Place · United States
The history of New Orleans
Assembled from 2 dug tiles · 29 sourced records · 1724–2016 · last reviewed 16 October 2026
New Orleans gathers its past in close quarters: a French Quarter townhouse built for an architect's own family, and a walled cemetery on Basin Street holding tombs of a voodoo queen, a chess champion and a mayor. Fire, flood and epidemic shaped both grounds in turn.
These are the individual spots Strata has dug in New Orleans — not a guide to the town, but a record of what happened on particular ground.
Digs in New Orleans
New Orleans's oldest surviving cemeteryThis point sits inside Saint Louis Cemetery No. 1, a walled burial ground of above-ground tombs on Basin Street. Saint Louis Cemetery No. 1
1724–2013 A restored 1860s townhouse, now a museum
This point sits fifty-nine meters from Gallier House, the home architect James Gallier Jr. Built for his own family in the French Quarter. Gallier House
1734–2016
New Orleans in layers
Just beside Gallier House, the Beauregard-Keyes House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Wikipedia - Beauregard-Keyes House
A few streets away, the former branch mint building is recognized as a National Historic Landmark. Wikipedia - New Orleans Mint
A short walk away stands Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop, a National Historic Landmark building tied to legends of the pirate Jean Lafitte. Wikipedia - Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop
from 1724
Three hundred meters off, the St. Peter Street Cemetery held New Orleans's dead from 1724, under French and then Spanish rule, before this cemetery replaced it. FamilySearch
from 1734
Built from 1734, the Old Ursuline Convent a block away is a National Historic Landmark and among the oldest surviving structures in the region. Wikidata
1765–2016
Down the block, St. Louis Cathedral has been the burial place of archbishops, Spanish governors and an officer named Francisco Bouligny, who died in 1800. Wikidata burial records
completed 1788
A few streets away stands Madame John's Legacy, one of the oldest houses in the French Quarter, completed in 1788. Wikipedia - Madame John's Legacy
1788
A catastrophic fire in 1788 destroyed much of Spanish-controlled New Orleans and was part of what pushed the city to open this new cemetery outside its crowded center. Wikidata
1789
After fire and epidemic disease overwhelmed the city's old burial ground, Spanish officials granted land for St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 in 1789, just steps from where you stand. HMDB Historical Marker
died 1820
Benjamin Henry Latrobe, the British-American architect who helped design the U.S. Capitol, died of yellow fever in New Orleans in 1820 and is believed buried in the cemetery's rear ground. Society for the Preservation of Architectural Heritage
died 1820
Étienne de Boré, the city's first mayor and the planter who perfected granulated sugar production in Louisiana, was interred here after his death in 1820. Cemetery Tour New Orleans
1834
In 1834, the street now running past you, Basin Street, was cut through the cemetery's original grounds, shrinking it, and was later widened again around 1900. Historic Structures
1857–1860
Construction began in 1857 and the architect James Gallier Jr. moved in with his wife and four daughters by 1860. Wikipedia - Gallier House
April 25 – May 1, 1862
The capture of New Orleans during the Civil War, a turning point that opened the Mississippi to Union control, is tied to Jackson Square a few streets south. Wikipedia - Capture of New Orleans
May 16, 1868
He died in the home he had built, on May 16, 1868, at age forty. Wikipedia - James Gallier Jr.
1878 and 1905
In the epidemics of 1878 and 1905, burials happened so quickly that above-ground tombs reached 150 to 200 degrees, acting almost like natural cremation chambers. Travel Through History
died 1881
Marie Laveau, the famed Voodoo practitioner, died in 1881 and lies in the Glapion family crypt, where visitors still leave candles and coins. Wikipedia
died 1884
Paul Morphy, regarded as the greatest chess player of his era, was buried here in the family tomb after his death in 1884. Wikipedia
March 14, 1891
On March 14, 1891, a mob lynched eleven Italian Americans imprisoned over the murder of police chief David Hennessy, an event that took place a few streets away. Wikidata
1897–1917
Storyville, New Orleans's officially sanctioned vice district from 1897 to 1917, developed a few blocks away and shaped the surrounding blocks for two decades. Wikipedia
early 20th century
In the early twentieth century, once the Galliers had moved on, the building was divided up as a rooming house. The Cultural Landscape Foundation - Gallier House
1904
Seventy-five meters north, the Southern Railway Freight Office was built in 1904 and later entered the National Register of Historic Places. Wikipedia
from 1906
Two streets away, a grocery founded in 1906 became known for inventing the muffuletta sandwich. Wikidata
died 1925
Homer Plessy, whose arrest led to the Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson, was interred in the Debergue-Blanco family tomb here after his death in 1925. Wikipedia
Questions about New Orleans
What is New Orleans known for historically?
Among much else, it is known for the French Quarter's surviving 19th-century buildings, such as Gallier House on Royal Street, and for Saint Louis Cemetery No. 1 on Basin Street, the city's oldest surviving cemetery, whose above-ground tombs hold figures including Marie Laveau and Homer Plessy.
Who built Gallier House and when?
Architect James Gallier Jr. built the Royal Street house for his own family between 1857 and 1860. He died there in 1868, at forty; the house later became a rooming house before opening as a museum in 1971 and gaining National Historic Landmark status in 1974.
What happened at Saint Louis Cemetery No. 1 on Basin Street?
Founded in 1789, the cemetery filled quickly during yellow fever epidemics in 1878 and 1905, and in 1834 Basin Street itself was cut through its original boundary. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, and in 2013 Marie Laveau's tomb was vandalized with pink paint.
Who is buried at Saint Louis Cemetery No. 1?
The Glapion family crypt holds Marie Laveau, the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans, who died in 1881, though historians dispute her birth year and whether her remains truly lie there. Also buried nearby are chess champion Paul Morphy, civil rights figure Homer Plessy, architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe, and Étienne de Boré, New Orleans's first mayor, all of whom died in the nineteenth century.
What other historic sites sit near Gallier House?
The Beauregard-Keyes House stands a short walk away, as do the Old Ursuline Convent dating from 1734, Madame John's Legacy completed in 1788, Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop, and Central Grocery, which opened in 1906.