Our Sacred Stories

One of the best storytellers I know! Denise is a wealth of information and a true gem of New Orelans. You will leave her tours knowing far more than when you started. Highly recommend!

Ms. Denise was a great tour guide! I booked a tour for additional research for my news story and she exceeded my expectations, leaving me with knowledge I was not expecting to learn. She is very personable and funny. She makes the tour a story instead of just facts, you can feel her emotional ties to the area through her story telling and it makes the tour enjoyable. I recommend this tour to anyone looking to learn the accurate stories about Tremé.

Hands down, the very best way to see New Orleans! A New Orleans native, Denise guided us through the history, music and spiritual traditions of the city through music and dance and storytelling. Afterwards she gave us recommendations on where to eat and what to do next. She even shared her reading list with us. The best part of the tour are her stories. Denise has seen, heard, and read it all! I have never learned so much while having such a good time. Run, don’t walk, to sign up for this tour!

When I was looking for a cemetery tour, I happened on Miss Denise's tour. She had great reviews and I love stories. What sold me also was she mentioned Marie Laveau. I learned so much from my tour. It was very interesting to learn about the history of St. Louis Cemetery No. 1. New Orleans has such a rich and varied history, so unique from anywhere else I have been. Miss Denise's introduction was detailed and fascinating. I highly recommend!

My Lyft driver recommended this tour to me and when I read the description it sounded exactly like what I was looking for—an opportunity to delve into some of the history of New Orleans that is often left out of many whitewashed or gimmicky New Orleans tours. I called Denise hoping she could fit me in and she made time for me and gave me a 2 hour private walking tour of Armstrong park and the Treme neighborhood where I learned so many incredible things that I won’t soon forget. She is a natural storyteller and has a deep knowledge of New Orleans that is both scholarly and personal. Furthermore, she is gracious, grounded and extremely personable. I loved getting to know her and better understanding some real New Orleans history. If you are looking for a party tour, this is not it. If you are looking to have an incredible time absorbing deep wisdom and the rich history of this city from a master storyteller—look no further. This is the one.

Denise Augustine is a New Orleans treasure! She's a feisty raconteur, deeply knowledgeable about the history of the city, and able to build rapport with varied publics. Teaching at Tulane University, I assigned one of her tours to my classes as an extra activity, giving students an opportunity to spend an afternoon outside of the classroom meeting a local culture bearer. Denise Augustine offers both short hourlong tours based in St Louis cemetery that respectfully explore and explain Voodoo spirituality, and longer two-hour tours that delve more broadly into Afro-Creole music and history visiting Louis Armstrong Park and the Tremé neighborhood as well as the St Louis cemetery. Denise is herself a 6th generation New Orleanian, her family has deep roots in the Tremé, the traditionally African American neighborhood where jazz was born. Denise peppers her tours with personal stories, gleaned from her own family. Her aunties knew what to do to avert the predations of a jealous neighbor or a bad boss, they buried charms in the backyard and hung gris-gris amulets over their doorways. With Denise as a guide, you'll learn about the folk traditions that her family preserved, which could be termed what is today thought of as "Voodoo" in New Orleans... Denise has also been active in Nola's black carnival performing traditions such as the "Baby Dolls" and will explain all about what this means for local culture.... I cannot recommend her highly enough!

THIS IS THE TOUR TO TAKE! I asked practitioners of Creole Voodoo in New Orleans where I could get an authentic tour or experience in NOLA to learn about the beliefs and customs of Voodoo. And I asked who is the best tour provider for the famous St. Louis cemetery #1. I was told to contact Denise Augustine of Our Sacred Stories. Denise has traced her roots back to slavery in NOLA from the West Coast of Africa. Born and raised in Treme, she is with the Krewe of Baby Dolls -- a Mardi Gras tradition. And now living in the French Quarter, Denise experienced Hurricane Katrina. She is a practitioner of Voodoo and is a Catholic. She also has ties to Storyville. So who could be more qualified than Denise Augustine to be a licensed tour guide? I truly cannot think of another tour guide with so many intimate ties to NOLA's fascinating and sordid history. In fact, she has been featured on TV, on shows for the Travel Channel and others. As for me, I thoroughly enjoyed my 2.5-hours with Denise and could have listened to her for another 2.5-hours. She keeps her groups small and intimate, too, unlike the other over-crowded tours by lesser qualified guides. In a word, Denise is SUPERB.

My wife and I visited St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 and we’re so lucky to have our tour led by Denise. She is feisty, knowledgeable, passionate, and just plain amazing! I know our tour was the best in New Orleans because of her. Ask for her, accept no less!

Took the Afro-Creole tour and it was absolutely fantastic. I used to live in New Orleans and had taken history focused tours before and I still learned so much. Definitely recommend taking this as Denise is an amazing tour guide and is so fun to be around.