ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Historic Cemeteries of New Orleans

Okay kiddo, let me explain it to you really simply. You know how when someone dies, we bury them in the ground or burn their bodies and keep their ashes? Well, a cemetery is a place where we put those bodies and ashes to rest.

Now, New Orleans is a city in Louisiana, a state in the United States. It's a very old city with a lot of history, and there are many cemeteries there that are very old too. These cemeteries are called "historic" because they have been around for a very long time and they have a lot of interesting stories to tell.

One of the most famous cemeteries in New Orleans is called St. Louis Cemetery No. 1. It was opened in 1789, which is a really long time ago! There are many important people buried there, like famous musicians and politicians. But the cemetery is also famous for something else - the way the graves are built. You see, because New Orleans is below sea level, if you dig too deep, water will seep in and flood everything. So instead of burying people underground, they build above-ground tombs called "vaults". These vaults are like little houses made of stone or brick, where the body or ashes are placed.

Some other cemeteries in New Orleans have different styles of graves. For example, there's the Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 which has big, old trees and a lot of statues. Another one is the Greenwood Cemetery which has really old graves from the 1800s and even earlier.

Overall, the historic cemeteries of New Orleans are special because they show us how people have been honoring the dead for hundreds of years, and they remind us of the city's unique history and culture.