Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 Reopening: Tours, Tickets and Rules

On Tuesday, September 22, a small tour group was photographed walking along the outside of Lafayette Cemetery No. 1. Commander's Palace sits directly across Washington Avenue. The cemetery at 1400 Washington Avenue had been closed to public tours since 2019. Nine days later, on October 1, the City of New Orleans was scheduled to open it again.

The gate that opened this month runs on different terms from the one that closed. Before 2019, the cemetery was open to public visits and tours. Now the gate stays shut unless you are on a booked tour or a family member the City has vetted. Visitors now help pay for the place through their tickets. The City's own cemetery page, last updated October 7, 2026, still calls Lafayette No. 1 "CLOSED" with hours "TBD." It makes exceptions for guided tours and family visits by appointment. Both of those descriptions are accurate.

Seven Years of Notices on a Locked Gate

The closure was announced September 8, 2019, as a repair project. The plan called for water-line and drainage work, new paths, repairs to the brick walls and abandoned tombs, removing magnolias and clearing debris. At the time, a city spokesperson told Houma Today there was no estimate of how long it would take.

There was a second reason for the closure. Sara Lowenburg, director of Save Our Cemeteries, told NOLA.com that the City was also responding to families' concerns. She said guides had acted out movie scenes and told supernatural stories nearby while families paid their respects to their relatives' graves. Jessica Strawn, the City's acting superintendent of cemeteries, put it plainly:

"The cemetery had become a bit of a circus out there. There was a complete lack of respect for people using the cemetery as it was meant to be used."

Paul Pastorek sits on the board of the Tomb and Coping Owners' Association. He says the group formed in 2019 after a tourist broke off a piece of a tomb while trying to look inside. Since then, the association's closure FAQ page has posted a short notice most years, and together they record the delay:

Strawn says the closure lasted this long because of limited staff, turnover and the City's decision to look closely at what families had raised. Burials continued throughout. For seven years, the cemetery kept operating normally for its families while it was off-limits to everyone else.

What Changed Behind the Wall

The broken asphalt paths have been replaced with gravel laid over a lining to help drainage. Dead magnolias were removed and the living ones treated. A structural engineer reviewed the foundation of the cemetery wall. The City did not share the project's cost.

That split follows a division of responsibility that applies across the cemetery. The City maintains the shared spaces, meaning the walkways, walls, gates and lights. Each tomb is privately owned and maintained by its owners. Save Our Cemeteries, now a department of the Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans, says it has restored more than 50 family and society tombs at Lafayette No. 1. Nick Black, owner of NOLA Cemetery Renewal, told FOX 8 that he and other preservationists kept working the whole time the gate was closed. He said: "Probably one of the most rewarding parts of the job is seeing people's faces once a tomb that they've had in their family for, in some cases, 180 years, is restored."

The biggest single project finished this summer. PRC paid for a full restoration of the German Presbyterian Society Tomb, a 20-vault Gothic Revival structure built in 1866. Its owner, the Presbytery of South Louisiana, can now reopen it for burials for families in need. In a cemetery opened in 1833, that tomb is being used for burials again.

The Ticket Is How Visitors Get In

In May, the City put out a request for proposals and chose the Preservation Resource Center as the only tour operator. According to the Tomb & Coping Owners Association, only two groups may go inside. The first is Lafayette No. 1 families vetted by the City's cemetery division. The second is guests booked on a PRC tour.

The basic terms, from PRC's tour page and its September 21 announcement:

• Price: $30 for adults, $15 for children 6 to 12, free under 6
• Group size: no more than 16 guests
• Length: 75 to 90 minutes. PRC's booking page lists 1.5 hours.
• Schedule: seasonal, seven days a week, depending on cemetery operations. Lowenburg told FOX 8 the daily tours would run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Content: no ghost tours and nothing supernatural, sensational or played for entertainment
• Priority: family visits, funerals, maintenance and cemetery operations always come before tours. Guides will reroute or pause a group to make way for families.

The ticket price also pays for the cemetery. The City's contract, as NOLA.com reported it, gives the City 20% of tour revenue up to $150,000 and 27.5% of revenue above $350,000. Strawn says the City will put that money toward cemetery maintenance. Another 5% of PRC's tour revenue goes into a preservation fund for tomb repairs in City-owned cemeteries. Before the closure, preservationists described a cemetery that had been "trashed, trampled, spray-painted and otherwise defaced." Now each tour sends a share of its revenue back to cemetery upkeep and tomb repair.

Kristin Gisleson Palmer, PRC's executive director, described the selection as "more than reopening the gate." She called it a way "to demonstrate a better model for cultural tourism — one that protects an irreplaceable historic place, respects the families connected to it and reinvests visitor interest in preservation." Russell Blanchard, PRC's tour and travel program manager, says his team has nearly 40 years of combined guiding experience inside Lafayette No. 1.

Booking for Guests This Fall

October 1 was the announced reopening date, but PRC's booking calendar marked October 1 through October 7 as unavailable. The first tours it listed were for Thursday, October 8. The association says simply that the tour program began in early October. With only 16 spots per tour and tours limited to mornings, it makes sense to book before inviting anyone over. Tours meet at 1400 Washington Avenue.

With All Saints' Day approaching, the sources disagree about access that day. Lowenburg told NOLA.com the cemetery will be closed to the public on All Saints' Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day and other days when families traditionally visit their tombs. The City's cemetery page lists 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. hours on those same holidays. Both may be right, since the public tours can stop while families still come in. Before making plans for the holiday, check with PRC or call the Division of Cemeteries at 504-658-3781. That is also the number families use to set up a visit.

The program also sets aside time for local groups. PRC plans up to 10 free tours a year for New Orleans public-school groups, plus discounts for educational groups, veterans' groups and local nonprofits. PRC has also said it will work with tomb owners, neighbors and local businesses as tours start up again.

There is a precedent. In 2021, the Archdiocese of New Orleans limited tours of St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 to a single company. With Lafayette No. 1, the city's oldest city-owned cemetery now follows that model too. Pastorek, speaking for the tomb owners, said the plan "does respect the fact that it's still an active cemetery." A 75-minute walk among the tombs now costs $30 for an adult, and part of that fee goes back to the cemetery.

Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 has been part of the Garden District since 1833, and it now has a funded plan for its care. If you would like to talk about life near Washington Avenue, or about the historic homes close to the cemetery wall, Kara Lashley would be glad to hear from you. Let's Connect.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.