the worst were to befall you was simply realistic.

Although it saved money in the long run, the initial construction costs could be quite high.  Louisiana has no native stone, so most middle-class families chose to plaster over bricks because they couldn’t afford the huge sums to import marble. Unlike typical stone headstones, the plaster needed to be constantly patched and maintained; even if you earned the money to build a tomb, there seemed little point in building a monument that would collapse upon itself when left untended for a few years.

Accidents weren’t the only thing to be contended with- loneliness was another big factor for men who had left kith and kin behind. Even as they struck out to new frontiers, people wanted to remember their roots. By the mid 1800s, fraternal organizations were springing up to bring these people of similar backgrounds and interests together and provide them with a sense of community. New Orleans held dozens of Italian and German clubs alone, each one focusing on a particular aspect of their homeland or culture. 

Across the country, these clubs functioned in much the same way as a family would, with a meeting space for members to come together, enjoy their own regional cuisine, and support one another. In the New Orleans’ branches they had one added perk, however: as long as you were a member in good standing you could be buried in the club’s mausoleum, locally known as a society tomb.

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While most family tombs held between two and four vaults, many society tombs could hold a dozen or more members at a time. Their pooled resources also made them much more elaborate than anything the members could have afforded on their own, and belonging to a society with the most elaborate tomb was considered a status symbol. Marble was imported, sculptures commissioned and fundraisers held- no expense was spared in trying to outdo the other societies in town! 

The burial protocols were the same for these larger graves as the family tombs, however. For example, if you were the first person to pass away after the new tomb’s construction, you would be interred in the first vault. Over time, each of the remaining vaults would be taken by other members until the tomb was full, and your remains in the first vault would be collected and placed in a receptacle underneath the vaults where your bones would be with those of your fraternal brothers for eternity.

One drawback of the method was that members did not get to have their names posted on the tomb- all the glory went to the society as a whole, not the individuals. Still, it was seen as so preferable to the alternative of attempting an earthen burial that other groups began to build these society mausoleums for their own members. You can still see church, hospital and even orphanage society tombs around town, and although they are much less elaborate they provided the same service of giving the dead a respectful resting place. 

Unfortunately, many of the proudest mausoleums have fallen into disrepair, their societies long disbanded.  There are occasional reconstructions and renovations, but without a large membership base to share the financial burden, these elaborate tombs are unlikely to make a broad comeback.