Photo by Jill Moore

The city of Natchez was pretty desperate for a new cemetery when the city fathers purchased a ten-acre tract of land on the outskirts of Natchez in the 1820s. The existing downtown cemetery, which was established by the Spanish, occupied only half of a downtown city block and was in poor condition.

In 1835, writer Joseph Holt Ingraham described the downtown cemetery as “strewed with dismantled tombs, monuments and fragments of grave-stones, fenceless and shadeless ... a common for the epicurean cow.” He also noted that some burials had been exhumed and relocated to the new cemetery, but that “the greater portion still rest, where they were first laid, fresh from among the living; for in all probability the majority who lie there, have neither name or friends to preserve their bones from desecration.”

Today, St. Mary Basilica and Memorial Park occupy the old cemetery property, and a few tombstones survive in the center of the park. The 1820s Natchez City Cemetery has expanded over time from the original ten acres to become a landscaped park of more than one hundred acres. And the ladies of the Natchez City Cemetery Association, which manages the cemetery for the city, work hard to make sure that the graves of those who lie there are not only preserved but are promoted.

In a 1940 article in the Atlantic Monthly, David Cohn described Natchez as a city that “lives with its dead.” The Natchez City Cemetery Association goes a step further and brings the dead back to life. Its annual November fundraiser, “Angels on the Bluff,” is a nighttime performance that portrays the lives of those who are buried in the cemetery. The characters vary from year to year (and everyone knows that Natchez will never run out of characters), and tickets sell out more than a month in advance.

This spring, the Natchez City Cemetery will host a special daytime event that will include character portrayals, music and an opportunity to wander through the cemetery and enjoy its beauty. The event will be April 22 from 2 to 5 p.m., and reservations will not be necessary.

The Natchez City Cemetery is my favorite Natchez destination because it offers history, art, architecture and landscape in one venue overlooking the Mississippi River. The cemetery is also one of the city’s most ethnically diverse attractions and includes people of all races, regions, most nationalities and multiple faiths.  Open from dawn to dusk, the cemetery’s winding roads and picturesque landscape make it a popular destination for walkers, joggers and bikers.

All of us Natchez characters, living and dead, welcome you to visit this very special place.

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