30 Day Writing Challenge: Cemetery

New Orleans Cemetery

I have travelled to New Orleans three times. Before Katrina. New Orleans is known famously for its music as originators of Jazz, the nightlife, the food and the cemeteries. The cemeteries of New Orleans are recognized for their above ground iron work and sun bleached tombs. There are quite a few stories about the Louisiana graveyards mixed with folklore and fact.

I will treat it all as fact. We read about the warnings about visiting the cemeteries on your own and never after dark. Generally, if you attend with a tour you are at your safest from muggings and related incidents.

Burial plots in New Orleans are shallow due to the high water table. Just a few feet down, the earth becomes soggy, and the graves fill with water. Learning from trial and error, early settlers would find the caskets floating to the surface, even popping out of ground.
The older cemeteries are mostly located nearer to the French Quarter, for the same reason this area was settled first. Higher ground.

Originally founded by the French, the colony was ceded to the Spanish Empire in the Treaty of Paris. It reverted back to French control in 1801 and was then sold to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Many of the plots were as a result of following the Spanish tradition of above ground vaults.

From their 1989 album Up To Here this is New Orleans is Sinking from The Tragically Hip

Mike and Nicky over at We Work for Cheese have forced invited us to participate in this 30 Day Creative Writing Challenge . Today is Day 16, the theme is Hanging Out in A Cemetery.