There are walks leading to different parts of this singular cemetery, paved neatly with shells.

Lady Emmeline Stuart Wortley, ca. 1848

Landscape Recommendations

After evaluating the existing site-wide landscape conditions, recommendations were developed that can be broken down over a ten-year time span. These recommendations address the immediate needs of the site, revitalize the landscape and continue to underscore the historic elements so pertinent to St. Louis 1 Cemetery. The work in several phases can be initiated over time as funds and volunteers are available.

Historically, shell was the primary path material and was also the primary ground covering between tombs within the rows. While oyster shell is no longer available due to environmental concerns, we recommend that all exposed soil paths and patches across the cemetery be converted to a crushed limestone surface. This path treatment has been successfully impemented in the Alley 9-L tombscape restoration.

A grass district in the northeast area of the cemetery is also recommended. In this district, the only ground surface material will be grass, including those areas now used as paths between the tomb rows. To better control and direct large groups of visitors, a new hard surface path should be created as the primary circulatory loop of the site. This path currently exists in asphalt along Alley No. 1L, 1R, 8, 9, and 10 R, Center, Conti and St. Louis Alleys. Vinca, Helix and Thyme ground cover edging should be planted to line the path. If possible, a new aggregated surface material similar in appearance to shell should be installed. The increased use of historic and substitute paving materials, with increased permeability, will add efficient water absorption while maximizing the irrigation needs of the existing plants. Where the hard concrete paths cannot be replaced, they can be softened with a proposed ground cover edge of Memorial Rose species (Rosa wichuraiana).

A variety of evergreen and deciduous trees and shrub species are proposed to include Quercus agrifolia, Magnolia grandiflora, Magnolia soulangiana, Lagerstroemia indica, Phoenix spp., Gardenia jasminoides, Rhodeodendron spp., Azaleas spp., and various annuals indigenous to New Orleans. The overall ambient temperature experienced on site is greatly reduced with improved canopy coverage from large evergreen shade trees and ground cover vegetation and would greatly improve visitor conditions.

More archival work is needed to fully develop recommendations for the restoration of the individual tomb gardens. Used for both visual and olfactory decoration of the tomb and cemetery as a whole, gardens played an important role in the design of the tomb, and specialized plant pallets encoded with the language of mourning were used as part of this design.

Early photographs of the cemetery show a wide scale presence of plantings, sometimes formally presented in beds, sometimes with a more informal relationship to specific tombs, sometimes with little or no relationship to any single tomb. Trees and shrubs were not uncommon in the cemetery, breaking the hard, urban quality of the cemetery with a combination of indigenous and exotic trees and shrubs. As future tomb restoration projects proceed, archival research should include a study of the historic plantings and family practices of adorning the tomb, so that these tomb gardens can be restored.

Opening quotes: Lady Emmeline Stuart Wortley, Travels in the United States etc. During 1848 and 1850 (New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1851), p. 126.