Bellefontaine Cemetery and Arboretum

Bellefontaine is excited to offer our first-ever virtual Fox Trot 5K. Hosting this event in December gives us all the chance to get a jump on that New Years’ resolution! It will also assist you in training for next year's Fox Trot that we hope to host in late spring. We have two options available for purchase. The first option includes participation in the Fox Trot 5K and a map of a 3.1-mile route at BCA ($25). The second option includes participation in the 5k, the BCA race... route map, a commemorative 2020 Fox Trot Medal, and a Fox Trot performance wear long sleeve shirt ($55). Although we are providing a map, you don’t have to walk/run at BCA. You have until February 28, 2021 to complete your mileage wherever you choose. Sign up today! https://bit.ly/fox-trot-2020 When you participate in the Fox Trot 5K, not only are you improving your health and wellness, but you are also providing much-needed resources for the Friends of Bellefontaine. Learn more about the Friends organization here: https://bit.ly/Friends-of-BCA

Happy Hanukkah to all who are celebrating the Festival of Lights. May the lights of Hanukkah bring you peace and joy! #Hanukkah #Chanukah

Our next featured icon in our cemetery symbolism series is the veil, sometimes referred to as a shroud or a curtain. A veil is a general symbol of mourning. In past generations, the deceased was laid out in their own living room or parlor for days prior to burial. Family and friends were invited into the home to pay their respects and comfort the living. The entrance to the room was often draped with a black veil, signifying the passage from life to death, between this world... and the next. Anciently, temples also had veiled passages. A gravestone draped with a veil can also be thought of like a curtain pulled back on a stage. All eyes would be drawn to the deceased as they passed through the veil, just as all eyes fall on the main actor or actress at the start of a play. It symbolizes the importance of each individual to God and to their family. Veils can also symbolize God’s protection until Resurrection. Because interpretations are all subjective and speculative, we encourage people who are interested in iconography and cemetery symbolism to ask questions and seek more information. If you’d like more information about cemetery symbolism, make sure to follow our page. You can also visit our website and sign up to receive our monthly email newsletters. Learn more: http://bellefontainecemetery.org/iconography-soc/.

Our next featured icon in our cemetery symbolism series is the Knights Templar. The Masonic Knights Templar symbol shows a cross within a crown inside a Maltese Cross. The Latin phrase, in hoc signo vinces means in this sign you shall conquer. It was used by Constantine as a military motto in the early 4th Century. This phrase was also used by the original Knights Templar military order that was founded during the Crusades. In the late 18th Century, the Freemasons adopt...ed some Knights Templar rites and symbols (some believe there is a connection between the two groups). This explains why Knights Templar symbols found in cemeteries relate to the Freemasons. The Knights Templar have origins in the Middle Ages as protectors of Christian pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem. Many legends have grown up around this mysterious group, including a connection to the Holy Grail. The Knights Templar legends and myths were popular in movies like The Da Vinci Code, National Treasure, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Some also see parallels between the Jedi Knights of Star Wars and the Knights Templar military order. Because interpretations are all subjective and speculative, we encourage people who are interested in iconography and cemetery symbolism to ask questions and seek more information. If you’d like more information about cemetery symbolism, make sure to follow our page. You can also visit our website and sign up to receive our monthly email newsletters. Learn more: http://bellefontainecemetery.org/iconography-soc/. Thanks to Michele, one of our BCA volunteers, for the photos!

Today, we honor and appreciate all those who have served and currently serve in the United States Armed Services. Thank you to the brave women and men from every branch, both past and present, who selflessly defend our freedom. Thank you to all Veterans. #VeteransDay #thankyouveterans

Bellefontaine Cemetery and Arboretum has 10 Medal of Honor recipients. This is more than any other Missouri cemetery! Today, we feature US Army Brigadier General William Mackey Wherry. He received the Medal of Honor for his actions as a 1st lieutenant in the 3rd Missouri Volunteer Infantry, US Army on August 10, 1861 at the Battle of Wilson's Creek near Springfield, Missouri, during the early part of the American Civil War. His Medal of Honor was issued after the war on Octob...er 30, 1895 with the citation "Displayed conspicuous coolness and heroism in rallying troops that were recoiling under heavy fire." We invite you to take a self-guided tour today through Veterans Day Wednesday, November 11 to visit the final resting places of our 10 Medal of Honor recipients. New Medal of Honor flags and American flags are placed at each of their graves for easy recognition. We welcome you to stop by our front office by the cemetery entrance gates and pick up a map to help you locate each grave. For help planning your visit and to learn about upcoming news and tours, please visit http://bellefontainecemetery.org/tours-soc/ and sign up for our e-Newsletter! Portrait of US Army Brigadier General William Mackey Wherry courtesy of findagrave.com, posted by Mike Serpa.

Flameless Cremation is a gentle, environmentally-friendly alternative to traditional burial. The process uses water instead of flame, expending 85% less energy than traditional cremation. Using a combination of gentle water flow, ordinary salts, and gravity, flameless cremation accelerates the natural breakdown of the body, creating clean mineral bone ash for inurnment or burial. For more information about this affordable, green cremation option, please contact Bellefontaine advisors, Gracie or Rick, at 314-381-0750, or visit http://bellefontainecemetery.org/flameless-cremation-soc/. If you prefer, you can schedule a private video conference with Gracie to ask your questions. Please visit this page to book your free appointment during a time that works well for you: http://bellefontainecemetery.org/scheduling/.

Today is National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. #OnThisDay in 1941, our nation was attacked at Pearl Harbor. We pause to remember the horrific tragedy our nation faced. We mourn those 2,403 American service members and civilians who perished and the over 1,100 who were wounded in the attack on #PearlHarbor 79 years ago. We honor the heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice and saved many lives on that day. We will never forget. #NeverForget #HonorThem #RememberPearlHarbor #PearlHarbor79 #PearlHarborRemembranceDay

The Bellefontaine Cemetery and Arboretum horticultural team and garden volunteers have been busy planting bulbs this fall. The team has planted several expansive areas on the cemetery's east side near the daffodil meadow. Visitors should not miss this area on a spring visit. Additionally, a few select tulip displays were carefully designed and planted near the Willow entrance and the Chapel that we all look forward to seeing in bloom. Only winter is between now and then. But ...we don't have to wait until spring to enjoy the magic of bulb season. An interesting and fun way to enjoy bulbs indoors is with a bulb vase. These vases have been used since the Victorian era to force bulbs any time of the year. Hyacinth bulbs are forced easily; amaryllis can be too. Forcing bulbs requires some preparations, namely a cold stratification period, so they quickly come out of their dormant resting stage into the bloom phase. Storing a small collection of bulbs can ensure several sequences of blooms. The cold stratification period may take up to three months, preferably stored in a refrigerator in a plastic bag with some damp soil or newspaper. This treatment mimics the conditions in the winter soil. After the cold treatment, remove the bulbs, give them a quick rinse and place them in a bulb vase with water just at the bottom of the bulb. Set it aside in a moderately sunny area and enjoy! Hyacinth bulbs can be very fragrant. Often only one in bloom indoors is enough to fill a room with a warm spring fragrance. Alternatively, a mason jar, pot, or another vase may work just as well. Fill the bottom with marbles or stones, fill with water, and place a prepared hyacinth bulb in the center, barely in the water. Make sure to read our monthly e-newsletters for more horticultural insights and tips. Sign up here: http://bellefontainecemetery.org/horticulture-soc/.

November is Historic Bridge Awareness Month. Bridges have played an iconic role in building the United States. From carrying supplies West to the impressive towering trusses carrying locomotives across wide gorges, bridges took dreamers to unimaginable destinations. Through miracles of engineering, humans built solid pillars of stone and arching steel structures. But they didn’t stop there. Thanks to the development of steel cable, bridges seem to float across open spans of w...ater carrying the weight of small cities. And yet, we still explore the colorful wooden covered bridges that dot the country. In honor of Bridge Awareness Month, we’d like to introduce you to one of our residents who you may know: Captain James Buchanan Eads. Born on May 23, 1820, Jamesa self-taught engineerwas a world-renowned American civil engineer and inventor, holding more than 50 patents. James designed and built the first road and rail bridge to cross the Mississippi River at St. Louis. The Historic Eads Bridge, constructed from 1867 through 1874, was the first bridge of a significant size with steel as its primary material, and it was the longest arch bridge in the world when completed. James is believed to be the first bridge builder to employ the cantilever method, which allowed steamboat traffic to continue using the river during construction. The Eads bridge is still in use today, carrying both automobile and light rail traffic over the river. It is the only bridge to be named for its engineer. On January 29, 1964, the Eads Bridge was designated as a National Historic Landmark in recognition of its innovations in design, materials, construction methods, and importance in the history of large-scale engineering projects. On October 15, 1966, the bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places. James died while on vacation in Nassau, Bahamas. He was 66. James and his second wife, Eunice, had moved to New York four years before his death. However, his funeral took place in St. Louis and he was buried here at Bellefontaine Cemetery and Arboretum in the family vault. To learn more about the history of Bellefontaine and its notable burials, visit http://bellefontainecemetery.org/notable-burials-soc/. You can also visit C-SPAN’s YouTube Channel to watch a video about James Eads and the Historic Eads Bridge: http://bit.ly/Eads-Bridge-Video #HistoricBridgeAwarenessMonth

This year, our 2020 Historic Beer Barons event is a virtual experience! Celebrate the lives of the many St. Louis icons in the beer industry wherever you may be. These packages make great virtual gifts for the holidays, and merchandise can be mailed to the address of your choice. We have three different ticket levels, starting at $20 each! See package details and get tickets here: https://51295.blackbaudhosting.com/51295/Beer-Barons-IX. And, if you are local and looking for s...omething to do, fall is a great time to come to Bellefontaine Cemetery and Arboretum and learn more about the final resting place of many of the early St. Louis beer barons such as Uhrig, Lemp, Wainwright, Anheuser, Busch, and Griesedieck, as well as others that shaped the beer industry as we know it. Their monuments speak of family fortunes won and lost and how legacies intertwined as breweries merged, burned, closed, and re-opened. The exclusive Beer Barons self-guided tour map will lead you to their final resting places. Get yours now! https://51295.blackbaudhosting.com/51295/Beer-Barons-IX Proceeds from the Beer Barons virtual experience benefit the cemetery's conservation, historic preservation, education, and community programming efforts.

One of the featured areas inside Bellefontaine Cemetery and Arboretum is Wildwood Valley Gardens, a beautiful, botanical jewel renowned for long, curving walls, grassy terraces, and serene fountains. There are many unique burial options in this area, including garden lawn crypts, cremation gardens, family cremation nooks, and lush family estates that accommodate entire families small to large. The Cremation Gardens at Wildwood Valley accommodate in-ground scattering and crema...tion burial in bio-degradable urns. Benches and a paved pathway line the area between the cremation garden and the stream. Each cremation burial is memorialized via a dedicated panel on the adjacent garden wall. Lakeside Columbarium, set between Cascade and Cypress Lakes in Wildwood Valley, has a fountain and an arbor with benches for contemplation. Niches are on the outside walls, overlooking the lakes, stream, and surrounding landscape. Wildwood Valley Gardens is the perfect place to honor your loved ones among the serenity of nature. For more information, please contact Bellefontaine Advisors, Gracie or Rick, at 314-381-0750, or visit http://bellefontainecemetery.org/wildwood-valley-soc/. If you prefer, you can schedule a private video conference with Gracie to ask your questions. Please visit this page to book your free appointment during a time that works well for you: http://bellefontainecemetery.org/scheduling/.

Did you know that Bellefontaine Cemetery and Arboretum has 10 Medal of Honor recipients? This is more than any other Missouri cemetery! Today, we feature Second Lieutenant Frederick W. Fout, a German soldier who fought in the American Civil War. Fout received the United States' highest award for bravery during combat, the Medal of Honor, for his action near Harpers Ferry in West Virginia on September 15, 1862. While serving with Battery 15, Indiana Light Artillery, Second Lie...utenant Fout voluntarily gathered the men of the battery together, re-manned the guns, which had been ordered abandoned by an officer, opened fire, and kept up the same on the enemy until after the surrender. He was promoted to first lieutenant in January 1864 and put in command of his battery. In his personal papers, William Tecumseh Sherman mentioned that Second Lieutenant Fout's battery fired the first shell into Atlanta. He was honored with the award on November 2, 1896. We invite you to take a self-guided tour today through Veterans Day Wednesday, November 11 to visit the final resting places of our 10 Medal of Honor recipients. New Medal of Honor flags and American flags are placed at each of their graves for easy recognition. We welcome you to stop by our front office by the cemetery entrance gates and pick up a map to help you locate each grave. For help planning your visit and to learn about upcoming news and tours, please visit http://bellefontainecemetery.org/tours-soc/ and sign up for our e-Newsletter! Portrait of Second Lieutenant Frederick W. Fout courtesy of Wikipedia via public domain.

As St. Louisans had grand homes throughout the city, they also had grand mausoleums on Bellefontaine Cemetery's grounds. This tour focuses on the history, iconography, and architecture of these grand structures. The families have granted entrance into a few of these mausoleums. Explore these ‘Forever Homes’ with two guides who will share stories of the family and the structures. Reserve your Mausoleum I Walking Tour ticket(s) now! (9:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m.) Saturday, N...ovember 7: https://bit.ly/Mausoleum-I-110720-am Saturday, November 21: https://bit.ly/Mausoleum-1-112120-am Reserve your Mausoleum II Walking Tour ticket(s) now! (1:30 p.m. until 3:30 p.m.) Saturday, November 7: https://bit.ly/Mausoleum-II-110720-pm Saturday, November 21: https://bit.ly/Mausoleum-II-112120-pm For each of these tours, we respectfully ask that everyone wear a mask. Space is limited and reservations are required. Click the URLs above to make your reservation for a specific tour. Tours are free; however, donations to the Friends of Bellefontaine Cemetery are gratefully accepted.