St. Peter Street Cemetery
Tour Description
The St. Peter Street Cemetery was one of the city’s first formal burial grounds, eventually occupying the entirety of the city block bounded by N. Rampart, St. Peter, Burgundy, and Toulouse Streets. This tour provides an introduction to St. Peter Street Cemetery's archaeological excavations, the lives of the people buried there, and the reburial of the people and objects exhumed.
Locations for Tour
St. Peter Street Cemetery
The St. Peter Street Cemetery was one of the city’s first formal burial grounds, eventually occupying the entirety of the city block bounded by N. Rampart, St. Peter, Burgundy, and Toulouse Streets. It is shown on maps by the mid-1720s, and, even…
Archaeology of the St. Peter Street Cemetery
The St. Peter Street Cemetery served as the City of New Orleans’ primary burial ground through most of the Colonial era, from 1724 (and possibly earlier) until 1789, when it was officially replaced by St. Louis Cemetery No. 1. It still appears to…
Reconstructing the Lives of People Buried at the St. Peter Street Cemetery
Most people buried at St. Peter Street appeared to have been buried below ground in unmarked graves, usually in simple cypress coffins. Bodies were most likely washed after death and wrapped in a simple linen shroud to be buried. This means that,…
The St. Peter Street Cemetery: Rediscoveries and Reburials
On Saturday, April 18th, 2015, the human remains recovered from the St. Peter Street Cemetery in 2011 were again laid to rest, this time in a vault in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1. This reinterment was commemorated with a memorial mass at St. Augustine…