Lake Lawn Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana, USA

Notes:
5100 Pontchartrain Blvd.
New Orleans, LA 70124

In 1838 investors decided that a ridge along Bayou Metairie would make a good track for horse racing, and the Metairie Race Course was formed. The Civil War put a damper on horse racing in the south, and the race track became a Confederate army camp. The sour economy of the Reconstruction helped made an attempt to revive the race track fail, and the land was purchased in 1872 by a group of investors who formed the Metairie Cemetery Association. With Canal Street ending nearby and its location right on the New Basin Canal, the new cemetery rapidly became a popular place. The oval shape of the race track was retained, which gave Metairie Cemetery a very unique layout. This layout has been so successful that the original plan for the cemetery is still being followed over a century later. The cemetery is on the National Register of Historical Places.

excerpted from http://www.citiesofthedead.net/metairie/about.html