Archive for the ‘St. Vincent de Paul Nos. 1’ Category

The inscription reads:

Wife of W.H. Muir
A native of Malvern England
Died October 15, 1889
Aged 63 years

A MODEL WIFE.

Dr. Nothacker (1860-1934) was the physician for Bethlehem Orphan Asylum, opened in 1881. The exact dates of his service are not known, but he was there long enough to be the doctor featured in the “CENTENNIAL SOUVENIR BOOKLET FOR THE LUTHERAN BETHLEHEM ORPHAN ASYLUM,” reproduced here, complete with many photos of the grounds and children.

The building itself was on the corner of St. Peter and Andry Streets, now in the Lower 9th Ward, in the Holy Cross neighborhood. At the time, that location would have been very much out in the country, well outside of town.

The Nothacker family’s final resting place in St. Vincent’s cemetery is only minutes away from the spot, though the building was demolished demolished ago.

Their tomb has the distinction of having one of the most sheepish looking angels in the city:

I hadn’t visited VdP before, for a variety of reasons. For one, it sits just off N. Robertson, the main thoroughfare into the Lower 9th Ward, and although there are many lovely areas of their Bywater neighborhood, this cemetery isn’t situated in one of them.  It may or may not actually be dangerous- I haven’t looked into those blocks specifically, but it looks…well,  let’s say uninviting. It’s also pretty far off the beaten track, so I decided I wasn’t missing too much after I’d looked it up in New Orleans Architecture (Vol. III: The Cemeteries) and found this description:

In the past three quarters of a century they have built hundreds of vaults and tombs in the three cemeteries, including a two-storied community mausoleum in the third section. … There are hundreds of smaller tombs of pedestrian design; the cemeteries are literally jammed with them.

But earlier this week I found myself heading out to Chalmette and as I passed St. Vincent de Paul I made a snap decision to go take a quick peek. I felt fairly confident that if any day would be a “safe” day, this was it- early on a 90+ degree Monday morning would find most people at home, not wandering around looking for trouble. So off I went, and I’m glad I did. There might be many “pedestrian” tombs in the graveyard, and many of them not very old, but they did have the most amazing collection of wall tomb marble carvings and ironwork I’ve ever seen:

Much of it was simple, true, but there were many more ornate examples that live on. Most of the other cemeteries’ wall tomb iron has either rusted away or been stolen, so it was fantastic to see so much still there. Lots more photos in the flickr gallery here.