We found this cemetery on Atlas Obscura. There was only on-street parking. The cemetery is on both sides of the street and is free to go through (unlike some of the older cemeteries close to the French Quarter).
The thing that makes this cemetery unique is the backstory. Yellow fever hit New Orleans hard due to the mosquitoes in the summer. In 1867, the Reverend in the parish prayed to St. Roch (patron saint of invalids) to spare his parishioners. If no one died, then the Reverend would build a shrine to St. Roch. The parish did not lose any of its members to yellow fever and the shrine was built. People who prayed to St. Roch and recovered from their illness would leave things at the shrine. The items left would be medical devices (dentures, crutches, prosthetics).
The St. Roch shrine was closed for repairs, so we could only see the outside and peer in through the windows. We could see a few of the items left.
Interesting…..
Thank you so much for sharing this story… I didn’t know the background story on St Roch….Jay and Kristina named their puppy Rocco after St Rocco…. we had heard he is the patron saint of pandemics and dogs….but not sure about dogs… thank you so much for sharing New Orleans with us….