THE CYPRESS GROVE CEMETERY
This resting place for the dead is about four miles from the centre of the city upon the right of the upper Shell Road, that leads to lake Pontchartrain, and occupies a ridge, which is supposed once to have been the embankment of the Mississippi.
The plat of ground devoted to the cemetery, measures 244 by 2700 feet. The spot was purchased and improved at an expense of $35,000, by the Firemen's Charitable Association. The revenue that arises from interments is exclusively devoted to benevolent purposes—all the business of the association being conducted by its members without any compensation. The front wall and lodges are built in pure Egyptian style, and cost $8,000. The grounds are divided into avenues, and arranged and embellished with an effect appropriate to the solemn associations of the place.
The simple and striking motto over the entrance is selected from Pierpont:—
"Here to thy bosom, mother earth,
Take back in peace, what thou hast given;
And, all that is of heavenly birth,
O God, in peace recall to heaven."
Some of the tombs are very richly wrought—and, one in particular, erected by a fire company, a memento to a brother who was killed in the performance of his duty, is a specimen of superior skill and workmanship. The nature of the soil admits graves to be sunk six feet without approaching water. They are laid with brick and securely cemented. The tombs above ground (here called ovens, which they somewhat resemble) are faced with marble, built in the best manner. There are four hundred of them, which cost an average of twenty-five dollars each. These are sold at fifty dollars, and the surplus goes into the funds of the society, for charitable purposes.
A central avenue, twenty-eight feet in width, called Live Oak Avenue, traverses the whole length of the ground. Cedar and Magnolia avenues, on either side of this, are each twenty feet wide. Next the outer walls, are those named Cypress and Willow, of eighteen feet each. At a distance of every two hundred feet, are transverse avenues. The spaces between these are reserved for the erection of tombs, and may be purchased at a stipulated price, according to the location. These privileges are sold in fee for ever, and the title is held sacred in the eye of the law.