Bertrand Christoffer Morlas

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Morlas Mausoleum, Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans

This mausoleum was erected in the Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans at the death of John Dominic Morlas in 1923.

It also became the final resting place of his wife, Lucine Roquevert, and their children: John Louis & wife Antoinette (Trapani) Morlas, Clothilde & husband Leon Bordes, Estelle & husband August Trapani, Louis & wife Lenora (Christoffer) Morlas, Leopold "Paul" & wife Olie (Roberts) Morlas, Vivian & husband Eugene Schoenfeld; as well as the resting place of several of John Dominic's grandsons; John Louis (I) Morlas Jr., Bertrand C. Morlas, John Louis (II) Morlas Jr., Sylvan "Brother" Bordes and Eugene "Jim" Schoenfeld, Jr.

More so than any city this side of Paris, New Orleans is renowned for its historically significant and ornate necropolises. One of the parish's most unique "Cities of the Dead" is the eerily beautiful and diverse Metairie Cemetery. Built over the old Metairie Race Course, the cemetery was founded by Charles T. Howard. According to legend, when Howard was not allowed to join the country club that owned the track, he vowed it would become a cemetery. Many other famous Louisianans are interred here, in structures ranging from Gothic crypts to Romanesque mausoleums to Egyptian pyramids

Status: Located

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