Lafayette Cemetery No. 2 — Attraction in New Orleans

According to the Archdicese of Greater New Orleans, this cemetery is called St. Joseph #2, not Lafayette #2. I spent an afternoon there last week looking for my ancestors among the dead, and this cemetery contains the dead from about 1850 - present. When this cemetery was laid out, it would have been just outside the city limits, and that would have placed it around the mid-1800's. Not particularly old by New Orleans standards, but old enough.

Among the tombs here one will find several mass tombs of what during the 1800s would have been known as "benevolent societies", that is groups of (usually) men who would work together to advance some cause. Sometimes it was Irish cultural preservation or German immigrant assistance. Sometimes it was Chinese cultural integration or just a group setting up a secret society to advance their own interests (like the Woodmen of the World or the Minerva Society or even the Odd Fellows). Curiously mant men prefered to be interred with their fellow society friends instead of in their family crypts with their wives and children or parents. So it is that often wives' tombs will be without their husbands, and one must determine to which benevolent society the husband belonged before one can locate his burial.

Although as one reviewer from abroad suggested, several of the tombs have been broken into and used for other purposes, and the cemetery is indeed in a poor neighborhood, one need not worry over much about one's safety as the neighborhood is one of home-owners, not renters or projects, and the majority of crimes in New Orleans occur to the north and west of the French Quarter. In fact I ride my bicycle through this neighborhood often, and have had to knock on doors to request help for punctured tires before. People have always been nice...

The last time I visited, Lafayette No. 1 was closed, so we walked down to Lafayette No. 2. This one isn't as famous as No. 1, it's less of a tourist destination and it's in a more blue collar area, so there's a little less money invested in it, but it's still a gorgeous place to be, and there's still so much history. I noticed some other reviews mentioned it's "not a safe area" and I don't quite think that's fair. That being said, being a tourist anywhere makes you a little bit of a target. Keep your wits about you and respect the area and...

A very wild growing and much abandoned cemetery. My visit was 11/19/11 and certainly several larger enclosed tombs were being used as shelter for various activities. Much like Tourguidechuck's review there were several open graves and even more that were less maintained. I definitely had the feeling of being watched and not welcome in the area. I do believe it is still a great and historical visit and am glad for...