The 10-foot tall tomb owned by actor Nicholas Cage.
According to our guide, Cage purchased this plot for $100K and constructed this $250K pyramid tomb (which is currently empty). Some say it was for a tax write-off, since the government can take houses for owed taxes but not a burial plot. It's been struck by lightning twice.
Everything From One .... Damage where lightning struck the tomb
(right) This style is known as a step tomb.
Society tombs were very large.This one contains 24 vaults. It took architect Pietro Gualdi one year to build. Unfortunately he died of yellow fever two and a half weeks before it was finished. He was the first one buried here.
Another society tomb
Homer Adolph Plessy (1862 - 1925). In 1892, Plessy (who was a black man) was arrested for violating a Louisiana Law which required "separate but equal" accommodations on trains on the basis of race. He lost his case but segregation laws were eventually overturned in 1954 by Brown v. Board of Education.
(right) Bernard de Marigny was a wealthy land owner who helped write the constitutions of Louisiana. He lost all his money gambling.
(right) The city is sinking about 3 inches per year, taking some of the lower tombs with it.
The Protestant section: In 1805, this area at the back of the cemetery was for the burial of non-Catholics. It used to be much larger but most of the remains were transferred between 1822 - 1833.
(right) Edward Jordan was a WWI veteran (1885 - 1960)
