Norman's New Orleans and Environs: Containing a Brief Historical Sketch of the Territory and State of Louisiana and the City of New Orleans, from the Earliest Period to the Present TimeNorman, Benjamin Moore
History
Norman's New Orleans and Environs: Containing a Brief Historical Sketch of the Territory and State of Louisiana and the City of New Orleans, from the Earliest Period to the Present Time
Norman, Benjamin Moore
New Orleans (La.) -- Guidebooks
The plat of ground devoted to the cemetery, measures 244 by 2700 feet.
The spot was purchased and improved at an expense of $35,000, by the
Firemen's Charitable Association. The revenue that arises from
interments is exclusively devoted to benevolent purposes--all the
business of the association being conducted by its members without any
compensation. The front wall and lodges are built in pure Egyptian
style, and cost $8,000. The grounds are divided into avenues, and
arranged and embellished with an effect appropriate to the solemn
associations of the place.
The simple and striking motto over the entrance is selected from
Pierpont:--
"Here to thy bosom, mother earth,
Take back in peace, what thou hast given;
And, all that is of heavenly birth,
O God, in peace recall to heaven."
Some of the tombs are very richly wrought--and, one in particular,
erected by a fire company, a memento to a brother who was killed in
the performance of his duty, is a specimen of superior skill and
workmanship. The nature of the soil admits graves to be sunk six feet
without approaching water. They are laid with brick and securely
cemented. The tombs above ground (here called ovens, which they
somewhat resemble) are faced with marble, built in the best manner.
There are four hundred of them, which cost an average of twenty-five
dollars each. These are sold at fifty dollars, and the surplus goes
into the funds of the society, for charitable purposes.
A central avenue, twenty-eight feet in width, called Live Oak Avenue,
traverses the whole length of the ground. Cedar and Magnolia avenues,
on either side of this, are each twenty feet wide. Next the outer
walls, are those named Cypress and Willow, of eighteen feet each. At
a distance of every two hundred feet, are transverse avenues. The
spaces between these are reserved for the erection of tombs, and may
be purchased at a stipulated price, according to the location. These
privileges are sold in fee for ever, and the title is held sacred in
the eye of the law.
CATHOLIC CEMETERIES
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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