Sally Asher is a New Orleans–based photographer and award-winning writer whose work has appeared in such publications as Newsweek, The New York Times, U.S. News & World Report, Preservation in Print, and New Orleans Magazine. She owns and operates her tour company, Red Sash Tours, which specializes in authentic cultural New Orleans tours and hosts a podcast, Eat, Drink & Be Buried, about the city’s customs, cultures, and curiosities. Asher is president of Tomb Do You Love, a nonprofit that restores New Orleans’s cemeteries one tomb at a time. She is a proud member of the Crescent City Odd Fellows #73 and is involved in many Mardi Gras krewes. Asher lectures about New Orleans’s history through various museums and cultural institutes and holds two master’s degrees from Tulane University. When she’s not writing, researching, or sharing her love of New Orleans history, Asher enjoys spending time with her family and friends, eating and drinking at as many local restaurants and bars as she can, dancing to brass band music, making quilts for her loved ones, and walking along the bayou with her two amazing dogs, Huckleberry and Zuzu. This is her sixth book.

• Foreword: Written by Eugene Cizek, former architect, preservationist, Tulane professor, and city planner Introduction and cemetery etiquette: Current evolving state of New Orleans’s cemeteries and a brief history of vandalism in cemeteries and proper protocolCemetery terminology in New Orleans: Vocabulary list of basic terms, including caveaus, receiving vaults, disturbing the bones, etc.Types of burials: History of New Orleans’s first belowground cemetery in 1725 and the four influences behind the current dominant aboveground burials and mourning practicesCoffins and caskets: The adaption of coffins to caskets and current trends in burialsArchitecture glossary: Vocabulary lists (and photographic examples) of architecture terms, including table tombs, stepped tombs, wall vaults, pediments, types of columns, sarcophagus, etc.Stained glass movement: Types of stained glass in cemeteries and examplesBenevolent society tombs: History of benevolent society tombsTomb builders: Biographies of seven tomb builders in New Orleans and samples of their works from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century Tomb types: art nouveau, Gothic, neoclassical, Egyptian, etc.All Saint’s Day: History of All Saint’s Day and its evolution over the last two decades History of cremation: History of cremation, New Orleans’s earliest cremation society, and the pet cemetery.Restoration guide: A guide to the necessary permits to restore a tomb as well as clean and maintain itExtreme embalming: Brief description of embalming and its types, the state law regarding autopsies, and the latest trend of “extreme embalming,” where people in death are posed in lifelike situationsInterview with a grave digger: Brief introduction on the roles of grave diggers and sections of interviews with three different gravediggers in New Orleans The Paris influence: How Père Lachaise influenced not only New Orleans but the worldVietnamese burial traditions in New Orleans: Death rituals for the Vietnamese population in New Orleans All that jazz: History of jazz funerals in New Orleans The cemeteries of New Orleans: List of all the cemeteries in New Orleans, length of descriptions vary from a few sentences to a few paragraphsPet cemetery of New Orleans: History of Heaven’s Pets and laws regarding pet burials in LouisianaSymbols: Explanation of the cemeteries’ many symbols by type, including Christian, Egyptian, military, benevolent societies, etc.Unusual tombs: Teodore Bottinelli, Beverly Skelly, Alexander Milne, Joseph Barrelli, Nicolas Cage, Brunswig Pyramid, etc.List of local famous people and where they are buried: List of politicians, musicians, actors, business, writers, athletes, cultural bearers, etc.

Sally Asher is a New Orleans–based photographer and award-winning writer whose work has appeared in such publications as Newsweek, The New York Times, U.S. News & World Report, Preservation in Print, and New Orleans Magazine. She owns and operates her tour company, Red Sash Tours, which specializes in authentic cultural New Orleans tours and hosts a podcast, Eat, Drink & Be Buried, about the city’s customs, cultures, and curiosities. Asher is president of Tomb Do You Love, a nonprofit that restores New Orleans’s cemeteries one tomb at a time. She is a proud member of the Crescent City Odd Fellows #73 and is involved in many Mardi Gras krewes. Asher lectures about New Orleans’s history through various museums and cultural institutes and holds two master’s degrees from Tulane University. When she’s not writing, researching, or sharing her love of New Orleans history, Asher enjoys spending time with her family and friends, eating and drinking at as many local restaurants and bars as she can, dancing to brass band music, making quilts for her loved ones, and walking along the bayou with her two amazing dogs, Huckleberry and Zuzu. This is her sixth book.

• Foreword: Written by Eugene Cizek, former architect, preservationist, Tulane professor, and city planner Introduction and cemetery etiquette: Current evolving state of New Orleans’s cemeteries and a brief history of vandalism in cemeteries and proper protocolCemetery terminology in New Orleans: Vocabulary list of basic terms, including caveaus, receiving vaults, disturbing the bones, etc.Types of burials: History of New Orleans’s first belowground cemetery in 1725 and the four influences behind the current dominant aboveground burials and mourning practicesCoffins and caskets: The adaption of coffins to caskets and current trends in burialsArchitecture glossary: Vocabulary lists (and photographic examples) of architecture terms, including table tombs, stepped tombs, wall vaults, pediments, types of columns, sarcophagus, etc.Stained glass movement: Types of stained glass in cemeteries and examplesBenevolent society tombs: History of benevolent society tombsTomb builders: Biographies of seven tomb builders in New Orleans and samples of their works from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century Tomb types: art nouveau, Gothic, neoclassical, Egyptian, etc.All Saint’s Day: History of All Saint’s Day and its evolution over the last two decades History of cremation: History of cremation, New Orleans’s earliest cremation society, and the pet cemetery.Restoration guide: A guide to the necessary permits to restore a tomb as well as clean and maintain itExtreme embalming: Brief description of embalming and its types, the state law regarding autopsies, and the latest trend of “extreme embalming,” where people in death are posed in lifelike situationsInterview with a grave digger: Brief introduction on the roles of grave diggers and sections of interviews with three different gravediggers in New Orleans The Paris influence: How Père Lachaise influenced not only New Orleans but the worldVietnamese burial traditions in New Orleans: Death rituals for the Vietnamese population in New Orleans All that jazz: History of jazz funerals in New Orleans The cemeteries of New Orleans: List of all the cemeteries in New Orleans, length of descriptions vary from a few sentences to a few paragraphsPet cemetery of New Orleans: History of Heaven’s Pets and laws regarding pet burials in LouisianaSymbols: Explanation of the cemeteries’ many symbols by type, including Christian, Egyptian, military, benevolent societies, etc.Unusual tombs: Teodore Bottinelli, Beverly Skelly, Alexander Milne, Joseph Barrelli, Nicolas Cage, Brunswig Pyramid, etc.List of local famous people and where they are buried: List of politicians, musicians, actors, business, writers, athletes, cultural bearers, etc.