Garden District Walking Tour

Established in 1833 as the first planned cemetery in the city of Lafayette (before it merged with New Orleans in 1852), Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 holds generations of the city's most prominent families beneath its above-ground marble and brick tombs. Your guide explains why New Orleanians bury above ground — it's not just about the water table, but a tradition rooted in French and Spanish colonial burial practices. You'll see the unique "society tombs" built by benevolent organizations like the Jefferson Fire Company, learn how yellow fever epidemics shaped the cemetery's rapid growth in the 1850s, and discover its literary connections: Anne Rice set key scenes from Interview with the Vampire here, and the HBO series Treme filmed within its walls. Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 reopened to the public after a multi-year restoration in 2024.

The Buckner Mansion at 1410 Jackson Avenue is perhaps the Garden District's most photographed home — a 22,000-square-foot Greek Revival mansion built in 1856 by cotton factor Henry Sullivan Buckner at a reported cost of $100,000 (roughly $3.5 million in today's dollars). It gained worldwide fame as "Miss Robichaux's Academy" in American Horror Story: Coven (2013) and Apocalypse (2018). Your guide separates the real history from the Hollywood fiction: the Civil War officers who commandeered the mansion, the families who restored it over the decades, and why the Buckner Mansion remains a private residence you can admire only from the sidewalk. Currently valued at over $9 million, it exemplifies the Garden District's extraordinary real estate where history, architecture, and pop culture converge.

At the corner of Washington Avenue and Coliseum Street stands Commander's Palace, the turquoise-blue Victorian landmark that has defined fine dining in New Orleans since 1893. This is where Emeril Lagasse, Paul Prudhomme, and Jamie Shannon launched their careers before becoming household names. Your guide shares the Brennan family's century-long stewardship of the restaurant, the legendary 25-cent martini lunches, and how Commander's survived Hurricane Katrina's flooding to reopen and reclaim its place among the most celebrated dining rooms in America. Tip: book a lunch reservation after your tour.

The Brevard-Rice House at 1239 First Street is a Greek Revival mansion built in 1857 by Albert Hamilton Brevard. It became internationally famous when novelist Anne Rice purchased it in 1989 and lived there for over a decade, writing several of her Vampire Chronicles and Mayfair Witches novels within its walls. Rice's love for this house — and the Garden District itself — permeates her fiction. Her character Lestat de Lioncourt prowled these very streets, and the Mayfair witches called First Street home. Though Rice sold the house before her death in 2021, the Brevard-Rice House remains a pilgrimage site for fans of Gothic literature.

At 1448 Fourth Street, Colonel Robert Short's Villa features one of the most photographed architectural details in New Orleans: an ornate cast iron fence designed to resemble cornstalks and morning glories. Legend holds that Colonel Short commissioned the fence in the 1850s to remind his wife of her Kentucky homeland. The house itself is an 1859 Italianate villa designed by architect Henry Howard, showcasing the elaborate ironwork that distinguishes Garden District architecture from any other neighborhood in America. Your guide will help you spot the subtle details in the corn-stalk pattern that most visitors miss — including the ears of corn, the twisting vines, and the morning glory blossoms.

Beyond the famous individual landmarks, the tour takes you through block after block of architectural magnificence. Your guide highlights the Robinson House (often cited as the largest house in the Garden District), the Payne-Strachan House (where Confederate President Jefferson Davis died in 1889), the Louise S. McGehee School (originally the Bradish Johnson mansion, built in 1872), and the Women's Guild of the New Orleans Opera Association House. Each block tells a different chapter of the Garden District's story — from the ambition of antebellum cotton kings to the neighborhood's careful preservation over two centuries.