NOLA Road Trip Day 5: Historic Cemetery Tour & Good Eats

On Monday morning we began our day by quickly grabbing some beignets for breakfast and then meeting up for a cemetery tour. Our guide, Gwen, was wonderful and we were lucky to have a small group. 

We headed to Saint Louis Cemetery #1 which was built outside of the city boundaries at the time. Because of New Orleans' location built on a swamp it was necessary to built burial vaults above ground. We learned so many fascinating things, like how there was a law that a vault could not be opened for a year and a day after the last deceased person was interred there for fear of spreading disease, like yellow fever. Most of the tombs are currently painted white, but that was due to the Americans and the originally the tombs were brightly painted by the Creoles. A project is underway to remove the white paint and return the tombs to their original colors.

The cemetery has tombs for a wide variety of people from voodoo queen Marie Laveau to a future resting place for Nicholas Cage, but the most interesting tomb for me was that of Homer Plessy, famous as the plaintiff in Plessy v. Ferguson. I knew the basics about the case and its being overturned by Brown v. Board of Education, but I learned some new details. I had no idea how carefully orchestrated everything was and that Homer Plessy was chosen to by the Citizens' Committee of New Orleans to ride in the whites-only railcar to specifically challenge Louisiana's laws of segregation. The train company was even involved in the setup, unfortunately not for altruistic reasons but because they didn't want to pay for separate facilities. I couldn't help but wonder how different the course of history in the U.S. would have been if the Supreme Court had decided the case differently and struck down segregation in 1894 instead of sadly upholding it for the next sixty years.

After our tour we walked back through the French Quarter enjoying the gorgeous, sunny day.

For lunch we decided to head to Napoleon House for a delicious muffulleta sandwich of ham, Genoa salami, pastrami, Swiss cheese, provolone cheese and homemade Italian olive salad on Italian bread. We also got sides of some other tasty New Orleans favorites, jambalaya and boudin sausage. In addition to having delicious food, Napoleon House has a storied history deriving its name from a plot to house Napoleon there after his exile.

After lunch we headed over to Jackson Square to check out the museums in the Cabildo and Presbytere, but they were closed until January 3 for the holiday.

After spending the rest of the afternoon hanging out with other Michigan fans in town for the Sugar Bowl, Frank and I headed out to dinner at Jacques-Imo's Cafe. We had an hour wait, but it was definitely worth it and we were able to hang out next door at the Maple Leaf Bar. We started with an appetizer of shrimp and alligator sausage cheesecake which was incredible. Our salads had a great dressing and were served with a fried oyster on the side. For dinner I had crawfish etoufee and Frank had the carpet-bagger steak with bleu cheese, onion, oysters, and hollandaise. Both meals were incredible and our sides, especially the mashed sweet potatoes were delicious.

Between our New Year's New Orleans trip and our pre-Christmas New York trip I have been eating ridiculously well and have been feeling quite spoiled. What better way to end one year and begin another than with good food?

If you are interested, check out the rest of our road trip to New Orleans here: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 6, Day 7