St. Louis Cemetery No. 3

The third St. Louis Cemetery opened in 1854 on Esplanade Avenue near Bayou St. John, approximately two miles from the French Quarter. It is the quietest and least visited of the three St. Louis Cemeteries, away from tourist circuits. The crypts are more elaborate on average than at the other St. Louis cemeteries, including a number of fine nineteenth-century marble tombs — the work of prosperous Creole and immigrant communities who built society tombs here. Ragtime composer Paul Sarebresole is entombed here. So is photographer E. J. Bellocq, painter Ralston Crawford, and Sweet Emma Barrett, a self-taught jazz piano player and singer. Ernest N. "Dutch" Morial, the first African-American mayor of New Orleans, was reinterred at St. Louis Cemetery No. 3 in a new tomb for the Morial family. The cemetery includes a Greek Orthodox section. Hurricane Katrina flooded the cemetery heavily in 2005. Its tombs escaped relatively unscathed. There was some plaster damage from debris. Mature trees shade the paths. Self-guided visits are permitted. The cemetery is within walking distance of City Park and the New Orleans Museum of Art.