Caching Around the Outlying New Orleans Area 3/27/2010

This morning we left early to do some caching around the outskirts of NO and around the campgrounds. The first cache was at a small park near us called Rivertown Park in Kenner, LA. It was a small park which included historic markers of LaSalle's Landing here, a friendship arch, LA 175th birthday time capsule, a carved wooden statue, a marker and statue commemorating the first heavyweight prize fight held in the U.S. in 1870 between Jed Mace and Tom Allen both of England, 2 cannons, several flags and the historic marker "Cannes Brulees" (Burnt Canes).

Next cache was a multi-cache where the final location was on a walking trail near the New Orleans Zephyrs Baseball Stadium and just across the street from the New Orleans Saints practice facility which included the operations offices, an outdoor practice field, an indoor practice field and team and meeting rooms. They conduct their training camp at this location each year.

Next 3 caches were NRV caches located in and around businesses or shopping centers.

Then it was off to Greenwood Cemetery which was established by the Firemen’s Charitable & Benevolent Association in 1852. Its opening immediately relieved the overcrowding at Cypress Grove. In 1852, America was stricken with an epidemic of yellow-fever. New Orleans, America’s third largest city, was hit particularly hard. By 1853, over 8,000 in the city had expired from the disease. Greenwood’s one hundred and fifty acres provided an expanse to accommodate the pressing need at the time and for future generations. When the Firemen’s Charitable & Benevolent Association broke ground to build Greenwood Cemetery, it broke with tradition and built the first above ground cemetery without walls. Sparse in architecture and landscaping, Greenwood was designed to maximize its acreage to make room for nearly 20,000 grave lots. Imposing memorials line the perimeter giving the cemetery a park atmosphere. The first Civil War memorial to be erected in New Orleans is Greenwood’s Confederate Monument. A low mound marks the mass grave of six hundred Confederate soldiers whose remains were gathered through the efforts of the Ladies Benevolent Association of Louisiana. Dedicated in 1874, the masonry mausoleum is topped by a granite gallery enclosing an imposing marble pedestal. A statue of a Confederate infratryman resting on his rifle surmounts this pedestal. The statuary is of a Cararra marble and was carved in Italy. The pedestal base has integral, carved busts of Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Albert Sidney, Johnston and Leonidas Polk. Architect Benjamin M. Harrod was the designer; the memorial contractor was George Stroud. Greenwood’s centerpiece memorial is the Firemen’s Monument designed and constructed by Charles Orleans, and erected by the Association in 1887 in honor of its 50th anniversary. The figure of a volunteer fireman is enshrined beneath a cluster of Gothic arches crowned by a steeple. The six-foot high Italian marble statue was created by Alexander Doyle of New York and carved by artist Nicoli. It is believed that a monument to Sir Walter Scott in Edinburg, Scotland inspired Charles Orleans’ design for the Firemen’s Monument. The monument honors the memory of volunteer firemen who died in the line of duty. The names of twenty-three volunteer fire companies are honored around the base in tribute to their service to the citizens of New Orleans. The use of cast iron for tombs came into vogue in mid-19th century cemeteries, and Greenwood Cemetery has its share of stunning examples. An iron tomb enclosed by a Gothic-styled fence holds the remains of Isaac Newton Marks, a former president of the Firemen’s Association. Marks a successful businessman, became a volunteer firefighter with the Perseverance Fire Co. No. 13 in 1843. Another imposing monument at Greenwood is the tomb of Lodge No.30 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. The fraternal order was founded in 1868 by a group of actors and musicians in New York. A majestic bronze elk stands guard over a burial mound blanketed with grass. A marble chamber beneath contains eighteen burial vaults. Its granite entrance employs the Doric style in its use of two fluted columns supporting an entablature. A clock with hands pointing to the 11th hour, symbolic of a ritual toast to absent members, adorns the pediment. Bronze doors seal the entry. The tomb was erected in 1912 by Albert Weiblen, a German immigrant and one of the most successful builders of tombs and cemetery monuments in the South. Numerous fraternal organizations joined the Volunteer Firemen and Elks in providing memorials to their deceased members. Multivault tombs preserve the history of these organizations and the contributions of their members to New Orleans. The Police Mutual Benevolent Association, the Swiss Society, and the New Orleans Typographical Union are fine examples at Greenwood. The typographical union, formed in 1855, was the first labor union in the region. The cache we did there was a 4 part virtual cache which ended at the B.P.O.E. tomb which was lovely and it had a beautiful inscription on the inside (see pictures).

Then it was on to Metairie Cemetery next door to Greenwood for the next 3 caches. The name has caused some people to mistakenly presume that the cemetery is located in Metairie, Louisiana, but it is located within the New Orleans city limits, on Metairie Road. This site was previously a horse racing track, Metairie Race Course, founded in 1838. The race track was the site of the famous Lexington-Lacompte Race in 1853, billed as the "North against the South" race. Former President Millard Filmore attended. While racing was suspended because of the American Civil War, it was used as a Confederate Camp (Camp Moore) until David Farragut took New Orleans for the Union in April 1862. Metairie Cemetery was built upon the grounds of the old Metairie Race Course after it went bankrupt. The race track, which was owned by the Metairie Jockey Club, refused membership to Charles T. Howard, a local resident who had gained his wealth by starting the first Louisiana State Lottery. After being refused membership, Howard vowed that the race course would become a cemetery. Sure enough, after the Civil War and Reconstruction, the track went bankrupt and Howard was able to see his curse come true. Today, Howard is buried in his tomb located on Central Avenue in the cemetery, which was built following the original oval layout of the track itself. Mr. Howard died in 1877. Metairie Cemetery has the largest collection of elaborate marble tombs and funeral statuary in the city. One of the most famous is the Army of Tennessee, Louisiana Division monument, a monumental tomb of Confederate soldiers of the American Civil War. The monument includes two notable works by sculptor Alexander Doyle (1857 - 1922). Atop the tomb is a 1877 equestrian statue of General Albert Sidney Johnston on his horse "Fire-eater", holding binoculars in his right hand. General Johnston was for a time entombed here, but the remains were later removed to Texas. To the right of the entrance to the tomb is a 1885 life size statue represents a Confederate officer about to read the roll of the dead during the American Civil War. The statue is said to be modeled after Sergeant William Brunet of the Louisiana Guard Battery, but is intended to represent all Confederate soldiers. We found the 3 caches in the cemetery all of wich were just small containers near certain gravesites.

Next was a cache back behind some factories along the canals inside a huge light post. The last cache was at a American Legion Post and is the oldest cache in New Orleans. It was in a small park commemorating Camp Parapet. Camp Parapet was a Civil War fortification at Shrewsbury, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, a bit more than a mile upriver from the current city limits of New Orleans. The fortification consisted of Confederate defensive line about a mile and 3/4 long stretching from the Mississippi River northward to Metairie Ridge. (The area further north from the ridge to Lake Pontchartrain was at the time swamp.) This was intended to protect the city of New Orleans from Union attack from upriver. As the Union fleet took the city by sailing in from below, the fortification was never used. After the capture of New Orleans, U.S. forces manned and expanded the fortifications to defend against a Confederate counter-attack which never came. The only remaining structure of the fortification is the powder magazine, of brick enclosed in an earth mound. It is located off Causeway Boulevard near the American Legion Post 267, preserved in a small park and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.


Then it was back to the coach for lunch, logs, showers, dinner and watching TV. Well until tomorrow we love and miss you all. Mom & Dad Dori & Dick