Located on Norman Mayer Avenue, Mount Olivet’s grounds feature tombs and copings dating back to a time when a family’s craftsman would build them themselves.
Standing tall in the cemetery is the Mount Olivet Mausoleum, the only 2-story mausoleum in the area. Called Legacy Square, it is dedicated to local musicians and includes a bubbling fountain surrounded by cremation niches as well as oversize crypts designed for larger bodies.
At rest within this historical cemetery are men and women who were New Orleans leaders in commerce, industry, medicine, law and religion. As one might expect, it’s also the final resting place for a number of legendary musicians. Beloved singer, pianist, and rock and roll pioneer Henry Roeland “Professor Longhair” Byrd was buried here in 1980. More recently, in 2016, saxophonist Herbert Hardesty, who collaborated with Fats Domino on hits such as “Ain’t That a Shame” and “Blueberry Hill,” was buried at Mount Olivet.