When a business trip takes you to New Orleans, most people are excited for the usual reasons — the delicious Cajun food, the open public drinking laws, and Bourbon Street debauchery… I, on the other hand, was way more thrilled to have an excuse to spend time in some of the most legendary cemeteries in the country.

When work ended and the weekend began, I relocated from the French Quarter hotel to a classic 1800’s era home in the Garden District, courtesy of AirBnB. And when Saturday finally arrived and my friends headed to a boozy brunch, I instead hopped on the cable car to head to St. Louis Cemetery #1.

Due to rampant graffiti and nighttime hooligan teenagers, they recently closed the grounds to all but guided tour groups, so for the first time ever, I embarked on a cemetery tour.

Sidenote: If you are a frequent cemetery visitor like myself, I recommend researching local organizations ahead of time that offer tours where the fees go toward grave preservation and restoration. These are national treasures and it is vital that we support organizations doing good work — for New Orleans, I highly recommend Save Our Cemeteries.

So for the next two and half hours in 95° F southern sun, I learned the ins and outs of this amazing cemetery. Stories and sights included the the famous voodoo priestess Marie Leveau’s tomb (spoiler alert: it’s not the one with the three red “X”s per common lore), the rent-able grave “apartment” walls (origin of the “I wouldn’t touch it with a 10 ft pole” phrase), and Homer Plessy’s resting place (of the landmark 1896 civil rights case Plessy vs. Ferguson).

Most surprising to me, was learning that this is still an active cemetery that averages about 5 burials per month to this day.

Who knows, perhaps I may return one day for a longer stay.