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Wall Vaults St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 New Orleans, Louisiana Although folklore suggests that early New Orleanians preferred above ground burial because of the high water table, it is more likely they were emulating their cousins in Europe, where above ground burial was the fashionable thing to do. In fact, in New Orleans’ first formal cemetery, the St. Peter Street Cemetery, in what is now the French Quarter, all burials were in the ground. When St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 was consecrated in 1789, Esteban Miro was the fifth Spanish governor of Louisiana. It is likely that the concept of wall vaults, which were popular in Seville and other Spanish towns of the time, was adopted by the designers of St. Louis No. 1. Thus, even the less well to do, who could not afford a mausoleum, could still be buried fashionably above ground. Wall vaults, also known as side vaults and oven vaults served a dual purpose: in addition to providing a last resting place, they were constructed around the perimeter of cemeteries to form a boundary wall. As can be seen in the photograph, they are still in use today.