New Orleans in the nineteenth century was an amalgam of cultures. In addition to the technical cross-fertilization ...the different metalworking traditions represented, there presumably would have been a thorough mixing of design sensibilities from Germany, France and England.

Metalwork through Time

Metalwork in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 was used for both decorative elements such as applied relief sculpture and urns as well as architectural components such as partial and full enclosures with gates. The earliest metalworking technology in New Orleans was the hand forging of wrought iron originally brought by the French.

Transitional composite metalwork is the most prevalent type of metalwork found in the cemetery, produced roughly between 1830 and 1860. It was used exclusively to fabricate enclosure railings and relies on the combination of wrought iron and cast zinc with some cast lead and cast iron details.

Cast iron is an alloy of iron with a high (2-4%) carbon content which can be poured in a molten state into sand molds. It is hard but also brittle and is the product of an industrial process involving many professions and trades. Cast iron appears to have made its appearance in New Orleans around 1850, much of it shipped from the North with some produced locally in the foundries that primarily made machinery for the sugar refining industry. By the 1850s, cast iron panels were taking the place of fabricated work, first mounted in wrought iron frames.

Opening quote: Stephan Curtis, "New Orleans Cemetery Metalwork History and Technology" 2001, np.