Voodoo, Cemeteries, and Safety in New Orleans

A Cemetery tour seems like a strange thing to do on holiday perhaps. But in New Orleans as the water table is so high, bodies are buried over-ground, as opposed to being buried six-feet-under. The result is a rather eerie collection of large ornate graves.

Which leads me to the Cemetery tours – the tombs are the final resting places for some well-known people and historical figures. There are 3 main graveyards, but only went to one of them. We saw the tomb of Homer Plessy, of the Plessy v Ferguson civil rights case which challenged the shocking laws requiring a “black” and “white” section on trains.

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Stunning Oak Alley Plantation and its Dark Past

We were heading to New Orleans but wanted to visit a plantation while there. Oak Alley Plantation is one of several large Antebellum mansions along the banks of the Mississippi River which was a plantation in the days of slavery. We decided to splash out and stay in a cottage on the grounds (the doctor’s house), which was really convenient. The cottage was really cute and we met a friendly couple from New Jersey who were very friendly talkative characters! In the morning we had a leisurely breakfast of french toast, bacon and orange juice in the cafe overlooking the old oaks.

On the Civil Rights Trail in Memphis

One of the main reasons for coming to Memphis was the National Civil Rights Museum. This was the town in which Martin Luther King was shot, and the history of this is palpable, especially as they have preserved the Lorraine Motel in which he was killed.

The Museum itself walks you through the background to Martin Luther King being assassinated, including the protests that brought him to Memphis that week.