Cemeteries: January 2008 Archives

Greenwood Cemetery, from the westermost road inside the cemetery. In the background is First Baptist Church, a "megachurch" whose street address is Canal Blvd., on the opposite side of the cemetery. Behind the photographer is I-10, heading into downtown New Orleans.

A few weeks ago, there was some concern on neighborhood e-mail lists that First Baptist Church will be applying for a zoning variance to erect a large lighted sign on the back of the church that will be visible to drivers on I-10. The attitude of church members is that they have 700' of frontage to the interstate and they want to exploit that for evangelism.

This confused me, because when I drive by there, I see that the railroad right-of-way fronts I-10, and Greenwood Cemetery is right behind that. I think the church is talking about this frontage:

The church has a sign along the railroad right-of-way, here:

But they don't own that property.

The church wants to put up a sign on this side of their property, overlooking the cemetery. While I respect their right to do what they wish on their property, they're not being very good neighbors. When you come into New Orleans at night on I-10W, you cross over the 17th Street Canal and continue on the old Pontchartrain Expressway. Your first experience in New Orleans is darkness.

The Darkness of the Cities of the Dead.

On the right are Lake Lawn Cemetery/Mausoleum and Metairie Cemetery. On the left is Greenwood Cemetery. There are no artificial lights in any of these cemeteries. When the sun sets, it's pitch black inside them. Even at 60mph on the interstate, this darkness has a profound impact on visitors and locals alike.

First Baptist doesn't care about this, though. They want to put destroy a setting that has been around for 135 years. Travelers on the New Basin Canal experienced this on boats before the canal was filled in, and motorists have felt it since the 1940s.

I urge First Baptist to consider both the community and the dead. There are many things here that are uniquely New Orleans, and our cemeteries are one of them. I would also like to think that good Christians like the people of First Baptist would respect the dead and their families enough not to light their resting places up like Vegas.