Flaming Hearts, Weeping Angels

In a city where rumors of ghosts and spirits swirl, it’s fitting that the history of New Orleans’s cemeteries is just as steeped in intrigue. In Flaming Hearts & Weeping Angels: Secrets & Symbols in New Orleans’s Cemeteries, writer and photographer Sally Asher masterfully assembles everything there is to know about the city’s famous aboveground cemeteries—and the forgotten burial grounds that lie below New Orleans’s hotels, restaurants, sidewalks, and gas stations.

Unique in their architecture and funerary traditions, the “Cities of the Dead,” as they are informally known, have weathered all manner of foes, including hurricanes, pandemics, and thievery, over the last three centuries. Plunging into the past, Asher decodes the cemeteries’ secrets and symbols—even setting the record straight in some cases—in an artfully comprehensible history that takes readers through their architectural elements, burial trends and traditions, current restoration efforts, and more. This gripping history is accompanied by interviews with present-day New Orleans gravediggers, embalmers, funeral directors, archeologists, and tomb builders. Including over one hundred photographs, Flaming Hearts & Weeping Angels: Secrets & Symbols in New Orleans’s Cemeteries is a vivid exploration of New Orleans’s necropolises. To be enjoyed by locals and tourists alike, this book is perfect for anyone hoping to uncover the mysteries of these hallowed grounds.

The day-to-day operations of New Orleans cemeteries have changed very little since the first city of the dead was erected in 1725. Beneath the sprawling oaks and wrought iron, a timeless ritual continues, yet the "Cities of the Dead" are far from static. Flaming Hearts & Weeping Angels offers an immersive journey into the evolving landscape of these sacred spaces, where tradition meets the modern pressures of preservation and climate.

With a foreword by renowned preservationist and former Tulane professor Gene Cizek, this volume decodes the stone and mortar of New Orleans. We trace the dramatic shift from the failed below-ground burials of 1725 to the iconic above-ground tombs of today. Explore the primary influences—environmental, cultural, and hygienic—that mandated this evolution, and master the local dialect of death with a comprehensive Cemetery Terminology guide. Whether you are curious about caveaus, the utility of receiving vaults, or the visceral reality of "disturbing the bones," the mystery is stripped away.