New Orleans, Louisiana: Odd Fellow's Rest, Poor Folks Cemetery

Odd Fellows Rest is closed. However we got lucky on the Sunday we visited. The caretaker took pity on us because it was screaming hot, and let us in the gates and explained some about it. The cemetery had been vandalized and the Odd Fellows headquarters shut it down.

There are some beautiful crypts in the cemetery, including an iron one and a beautiful white one you can see from the gate. No trace, really, of the vandalism. Thank goodness.

They do share their property with a funky sort of herb store. You can get coffee and smoothies to cool down if you are visiting the area cemeteries.

Tried to visit Odd Fellow Rest in March 2014 (about mid-morning on a Thursday) and found both gates locked. Looked interesting from the outside. You see a bunch of cemeteries walking up to the corner of canal and city park, but you can't see Odd Fellows right because it's behind a huge wall. Keep walking!

We did find the poor folk cemetery though. It's called Holt Cemetery. Find it by going through the community college parking lot! It's a pretty home-made affair with people using 2x4's, bricks, tar paper, spray paint stencils and even old traffic signs to fashion graves. They are still actually burying ppl here!! It was kind of creepy and super decrepit.

Odd Fellows Rest Cemetery and Poor Folks Cemetery - Close to Metairie cemetery, within a cluster of a few others, it is unique because -- at least when I visited -- there was all sorts of evidence of voodoo practices going on. Crypts were broken into and human bones were visible. People had left black candles about and had drawn symbols on the ground to conjure up spirits. It's very creepy!

Also, near Delgado Community College, there's a cemetery for the poor. most of the head stones are hand painted wood and mispelled words abound ex: "dide" for "died". A local folk artist has elaborately decorated a grave there.