Started in 1879, Holt Cemetery is a potter’s field cemetery in New Orleans that is primarily a Black cemetery. The plots are free. The only charge is for the burial.

It is filled with vernacular headstones. At 7 acres, it is a small, densely packed cemetery. It is still active. When I visited, they were preparing for another funeral.

I know people are often dismayed at the state of the cemetery. I find such beauty in the handmade markers. There are generations of families buried together here. It simultaneously speaks to the connection of families and the horrible history of racism in Louisiana and the United States.

The city of New Orleans did spend money in 2013 to repair and stabilize the cemetery, but individual plots were not part of the stabilization project.