World's Greatest Cemeteries

- In this episode of "World's Greatest Cemeteries."

And why is that?

- Well, Paul Morphy, he loved the game of chess, and he's also a local New Oreleanian like myself.

- Well, the Chinese were actually brought here as contract workers after the Civil War.

- But what's the truth of Marie Laveau?

Who was she?

- [Judy] Marie Laveau was a New Orleanian.

She was a free woman of color.

She was a Creole.

- My specialty in New Orleans is urban archaeology and the urban historical archaeology.

(dramatic music) - The world's greatest cemeteries hold more than mortal remains.

They're monuments to landscape, design, horticulture, and history.

I've spent years investigating the lives of the dead, finding out all I can about extraordinary people who were outsiders in their own day, but still managed to make significant contributions to humankind.

Welcome to "World's Greatest Cemeteries."

The Big Easy, Nawlins, La Nouvelle-Orleans, whatever you call it, New Orleans, Louisiana is one of the most distinctive cities in the world, known for its Afro, Caribbean, European, Native American culture, colonial architecture, Mardi Gras, Bourbon Street, soulful music, Mississippi steamboats, literary masterpieces, and delicious cuisine.

(soft jazz music) St. Louis Cemetery Number One was approved by a Spanish royal decree in 1789, which makes it the oldest continuing cemetery in the city of New Orleans.

This diminutive burial ground was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and was placed on the state African American Heritage Trail in 2008.

Well, I'm here with Heather Veneziano of the New Orleans Catholic Cemeteries and we're gonna go into this very plain looking facade, and entry gate of the famed St. Louis Cemetery Number One.

(jazz music) I get letters from people from all over asking about this place.

And what are the top three monuments that people wanna see here?

- Number one is definitely the Laveau-Glapion tomb where Marie Laveau is entombed, - [Robert] Okay.

- the future tomb of actor Nicolas Cage, - Okay.

- And then Homer Plessy's tomb.

- Fantastic.

Well, folks, you're in for a treat.

We're gonna go check out all of these awesome places.

Heather, let's you and me continue.

- Sounds good.

- So Heather, this place is called St. Louis Cemetery Number One, but we're in New Orleans.

We're not in St. Louis.

What gives with that?

- It's actually named after the cathedral.

So we have St. Louis Cathedral, which is one of the most prominent buildings in town, so- - I see, got it.

So did you have to be Catholic to be buried here?

- You did not.

This was the only cemetery in operation at the time of its consecration.

So anybody who died in the city of New Orleans was buried or interred within this cemetery.

- Got it.

And is this cemetery still burying people now?

- Yes, it's still active.

Because of our unique style of mortuary architecture, these tombs can be used kind of forever, whatever that might mean, - Yeah.

- but for generations of the same family.

So it's still very much in use and active.

- Well, she just mentioned the unique aspect of the way that they bury people here.

So we're gonna take a look at that just now.

(soft piano music) So Heather, you mentioned the unusual ways that people are buried here at the cemetery.

- There are three individual places, and this tomb actually likely contains the remains of dozens of individuals.

- Amazing.

But where do they fit?

(laughs) - This is a family tomb.

So there are three vaults, one, two, three.

Each of them would've originally had a marble tablet, like you see on the top and bottom.

When the marble tablet is removed, you'll see something similar to this, either with plaster, but definitely with brick and mortar.

- Right.

- So upon somebody's death, after the funeral occurs, the sexton would come, take off the marble tablet, break open this brick, and then place the casket on a shelf that's located within.

After that happens, they'll re-brick it up and put the tablet back later on with an inscription of the person's name on it.

- Right, but how can dozens of people fit in this one, you know, tomb?

- So, if you have three individuals already interred within the tomb and a fourth death occurs in your family, because of our intense climate here in New Orleans, the rate of decomposition is fairly quick compared to other locations within the United States.

So after roughly a year, a year or two, the sexton can come back out.

There could be another burial that occurs.

They would do the same process, take off the tablet, open up the brick, but at that point in time, the wooden casket would've gone down to splinters.

The human remains that are left are mostly just bone at that point.

They're bundled within a bag and then either placed to the rear of the tomb or some tombs have a space on the bottom called a caveau and the remains are placed down there.

At that point in time, another casket can be interred within the same vault, and the process just continues.

- [Robert] That is wild.

Coming up later this episode.

- The time that the Chinese were buried in St. Louis Number One, the Chinese very much wanted to return to China.

(choir vocalizing) - Well, here we are at St. Louis Cemetery Number One.

We're gonna talk about a game that has always scared me to death, and that is the game of chess.

We're gonna talk about someone who's actually buried here with this gentleman right here.

And sir, what is your name?

- My name is Kendric Perkins.

- Okay, Kendric, I understand that you are an avid chess player.

Is that correct?

- Yes, I am.

- (chuckles) How old were you when you started playing?

- [Kendric] I started playing about 12 years ago when I was 30 years old.

- Okay, great.

You look very young.

Like, you look like you're 30 years old now.

- Oh, thank you.

I appreciate it.

- All right you hang onto that as long as you can.

(both chuckle) Okay, cool.

So you started at 30.

I have to be honest with you, and I mean this, chess has always seemed like I wouldn't be able to master it, like, I wouldn't have whatever it takes to do that.

- No, I don't think so.

I mean, I believe that anybody can accomplish anything, first of all.

But, you know, chess, you're gonna have to stick with it a little bit.

You're not gonna learn it overnight.

But it's a game that you should learn.

I think it helps you to think, you know, ahead.

It has so many benefits and I would encourage you to try to learn.

(gentle music) - Right here is interred Paul Morphy.

I'm gonna ask Kendric to tell us who Paul Morphy is and why Paul is the subject of Kendric's dissertation.

So please.

- Well, Paul Morphy, he's a local New Orleanian and a chess player in the 19th century.

He revolutionized the game.

He was thinking ahead of a lot of his contemporaries at the time as regarding chess concepts.

And he also was born during and lived during an important time period in New Orleans history.

He lived during the Antebellum, Civil War, and Reconstruction period.

- [Roberto] So tell us about Paul Morphy and his family.

He came from kind of an elite family.

Is that right?

- You can say that.

Paul Morphy was a descendant of Irish, Spanish, and Saint-Domingue descent.

Saint-Domingue eventually became the country of Haiti.

His family was wealthy because they derived some of their wealth on his mother's side from the industry of slavery.

And on his father's side, his father was an influential lawmaker in the city of New Orleans.

He also made a number of great investments.

So from that, Paul Morphy was able to live a wealthy lifestyle that allowed him to learn fencing, arts, and the game of chess, which made him famous.

- Paul Morphy's family held enslaved human beings.

- Yes, they did.

- But what's the evidence on Paul Morphy himself?

- I can't find any evidence of himself owning enslaved people or his opinion on the slave issue or race for that matter.

- Right.

Now, there's some chroniclers who say that Paul tried to serve on the Confederate side.

- The only evidence that we have was that, when the Civil War first started, he left and went to live in France during the entire war period.

An interesting thing though, before he went to France, he stopped off in Havana, Cuba, where he played an enslaved person of African descent.

And that's one of the earliest documentation of someone of African descent playing chess in the New World that I've found.

Anyone's found anything else, I definitely, you know, would love that information.

- Well, I have a feeling you might hear about that with this show.

Now let's talk about why we're even talking about Paul Morphy.

- [Kendric] He was one of the strongest players in the city of New Orleans as a child.

- [Roberto] Okay.

- At the age of 20, he went off to New York and he played in the first United States Chess Congress, which was the predecessor to the United States Chess Championship that we have today.

So he was the first - Okay.

- United States chess champion.

Following that victory and that success, he went on, from 1858 to 1859, he went on a European tour in which he played some of the best chess players in Western Europe and he completely dominated them.

- Wow.

- He fascinated people 'cause he put on blindfold and would played multiple people at the same time, which only a few chess players were doing at that time, but he made it extremely famous.

- I gotta say, I think it's amazingly ironic that Paul Morphy, one of the greatest chess players of his generation, whose family owned enslaved people of African descent, is someone that you're doing your dissertation about.

You are a chess player and you are teaching inner city children here in New Orleans to play chess.

I love this, man.

Thank you so much for what you're doing.

- Thank you, thank you.

- Okay.

- I appreciate it.

- All right.

Okay folks, I'm gonna take Kendric, we're gonna check out another part of the cemetery and start playing chess, okay?

(gentle music) Coming up later this episode.

Here we come to what looks like a pyramid - Uh huh.

- in New Orleans.

Is there an Egyptian person buried here or what's going on?

(resonating music) I wanted to ask Heather about the differences between some of these tombs.

Look at this.

Heather, this looks like, frankly, a pile of bricks, maybe like an open hearth fireplace or something.

What is this really?

- This is a tomb in an advanced state of disrepair.

- Yeah.

- Likely, this family's descendants either don't exist or they moved far away and have no idea that this exists within the cemetery.

So a big part of my job is trying to bring those people back and have them understand that they do have property within the cemetery, get them to reclaim it, and then ultimately restore and maybe even use it.

- Got it.

Now across the street, the metaphorical street, we have something quite different, right?

Look at this.

This is gorgeous.

It's gleaming.

It has a beautiful iron fence around it.

And there's marble down here and clearly there's room for another family.

What, what's the story here?

- This tomb is under Perpetual Care.

So Perpetual Care is a program where the property owner can buy a Perpetual Care contract, we put that money in a trust, and then we work off the interest to maintain the tomb in perpetuity.

- Jeff Poree is a fourth generation master plasterer.

He is one of the experts in historic preservation who are helping to rebuild New Orleans' cemeteries.

- These old buildings and these old tombs don't come with instructions.

You have to be trained to maintain these things.

We are, in New Orleans, the maintenance men of local history.

We maintain everything that was built since this place was started.

And a lot of things you're looking at, even while I'm standing here, go back to 200 years ago.

So they need a lot of work.

It's a routine thing to fix these things, but someone has to pay for that.

- Soon after we filmed this interview, additional resources were allocated to help restore more tombs.

(jazz music) Heather, I mentioned to a buddy of mine last night that I'm in New Orleans filming a cemetery, and he said, "Oh, there is this cemetery scene in the movie 'Easy Rider.'"

So, like, what's that about?

- A lot of the filming happened within the cemetery for "Easy Rider."

A large tomb that they had a lot of interaction with was this one, the Italian Mutual Benevolent Society Tomb.

They actually sat on the statues and damaged them and we were never able to replace the damage, which is unfortunate.

- Yeah.

- But it's nice to see our cemeteries represented on the big screen regardless.

But this is one of the grandest tombs within the cemetery.

It's completely clad in marble.

At the time of its construction in 1857, it cost $40,000, an amazing sum for that time period.

- Right, right.

(instruments blare) (cymbal crashes) (soft flute and percussive music) I'm here with tour guide Judy Bajoie.

She is one of the expert tour guides here in New Orleans.

We're here to ask her today about Marie Laveau.

Judy, who is Marie Laveau?

- She's a person who was really admired by all New Orleanians, Black, white, rich, poor.

She's a voodoo priestess, the queen of voodoo.

And the thing about it is that she went to mass every day at the cathedral, but she practiced voodoo.

And when I say, "but she practiced voodoo," the thing is this is that voodoo in New Orleans is a combination of tradition from Benin, actually Haiti, at that time, Saint-Domingue, and actually Catholicism here in New Orleans.

She was born in 1801.

She died in 1881.

At this location, she died in her sleep.

After 1881, her children continued to live in this location until 1895.

I cannot stress enough how she was very much loved actually by the citizens of New Orleans.

- You mentioned that she was a devout Catholic, but she was also a practitioner of voodoo.

How do those two reconcile, or do they reconcile?

- They really very much do.

And New Orleans being such a Catholic city, from the very beginning, from 1718 to 1762 under the French, from 1762 to 1803 under the Spanish, you had to be Catholic here.

And so you had components of Catholicism in voodoo, and in voodoo, actually Catholicism.

- [Roberto] So what was Marie Laveau's background?

- Marie Laveau was of mixed race.

Her mom was a free woman of color.

Her dad was of French origin.

She had people who actually believed in her who came to her daily seeking favors, getting readings, asking for favors.

- It's fascinating.

And she also was a hairstylist, right?

- Yeah, she was a hairdresser by profession.

- I think the hairdresser can sometimes be like the psychologist.

- Right.

- You know, the confessor.

Can you just talk about her role as a hairdresser and as a businesswoman?

- This is the legend, 'cause she would actually hear the stories and actually use those same stories against people would come to her for readings.

And one thing I wanna mention is she's buried at St. Louis Number One Cemetery.

And St. Louis Number One Cemetery is named for Louis IX, and he actually is a patron saint of hairdressers.

- Is that right?

- That's true.

- So when we went to visit her grave today, we noticed that there were hairdressing implements all around the bottom of the grave.

So there were hair ties and bracelets and combs and that sort of thing.

I noticed that some people putting Xs on the tomb, and I know that we don't like to encourage people to- - That's desecration.

- Yeah, that's right, to deface memorials at all, right.

And so what do you think that's about?

- They say three Xs, Xs represent the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, very Catholic city, Catholicism, then and very much so now.

It's the leading religion here.

Before, remember it was the only religion, okay.

And the thing is that people believe that you put Xs on the tomb, some people turn around three times, they ask some questions, have all kind of different rituals that people believe in that this lady's going to grant their request.

- Wow.

Judy gave me a fascinating historical tour of the city.

We could have walked around all day, but it was time to get back to the cemetery.

(soft music) Many people think of the American Civil Rights movement as something which began in the 1960s.

In particular, they think about Rosa Parks and her famous protest on the bus.

But Heather, here we are in New Orleans 50-something years before that.

We're at the tomb of Homer Plessy.

Who was Homer Plessy?

- Homer Plessy was an individual in New Orleans.

Occupational-wise, he was a shoemaker, but he was also part of a group that came together following the end of Reconstruction.

He grew up during Reconstruction period of New Orleans.

After Reconstruction ended within the city, a group of intellectuals came together and started to think how can we challenge some of these new laws and rules that relate to race within the city.

- In fact, what happened during Reconstruction was that many rights were granted to American Negroes, as they were called then, and then what happened?

- And then they were all taken away.

For Homer Plessy, I think it was especially important 'cause he grew up during Reconstruction.

Those rights were just inherent in his mind.

And then to be just, his whole life changed after Reconstruction fell.

So I think his story is really important to contextualize in that way, to understand you had all of these rights, they're taken away.

What can I do now to try to regain some of them?

- That's right.

So in essence then, this is a Southern based civil rights movement - Very much so.

- right in the, after Reconstruction, early 1890s.

What does Homer Plessy do on that train?

- In 1892, he purchased a first class ticket on a whites only train car.

He boarded the train, sat down.

Because he was so light-skinned, they didn't initially realize that he was not meant to be in that car.

He made himself known and then he was escorted off the train.

That led all the way to the Supreme Court, and ultimately, to the Separate but Equal Act and judgment.

- Right.

So in the famous case called Plessy versus Ferguson, what does Ferguson refer to?

- That refers to Judge Ferguson.

He's buried in a different cemetery in town.

But a lot of, when you speak about Homer Plessy, Plessy versus Ferguson is always strongly attached to that.

I think a beautiful ending, even though the story hasn't fully ended ever, is that now the descendants of both families have come together to form a foundation that works together.

- Is that right?

And is that here in New Orleans?

- It is.

- And somehow it's very fitting, right?

So let's see, what is the name of that foundation?

- It's the Plessy and Ferguson Foundation.

So no more versus.

Now the families are joined together with a common mission.

- All right.

(soft New Orleans jazz music) (resonating music) One of the fascinating things about cemeteries is that not only are bodies underneath the ground, but also there are other elements of the past.

And who better to talk about this than an archaeologist?

Ryan, how are you?

- I'm doing pretty well.

- Good.

- Thank you.

Can you tell us a bit about your work at St. Peter's?

- Sure.

My specialty in New Orleans is urban archaeology and the urban historical archaeology of the city.

And we got a rare opportunity a few years ago, back in 2011, to actually look at what was the first formal cemetery in the city that predates St. Louis Cemetery Number One here.

And unlike St. Louis Cemetery Number One, it was all below ground.

It's one of those common misconceptions about New Orleans cemeteries is that they're all built above ground because of the water table and you can't bury people below grade.

And there have been below ground burials here at St. Louis Cemetery Number One as well.

And it was that Spanish, well, the Latin burial tradition, the Mediterranean burial tradition of above ground burial that came in a little bit later after St. Louis Cemetery Number One was founded that led to this tradition of above ground burials that New Orleans is so famous for.

(soft tense music) - These days, New Orleans has people of predominantly African and European descent.

But there are other populations too.

I spoke with a local expert about the history of Chinese immigration.

- Well, the Chinese were actually brought here as contract workers after the Civil War.

Really, it was because with the emancipation of the slaves, they were bringing in contract laborers from all over the world, Italians, people from Germany, Scandinavia, and plus the Chinese.

In fact, it wasn't just Louisiana.

The Chinese contract workers were brought to Texas, Arkansas, Alabama.

I think they were in South Carolina.

And this is also where the Chinese in Mississippi came from.

They were all originally on the plantations.

But the Chinese didn't like being treated like slaves any more than the Africans did and so all the Chinese were gone.

They were gone from the plantations.

By the mid 1870s, they migrated to cities like New Orleans.

They took jobs in the laundries, in the restaurants.

Most of the Chinese actually left.

But you know, other Chinese came after them, especially the merchants who built a Chinatown here.

And there were many other waves of Chinese immigration since then.

And yeah, there's been a Chinese presence here ever since.

(mellow music) - Heather, here we come to what looks like a pyramid in New Orleans.

Is there an Egyptian person buried here, or what's going on?

- There's actually no one buried here yet.

This is a tomb purchased by actor Nicolas Cage, and upon his death, his body will be interred within this tomb.

- Got it.

Is Nicolas Cage from New Orleans?

- He's not.

He's from California, but he's lived here a number of years off and on, and he decided to make this his final resting place.

- Pretty cool.

This actually brings up an interesting point.

A lot of times, you know, when people pass away, the families haven't really made pre-arrangements like this, or maybe not as grand as this perhaps, but they haven't done it.

And then at that point, the family is at its most vulnerable.

They're grieving, they're angry, perhaps there are concerns about inheritances and all that.

And that's not a time to be laying out what, for most people, is a considerable amount of investment, right?

So what are your thoughts about pre-planning?

- I think if you can plan for the future while you're healthy and death isn't even a thought in your mind, it's the best case scenario because then you can go into it clearheaded, your family will know what your wishes ultimately are, and everything's taken care of so during their time of mourning, they're not burdened with that extra process to have to go through.

(mellow music) - [Roberto] Join us all season long as we travel to the world's greatest cemeteries, touring masterpieces of landscape, gardens, and culture while reliving dramatic stories about diverse historical figures.

- Here lies the body of John Jack, a native of Africa.

(soft music) - She told me, "I don't approve of women sculptors as a rule."

And then she said, "Every woman is better off at home taking care of husband and children."

- When Celia Cruz passed away, thousands of people lined the street as we followed the funeral procession.

- Let's start with you telling us a bit about Herman Melville.

- Well, what we know about Melville in Woodlawn is he started out as a young man writing about the South Pacific.

- We'll discover artistic designs, check out stunning vistas, and uncover surprising facts about the past.

So Jokichi Takamine, a great scientist, a great humanitarian.

What is he known for?

- [Susan] He's known internationally for isolating adrenaline.

- Well, that's our visit to St. Louis Cemetery Number One in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Be sure to check out our website for more info and links.

And if you go, drop me a line and let me know what you thought about the experience.

All right, until next time.

(soft music) You can find out more about this episode, just get in touch, or tell us about your favorite cemetery or historical figure at www.worldsgreatestcemeteries.co.

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