PPA Pre-Meeting Excursion: St Louis Cemetery I & Laura Plantation Monday 17th April, 2017 9.30am – 5pm The PPA has organized a pre-meeting day trip to two of the key sites around New Orleans. We will start out at 9.30am and commence with small group guided tours of Saint Louis I Cemetery located in the Vieux Carre area of New Orleans. This will be followed by a tour of Laura Plantation and return to NO. St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 is one of three Roman Catholic cemeteries in NO. Of the three, it is the oldest (opened in 1789) and most famous. It is located just outside the French Quarter of NO. Most of the graves are in a maze of above-ground wall vaults, family tombs and society tombs, constructed in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was initially divided into sections for Catholics, non-Catholics, and “Negroes” (most probably slaves), and its location was chosen to avoid disease spreading to infect the living population. The cemetery contains the burials of many of the most illustrious citizens of New Orleans, including Etienne de Bore (pioneer in sugar development), Daniel Clark (financial supporter of the American Revolution), and Ernest "Dutch" Morial (the first African-American mayor of NO). Notable cemetery structures include the oven wall vaults, the supposed resting place of Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau in the Glapion family crypt, and tombs of French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish society. The cemetery is on the US National Register of Historic Places. Views of St Louis Cemetery I Laura Plantation is a restored historic Louisiana Creole plantation on the west bank of the Mississippi River near Vacherie, Louisiana. It is an early 19th-century Créole-style raised big house with surviving outbuildings, including slave cabins and a maison-de-reprise. In the period prior to the American Civil War, the slave quarters included a slave infirmary. Exports from the plantation included indigo, rice, pecans, and, most importantly, sugar cane. There are therefore many historical connections to the plantation, including the collecting of Louisiana Creole versions of the West African Br’er Rabbit & Br’er Fox stories in the 1870s. Like St Louis Cemetery I, the plantation is on the US National Register of Historic Places. Laura Plantation: big house Laura Plantation: slave quarters We will return to the hotel late afternoon on Monday. Cost for the day trip (including travel, entry & tours): US $75 Please note that lunch is NOT included. This tour will run subject to a minimum of 25 participants. .