Cypress Grove Cemetery

The Firemen's Charitable & Benevolent Association built Cypress Grove in 1840, the same organization that founded Greenwood Cemetery across the street. Architect J.N.B. de Pouilly designed the entrance gatehouse — fifty feet of marble, considered one of the finest Egyptian Revival structures in America. New Orleans was the largest port in the Southern United States throughout the 19th century, exporting most of the nation's cotton and farm products to Western Europe and New England. The people who made that engine run are buried here: riverboat pilots, fire captains, police chiefs, prominent New Orleanians who built the machinery of the largest city in the South. Among them is David Hennessy, the police superintendent assassinated in 1890. His death led to the lynching of 11 Italians — the largest mass lynching in U.S. history. The cemetery is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Open daily 8am–4pm at 120 City Park Ave. Free admission.