NOLA Cemetery Renewal

04/13/2025

I know how long it's been....what can I say? I've been busy

Conducting the interments in 8 cemeteries, building columbariums/ tombs, and repairing/renovating/ restoring the same has me occupied 6 days a week. 

Since there are so many different projects I work on, I never know what to post when the time finally comes.

With that said, this one, in particular, was a personal favorite. 

The Miltenberger tomb was constructed in the 1860s by Charles Miltenberger for him and his family. The structure is cast iron and was a "stock tomb" produced by the Miltenberger foundry, except Charles embellished and constructed his tomb a bit differently from the rest. 

The tomb resides in the front of Greenwood cemetery and is one of five cast iron tombs produced by the "Wood and Miltenberger Co" erected in Greenwood.

The restoration was thorough. The exterior was stripped of all previous coatings (including the original arsenic green...fun!)

The roof panels were dismantled, repaired, and reinstalled in addition to the battens. Deteriorated bolts were removed, and replacements were installed. Ornamental sections pieced together and reconnected. Interior masonry work, door reinforcing, etc. etc...

A three-part industrial coating was used with ornamental accents painted in a custom color... two-toned is where it's at y'all.

12/17/2023

Its time for a post, right? It's only been months. It took me to attend a wedding to have a moment to sit down and make one! 

This past year has seen more projects than ever before. I am truly blessed to have had the opportunity to build, restore, and renovate so many tombs in 2023.

Five new custom tombs were constructed. Two columbariums containing 250 niches were designed and built, and of course, more tombs were repaired, restored, or renovated than I could count off the top of my head.

I'll describe the more memorable ones in separate posts. Heres some photos from the past few months.

10/14/2022

Big thanks to MS Coast National Heritage Area for the article!

The Fall 2022 newsletter of the Mississippi Coast National Heritage Area. This issue covers topics of coast history, harvests, fall football, and the latest goings on by your MS Coast NHA.

07/30/2022

Atlast another post....

Between running a buisiness, being sexton of the largest cemetery in New Orleans and acting as the contract gravedigger for the six municipal cemeteries, I am left with very little time for social media, however I do enjoy dropping in every now and then to see what's up.

Despite this project being completed for a few months now, it's just now getting shown. The Roth tomb in Carrollton cemetery was interesting to say the least. Built as custom tombs at the turn of the last century both the Roth and Beelman tomb (to the right of it) have been iconic to this cemetery. Like most tombs over 100 years old there has been deterioration. Sometime in the late 90's early 2000's the roof catastrophically failed on the Roth tomb. As a result everything fell into the receiving vault where it sat for approximately 20 years. Trees, animals and various youngsters choose this tomb to hang out in due to its open/ ruininess state. Over time the foundation sunk, walls shifted and a massive amount of dirt and debris accumulated inside of the tomb. If there was ever a tomb fit for demolition...this was it.

Like all projects of this magnitude that require structural work and access to the interior, everything had to be removed from the upper vault and four foot deep below grade recieving vault. Removing well over 1 ton of debris and recovering all of the remains took weeks to complete. Once cleaned out, structural repairs commenced and a new roof was designed and installed. Whereas originally no positive  attachment was made between the roof and walls, it is now built to incorporate this.

To sum it all up and not bore you, the tomb was restored and is now ready to recieve new internments if the family chooses to do so.

Shout out to my (then Tulane intern) now best pal Mariel as this was our first project together!