a (legal) stroll through a closed cemetery in New Orleans

“The most dangerous flower is one that grows on a grave.”

― Jarod Kintz

Odd Fellows Rest

5055 Canal Street, New Orleans

The name Odd Fellows refers to a number of friendly societies and fraternal organizations. It also refers to a number of Lodges with histories dating back to the 18th century who were set up to protect and care for their members and communities at a time when there was no welfare state, trade unions or National Health Service. The aim was (and still is) to provide help to members and communities when they need it.

Located in New Orleans, Odd Fellows Rest is located on Canal Street near numerous other “Cities of the Dead”.

The thing about this cemetery that makes it so special is that due to vandalism, it is not open to the public. Some of the members of our American Culture Association Cemeteries and Gravemarkers  group estimated that the cemetery hadn’t been opened since the 1970s. When we met the cemetery caretaker, Michael, he said that the cemetery has been closed since WWII.

The land for Odd Fellows Rest was purchased in 1847 by the Grand Lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. The property, adjoining St. Patrick Cemetery No. 2 at the intersection of Canal Street and Metairie Road (now City Park Avenue), was purchased for $700 and later enlarged by donations of land from benefactors and the Firemen’s Charitable Association.

In 1849, the new cemetery was dedicated with a large ceremony and a grand procession which bore the cemeteries first 16 remains of former Odd Fellows members, relocated from other cemeteries.

Michael said that this cemetery never had perpetual care. He also noted that it is a misconception that New Orleans includes so many above ground burials in elaborate stone crypts and mausoleums due to concerns that the area is built on a swamp. Odd Fellows Rest, along with the other cemeteries in the vicinity, is situated above the flood plain. The above ground burials happened to be more popular during the heyday of these cemeteries.

Nature takes back what man has made

The Odd Fellows organization was devastated by the Civil War. After the war, membership decreased by 60% and simply never recovered. That being noted, there is one last living Odd Fellow who is in his 80s. He’s the last living by at least 50 years!!!

In the 1970s, the cemetery was condemned with an estimate of 1 million dollars to relocate the remains and demolish the cemetery. Fortunately, the Highway Administration saved the cemetery. Yep, you read that correctly. The plans for the highway would have run right through the cemetery but their plans changed and because of that the government did not want to *waste* their money demolishing a cemetery.

In the early 1980s, a local organization Save Our Cemeteries repaired a section of the Odd Fellows wall vaults. You can see in some of my pictures that their current conditions are pretty bad.

Howard Association

Odd Fellows Rest contains several notable tombs and monuments. One is for the Howard Association, a group composed of young men whose mission was to provide emergency aid during the yellow fever epidemic. The tomb features an intricate bas-relief of the organization’s founder, John Howard.

Morrison Marker

It’s always nice to have a “guide” (bless his heart, Michael was supposed to open the gate for our group but he played tour guide as well!) who knows the stories behind the markers. He shared that Morrison had four children die from yellow fever.

Fairchild tomb

The cast iron gates surrounding the cemetery bear symbols of fraternity tied to the Odd Fellows, like the widow and her children, the beehive, the all-seeing eyes of Diety, the world, the cornucopia, the Order’s initials, the five-pointed stars, and the Bible. Sadly, many of these symbols have been stolen by vandals. There is some amazing artwork but unless something is done, it will be destroyed by nature. So much of this cemetery has already been lost.

Fairchild Tomb

Michael also shared that 85% of the cemetery is made up of orphaned tombs. There are 25 individual tombs maintained by families. The cemetery is open on All Saints Day and by request for family members.

There was practically no record keeping and the original burial records are lost although the records can be somewhat put back together with microfilm copies. 

Michael holding three links that someone found in the cemetery

Beehive            

Often used by the Freemasons and Independent Order of Odd Fellows. It symbolizes human industry, faith, education, and domestic virtues.

FLT in Chain Links   

A symbol of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, a fraternal organization. Stands for Friendship, Love, and Truth.

Hand Holding Heart  

The hand holding a heart is a symbol used by the I.O.O.F (Independent Order of Odd Fellows) and Masons, both fraternal organizations. It symbolizes charity.

I took many more pictures since this isn't a cemetery that others get to see very often. I'll probably upload as many as possible to Find a Grave  just so others have access.

There's amazing detail in this artwork but this tomb is slowly being destroyed. How long before this is broken?

Poe's love, my first love, and "Grief"

It’s December! I’m drinking S'mores hot coco with peppermint marshmallows. Seemed strange but turned out to be delicious! Of course, yesterday it was 73ºF (23ish ºC) and tomorrow it’s supposed to be warm again…just a little heat wave and then it will probably snow. That’s what it’s like here in Virginia.

Yesterday when I went out walking, I was gazing at the houses and thinking about how I always want to live here in this small town. Ashland isn’t very big but it is close enough to Richmond and the combined history keeps me connected. I like to imagine walking the same paths as those before me. While meandering, I am always drawn to the house. One of my favorite houses isn’t because of the architecture but because of its history.

Erected in 1858, one of the home’s former owners was Elmira Royster Shelton who just so happens to have been Edgar A. Poe's "Lost Lenore." In one of Poe’s last letters, he writes of Elmira and his longing to marry her. Elmira Shelton, who was Elmira Royster at the time, and Edgar A. Poe were engaged decades before when they were practically children. Ah, young love. (Dreamy sigh). Elmira was 15 years old and young Edgar was 16. They spoke of marriage but Elmira’s father tried to put a stop to it. When Poe headed off to UVa (my old stomping ground) the two were secretly engaged but Royster’s father seized and destroyed all of Poe's letters to his daughter before she even knew they existed. Assuming she had been forgotten, Royster married another man. (Wasn’t there a Nicholas Sparks movie about that? :p ) This was in the late 1820s.

TWENTY YEARS later… Poe returns. Again there is talk about marriage since by this time Poe’s wife has passed as has Shelton’s husband. She has children who disapprove but nothing can stop true love, right? Well, they never married. Poe headed to Baltimore and surrounding his mysterious death he mentions a wife he had in Richmond. Was he referring to Shelton? 

"Grief" by Valentine

Shelton never spoke of Poe again until 1875 when she was interviewed by Edward Valentine who was a Richmond sculptor and a family member of *my employers* aka The Valentine Museum. I’ll add this picture of one of his beautiful sculptures that Valentine created. It is in Hollywood Cemetery and is entitled “Grief”. Although it isn’t actually part of this story, I think it’s quite fitting. At the time she spoke with Valentine, she denied being engaged but then nearly a decade later she admitted that she was. When she died in 1888, her obituary in the Richmond Whig had the headline, “Poe’s First and Last Love.”

 

Yesterday when I walked by the house, there was an elderly woman sitting on a swing on her porch. She probably came out because I had taken a few pictures of her house. Ooops! But I prefer to think of her as someone who was sitting on the swing remembering being 15 and falling in love for the first time with the boy who had eyes like the sea after a storm (or whatever Buttercup said) and the softest Ministry t-shirt that he would give to her to sleep in (yeah, well that was me).

My first love... I was 15.

Last year I woke from a dream that was very much a memory of being a teen with my first love. I recall one of the first lines from one of his letters, "Run away with me and be my love". My first husband burned all of the letters that I had kept. I also remembering screaming that they were being burned into my soul. (An ex is an ex for a reason y'all). Back to the dream... I cried because I always remember how he saved me. My friend had just shot himself, all my friends were a mess, and he, who had just met me a few months before, drove two hours from Washington, D.C. (I had no idea that I would end up working there) for a visit... He hardly knew me but I guess young people don't care. I think we went to the mall. I don't recall much around that time but he was there and somehow it clicked that there was more to the world than all the death in my tiny hometown. We used to write these long handwritten letters but in contemporary times, I sent him an email to say thank you.  “I will always think of your 18-year-old self as the most magical part of my adolescence” and briefly recounted the dream. And I promise you that my heart skipped a beat (it still does) when he responded:

I did not save you sweetie, I just reminded you that you didn't need saving.

Elmira Shelton lived for nearly forty years after Poe died. One day I hope to live in that house and sit on the swing while remembering.