Many people believe that an interment, like death itself, is a final, one time event. Once someone has been placed into a grave or mausoleum, they are there forever, until the end of time. However, this has not always been the case.
One example of this is military cemeteries. These cemeteries are usually designed and built after a war has been fought. The remains of combatants are disinterred from wherever they had been buried or stored, transported to the new military cemetery, and reinterred.
When New Orleans was first settled, the city established St. Peter Street Cemetery, which was outside of the city limit (what became Dauphine Street). Today, during construction in the French Quarter, bodies can still be discovered from those early days. When expanding the city, the Spanish government had just built right over the old churchyard, and started a new cemetery, the now famous St. Louis #1.
Elsewhere in New Orleans, the old Girod Street Cemetery was established in 1822 for Protestant residents. In 1880 it failed an inspection of city cemeteries. Its condition only worsened. Between 1948 and 1957, the remains were moved elsewhere, and the city carted off the last of the bricks of the demolished tombs, mausoleums, and walls.
A cemetery space can be considered abandoned if the cemetery managers cannot locate any of the owners or their successors or heirs after a period of years. See R.S. 8:308
An entire cemetery can also be considered abandoned. See R.S. 8:411 and R.S. 25:933.
Starting in the 1920's, oil companies began digging canals throughout the Louisiana marshlands in their quest for oil. These canals led to saltwater intrusion, which killed grasses, leading to erosion. Cemeteries that had been built on solid ground are now gone. More are threatened.
If a property is dedicated to cemetery purposes, that dedication can later be removed by the judgment of a district court. See R.S. 8:306