Interment Options and Information

Bellefontaine’s stunning grounds provide a host of options for laying your loved one to rest (Interment) amidst splendor and tranquility. Our expert staff can guide you through the choices available to you during a pre-planning or at-need burial and memorialization meeting.

Traditional Burial

Bellefontaine Cemetery has a multitude of burial lots within its 314 lush and tranquil acres. Beautiful sites are available in the newly developed Lakeside Garden, along historically significant Prospect Avenue, and in other unique areas of the cemetery. We invite you to visit Bellefontaine to experience the exceptional characteristics of each meticulously maintained corner of our grounds.

When choosing a location for a traditional burial, you may select a single gravesite or choose to purchase a family lot which offers space for multiple burials. Learn more about options for memorializing your loved one’s resting place by calling our Sales Staff at 314-381-0750.

Cremation Options

Cremation remains may be interred at any site available for traditional burials. Niches are available at the newly constructed, open-air Lakeside Columbarium or in the simple elegance of the Hotchkiss Chapel, which provides indoor comfort within an historic setting.

Our staff can assist you in selecting cremation urns to contain your loved one’s cremated remains. If you wish for something more natural, we can guide you in the selection or creation of a customized cremation bench or a monument boulder. Additional information on choosing between cremation and a traditional burial can be found in Funeral Planning.

Green Burial

Simply put, a green burial will return human remains to the earth as directly and modestly as possible. There are many types of green burials from an interment of a shrouded or minimally-coffined body to the scattering of ashes.

Green burials avoid embalming (a process which is not required by law), metal caskets and burial vaults that have become the standard features of a modern funeral. Instead, green burials favor interring the deceased in either cloth shrouds or simple coffins made from cardboard or renewable softwoods such as pine. Bodies are then laid into vault-free graves either in a traditional grave lot or in a woodland setting.

Headstones, if used at all, are typically fashioned from native fieldstone and set flush to the ground or are part of shared memorials that would include the names of the deceased.

Cenotaph Memorials

A cenotaph is a monument erected as a memorial to a deceased person or group of people who were buried elsewhere or whose bodies were donated to science, were unrecovered or had their ashes scattered in a favorite place. A cenotaph allows you to honor a loved with a permanent memorial established in their honor. At Bellefontaine, this may be in the form of a monument, tree, boulder, fountain or garden.

Private Mausoleum

Bellefontaine Cemetery is home to some of the most architecturally significant private mausoleums in the nation, including the Busch, Wainwright, and Tate tombs. These magnificent structures represent major artistic and architectural styles of the past 160 years.

Construction of private mausoleums has enjoyed renewed popularity in recent years, and we encourage you to consider this truly remarkable tribute.  Mausoleums often includes space for both caskets and cremation urns. Should you be interested in learning more about creating a private mausoleum at Bellefontaine Cemetery, contact us at 314-381-0750.

Garden of Angels for Infants

Indigent families who suffer the loss of an infant may receive a free grave in our Angels’ Garden. All fees for interment are waived.

Public Servants

Bellefontaine offers free graves and interment services for public servants killed in the line of duty.

The Language of Cemeteries

The following terminology may help you understand the many options available to you and your family:

Interment means the burial of a person, usually accompanied by a funeral ceremony.

Entombment is placing a deceased person within a tomb.

Inurnment is the placement of a person’s ashes into an urn, and then placement of the urn into a tomb, columbarium or in the ground.

Columbarium comes from the Latin word “Columba” which means dove. Ancient Romans raised doves for use as messengers and revered them as symbols of beauty and purity. They built large domed buildings and towers with niches for the birds to nest. They named these buildings after the doves — columbaria. Because of the similar niche-filled architecture and use of niches, the Romans used the same word for buildings dedicated to holding cremated remains. Many cultures, including the Romans and Buddhists, have built columbaria buildings or temples dedicated to holding the ashes of those who have chosen cremation. A niche is a recess in a wall, located within a columbarium, which houses an urn containing cremated remains or cremains.

Green burial is a way to return human remains to the earth as directly and modestly as possible. There are many types of green burials from an interment of a shrouded or minimally-coffined body to the scattering of the deceased’s ashes. Most green burials avoid embalming, metal caskets and burial vaults that have become the standard features of a modern funeral. Instead, green burials favor interring the deceased in either cloth shrouds or simple coffins made from cardboard or renewable softwoods such as pine.

A mausoleum is a large, ornately decorated structure that houses a crypt or several crypts. There can be public mausoleums that house many family burials, or private mausoleums that house a single family. The word comes from the name of King Mausolus, an ancient ruler of a country in southeastern Asia Minor (now Turkey). When Mausolus died, around 350 B.C., his widow built him a splendid tomb at Halicarnassus. It was the first mausoleum and one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

A cenotaph is a monument erected as a memorial to a deceased person or group of people who were buried elsewhere or whose bodies were donated to science or had had their ashes scattered in a favorite place. A cenotaph is a permanent commemoration for the deceased.

A sarcophagus is a funeral receptacle for a body, most commonly carved or cut from stone. Most were designed to remain above ground, and often ornately carved, decorated or elaborately constructed.

Headstones are grave markers that stand above the level of the grave. Usually they are 6-8 inches thick and set on a granite base. Common headstone shapes are rectangular, but can be any shape.

A Monument is very large headstone that can be sculptural, obelisk, or another personal representation of the person memorialized. They can represent a single person, a couple or an entire family.