New Orleans: Metairie Cemetery Walking Tour & Untold Stories

4.97

(288 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

You know that feeling when you step somewhere and it just… hums? That’s how Metairie Cemetery felt as soon as we passed the iron gates. The air was thick, a little sweet from the magnolias, and Sally — our guide — was already waving us over to this marble pyramid guarded by a stone sphinx. She grinned and said, “That one’s got a story,” which pretty much set the tone for the next two hours. I kept glancing up at those huge oaks overhead, their branches tangled like old hands.

Sally has this way of talking about New Orleans history that makes you forget you’re on a tour. We stopped at Anne Rice’s tomb (I didn’t expect to feel anything but… I did), then she pointed out Ruth Fertel’s grave — yeah, the steakhouse founder — and told us how Ruth once snuck her dog into her own restaurant. There were these moments where the sun would hit the white marble just right, almost blinding, while Sally spun tales about gamblers who never smiled or Storyville madams who got kicked out of their own mausoleums. I tried to pronounce one family name in French; Li laughed so hard I nearly dropped my water bottle.

It’s not all big names though. There was this tiny angel statue, blue from years of weather, that made me stop for a second longer than I meant to. You could hear cicadas buzzing somewhere far off. Sally handed out tips for po’boys and jazz bars between stories — honestly, it felt more like wandering with an old friend than following a guidebook. The whole place is both grand and quietly strange; I still think about that weeping angel sometimes when things get too loud back home.