Cities of the Dead

New Orleans is six feet below sea level. It was impossible to bury people underground after they died. If you dig a few feet down, the ground becomes soggy and a casket would float. People in New Orleans had to adapt to their unique environment. At first, they put holes in the caskets, but that didn’t work. So, starting in the 1800s, people built a new kind of cemetery. They kept people in above-ground vaults. These cemeteries are known as “Cities of the Dead,” in New Orleans because they look like small cities. These types of cemeteries are still in use today.