Experience one of New Orleans’ most significant landmarks, the meticulously restored Hermann-Grima House on this New Orleans Walking Tour.

This magnificent Federal mansion was home to a prosperous French Creole family prior to the Civil War. With a handsome courtyard garden, the house also boasts the only horse stable and functional 1830s outdoor kitchen in the French Quarter.

Learn about the Creole mourning customs, which the Hermann and Grima families observed, then experience St. Louis #1, the city’s oldest surviving cemetery, established in 1789. This burial ground reveals New Orleans history more vividly than any other historic site. Above ground burial and profoundly moving decay combine with incredible architectural features for an unforgettable experience.

The cemetery is the site of the Grima family tomb as well as the final resting place of New Orlean’s favorite Voodoo Queen, Marie Laveau. Venture into the mysteries of Voodoo, exploring the realities and myths of this curious phenomenon. Learn about its ancient West African religious basis and the crossovers it made with Roman Catholicism in slave-holding colonies. Also catch a glimpse of what current practitioners are doing.

Hear the humorous, tragic and inspiring stories of numerous legendary New Orleanians and see many compelling burial locations – such as that of chess champion Paul Morphy, jazz great Isidore Barbarin, and civil rights pioneers Homer Plessy and Myra Clark Gaines. Wonder at the Italian Society Tomb, as featured in the film Easy Rider.

You can also see the family tomb of French Impressionist painter Edgar Degas, and the incredible pyramid structure of the tomb that Nicolas Cage has had built for his future use.