St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, founded in 1789, is the oldest surviving cemetery in New Orleans and one of the most visited in the United States. It is a "City of the Dead" — the famous New Orleans tradition of above-ground burial in whitewashed brick vaults and ornate family tombs, necessitated by the city's high water table, which meant that bodies buried in the ground tended to float back up. The effect is of a miniature city of narrow lanes between mausoleums, some crumbling, some lovingly maintained.
The cemetery is the reputed resting place of Marie Laveau, the nineteenth-century Voodoo Queen of New Orleans, though her actual tomb is contested. Visitors traditionally make three X marks on a tomb near hers and leave an offering in the hope that she will grant a wish. Access is now restricted to guided tours, which is sensible — the cemetery had a problem with tourists vandalising tombs and getting lost. Tours run regularly and give an excellent introduction to New Orleans burial customs and Creole history.