Huey Long's Tomb — State Capitol Gardens

A twelve-foot bronze figure stands in the sunken garden directly in front of the Louisiana State Capitol, the tallest capitol in the United States at 450 feet. The statue depicts Huey Long in a business suit, facing the building where he was assassinated on September 8, 1935. Three days later, after lingering at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital, Long died. On September 13, he was interred on the capitol grounds. Approximately 100,000 people—some from as far away as Arkansas, Mississippi, and Texas—paid their respects as his body lay in state. Long's original gravemarker was a simple tombstone. In 1938, the State Legislature appropriated $50,000 to replace it with something more monumental. Two years later, a marble pedestal surmounted by the bronze statue designed by Charles Keck was erected. The monument rises 30 feet tall. Long had arranged his own burial site; the garden was dedicated in 1940, five years after his assassination. The capitol itself is often thought of as "Huey Long's monument"—Long, as governor and U.S. Senator, secured the funding and insisted on the design. Construction began in December 1930 on the former Louisiana State University campus. By using funds he controlled to start the design work, Long prevented the State Legislature from stopping construction. Work progressed rapidly because Long insisted it be completed under his governorship. The building was finished in little over a year, though the State Capitol was not dedicated until May 16, 1932, during the inauguration of Governor Oscar K. Allen. Long was shot in the State Capitol by Dr. Carl Weiss, who was gunned down shortly thereafter by members of the Louisiana State Police acting as Long's bodyguards. Weiss's alleged motivation was that his father-in-law, Judge Benjamin Pavy, was going to be gerrymandered out of office by Long. The tomb sits in the center of the south park, 600 feet square, at an arrangement of crisscrossing walks. The Capitol grounds comprise 30 acres, landscaped under the oversight of the building's architect Leon Weiss and installed by Jungle Gardens on Avery Island. Live oaks were transported to Baton Rouge; a few already present and incorporated into the gardens are over 200 years old. The flora includes azaleas, camellias, and magnolias—the state flower of Louisiana. Ten miles of sidewalks are lined with boxwood hedges. The tomb is free to visit, the first thing visitors see approaching the tallest capitol in America.