The Bel Air cemetery is without doubt the oldest historical site of the Seychelles. It was opened soon after the French colonization in the late 18th century and was the first official burial place on Mahé.
Tombs, vaults and shrines contain, as important historical milestones, the remains of many famous people, such as the corsair Jean-Francois Hodoul and the 9-foot (274.32cm) tall Charles Dorothée Savy, who was poisoned at the age of 14 by neighbours who feared his size.
There are also the remains of the mysterious Pierre-Louis Poiret in the cemetery, considered by some to be the son of Louis XVI, who fled the French Revolution and sought refuge in the Seychelles.
The cemetery is also the final resting place of a son-in-law of Jean Baptiste QUÉAU de QUINCY, a district official and county administrator, who was buried between other recently rediscovered graves, once buried by the great landslide of 1862.