Society tombs to get facelift at St. Louis No. 2

Pictured above: A tree sprouts out of the abandoned Society of Arts and Crafts tomb at St. Louis Cemetery No. 2. The tomb will be the inaugural project in a program that will restore society tombs at the cemetery through a collaboration involving master craftsmen and apprentices. “This gives us the important opportunity to focus on these tombs that can create a hazard in the cemetery and restore their history,” said Sherri Peppo, director of New Orleans Catholic Cemeteries. (Photo courtesy of New Orleans Catholic Cemeteries)

By BETH DONZE
Clarion Herald

An effort teaming master craftsmen with young-adult apprentices who want hands-on training in historic tomb restoration was launched earlier this month through an innovative partnership between New Orleans Catholic Cemeteries and the New Orleans Master Crafts Guild.

On Oct. 18, a crew of veteran and beginner artisans began work on its pilot restoration project: a complete overhaul of the abandoned and crumbling “Society of Arts and Crafts” tomb located inside St. Louis Cemetery No. 2. Ultimately, the project hopes to complete historically sensitive restorations of 10 deteriorating society tombs in the 1823-established cemetery – the city’s second-oldest operating burial ground at 300 North Claiborne Ave.

“We’re starting with this tomb because it has a very large tree growing through one of the corners of it, so the first step is stabilization,” said project co-manager Heather Veneziano, who is consulting on the project through her historic preservation company, Gambrel & Peak. “Two months ago, the rear cornice of the tomb fell off, so there are bricks everywhere.”

Work on the tomb is expected to be completed by mid-November, “weather permitting,” Veneziano said.

Seasoned pros on hand

Three experienced local craftsmen will be teaching, guiding and working alongside the apprentices:

• Master mason Theodore “Teddy” Pierre Jr. is consulting with the project on the repointing and restoration of the tomb’s inner brick structure.

• Project co-manager Jeff Poree, a master plasterer, has been contracted to oversee masonry and plaster work at the site, while providing his expertise on the correct application of lime-based stucco and limewash.

• Darryl Reeves, a master blacksmith, will teach his craft to the apprentices, cognizant of how many society tombs at St. Louis No. 2 originally featured ornamental ironwork, such as crosses.

A fourth professional – preservation architect Robert Cangelosi Jr. – produced measured drawings depicting the tomb’s post-restoration appearance. Cangelosi will continue to provide his expertise as the project unfolds, Veneziano said.

Fragments of history

Information is scarce on the 15-vault Society of Arts and Crafts tomb and the organization tied to it, which is no longer in operation. It likely dates to the mid- to late 19th century, Veneziano said.

“We have no tablets (identifying the interred) remaining. Even the name plaque of the society itself is missing from the tomb,” she said, noting that the original plaque that identified the tomb by its French name – “Société des Arts et Métiers” – will be replicated by the restoration team and returned to its proper position on the structure’s front entablature.

The fledgling craftsmen also will learn how master plasterers make molds to recreate missing ornamental elements, such as the collapsed cornice. Veneziano said exposure to on-the-job techniques such as these falls in line with the mission of the New Orleans Master Crafts Guild, founded in 2012 to revive the “trowel trades” of ornamental and specialty plastering, masonry and tile-setting and ironwork skills such as welding and blacksmithing.

“We’re supplying (the apprentices) with job training that we hope they will continue throughout their careers,” Veneziano said. “We hope other people will see the value of it. There’s so many components of this project – we have historic preservation; we have restoration; we have job training; we have traditions being carried on. There’s something for everyone!

“(Project supporters) are potentially making a generational difference in the lives of these young apprentices, because they are learning skills that they’ll have for the rest of their lives,” Veneziano added. “They’ll be able to start families and support families. You’re investing in their future and the future of their lineage.”

Veneziano said such collaborations also will help to alleviate the shortage of skilled craftsmen who know how to treat New Orleans buildings with care.

“We have so many contractors in town who do not 

understand how to deal properly with historic buildings,” she said. “The apprentices are learning on tombs, but they’ll be able to apply these same practices to masonry buildings, whether it’s in the Quarter or anywhere in the city. They’ll have the skills to confidently and correctly work on historic structures.”

The project’s lead craftsmen, each of whom has many decades of experience in his chosen craft, are taking their roles very seriously, she said.

“For them this is personal; they want to see these trades continue,” Veneziano said. “That’s why they’re willing to give so much of their time to this project.”

Costly undertaking

New Orleans Catholic Cemeteries is covering the full cost of the inaugural restoration, hoping the final result will attract grants and donations to kick start restorations of a possible nine additional society tombs at St. Louis No. 2 – those erected by the Society of Christian Doctrine; Cazadores d’Orleans; Young Men’s Vidalia Benevolent Mutual Aid and Association; Society Fleur de Marie; Société de Bienfaisance; Société Jésus, Marie et Joseph; Société de la Poussinière Chrétienne; Société des Dames de la Branche; and Société d’Amour Éternal.

New Orleans Catholic Cemeteries will showcase what it hopes will be a growing inventory of restored society tombs at its May 16 gala celebrating the 200th anniversary of St. Louis Cemetery No. 2.

“We’re committed to making really positive changes to the cemetery landscape,” Veneziano said. “It’s going to be so beautiful when you look down from the highway a couple of years from now and hopefully see 10 beautiful, gigantic, white tombs as they were meant to be, and not the landscape it is today.”

She said ongoing community support is needed to keep the project going. Expenses not only include the stipends paid to the working apprentices, but the most expensive part of the effort: supplies.

“When you think about these tombs, they’re the size of a small house. The amount of lime alone adds up,” Veneziano said. “Right now, the cost of one historic brick is $2.50. They’re hard to come by.”

Cemetery enhancements

Veneziano said the apprenticeship program is the latest in a string of improvements at St. Louis No. 2 over the last several years. Since 2020, New Orleans Catholic Cemeteries has restored 10 family tombs with the help of private donations and revenue generated by cemetery tours; a condition survey and digital mapping of the cemetery’s 1,500 tombs have been completed; a chain-link fence running the full length of its North Robertson Street side has been replaced with a 10-foot-high fence of powder-coated steel, designed to resemble wrought iron; and the heights of masonry walls defining St. Louis No. 2’s three “squares” have been raised to enhance security.

An ongoing project called the Lost Tablet Initiative, assisted by students from Tulane School of Architecture’s Historic Preservation Program, has recovered and cleaned about 30 tomb tablets scattered across the grounds of St. Louis No. 2, with a goal of repairing and reuniting them with their original tombs.

In addition to its great beauty, Veneziano said St. Louis No. 2 has two other claims to fame: The NAACP recognized the cemetery’s Square Three for holding the country’s largest collection of outdoor monuments to African Americans; and the World Monuments Fund lauded the site for having one of the finest collections of antebellum-era mortuary art arranged on an orthogonal (right-angled) grid.

Honoring past artisans

Although society tombs are not unique to New Orleans, the vastness and “monumental scale” of the city’s inventory of them are unique, Veneziano said. Many of the tombs’ parent societies, formed to provide benefits to members 

of various occupations and faith-based groups, disbanded after World War II as returning veterans began receiving federal assistance and no longer needed to rely on societies to help them cover their funeral and burial expenses. As a result, most of New Orleans’ society tombs “have no owner in existence anymore,” Veneziano said.

Ripple effect

Nonetheless, society tombs make their presence known through sheer force of their size, she said.

“My personal hope is that if we tackle the largest structures (in our historic cemeteries), everything else will follow – whether that be through a trained staff that’s able to maintain them better, or as individual families become more invested in restoring their family tombs once they see the progress that’s being made,” Veneziano said. “If we don’t tackle the large tombs now, they’re not going to last. They will continue to crumble and fall.”

Fitting to honor crafts

She said it was no coincidence that the Society of Arts and Crafts tomb was chosen as the project’s first restoration.

“The people interred in this tomb are the people who built this city, so for us to honor them in this way is really beautiful and humbling,” Veneziano said. “The individuals interred in here are literally the people who stacked the bricks to make some of the most iconic buildings in town, and even though their names might be lost to time, our memories of them will survive.”

For information on how to make a monetary or material donation to the Historic Trades Apprenticeship Program at St. Louis Cemetery No. 2, call (504) 596-3050; email [email protected]; or visit nolacatholiccemeteries.org.

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