Burial and Funeral Planning

Planning a funeral, memorial and burial service is a complex and emotional process. Pre-arranging your funeral and burial is one of the most loving and thoughtful gifts you can give to your family. You may pre-arrange for yourself, and your family: purchase of a family lot honors those who came before and provides assistance, and a legacy, for future generations.

Why Plan Ahead?

Planning for your own memorial service, burial and monument can provide peace of mind, knowing your loved ones will not face this burden during their time of loss. Pre-planning also insures that your interment and memorial wishes will be carried out.

If you will be tasked with making final arrangements for a family member, preparing for their passing in advance frees you to focus on grieving and remembrance when death occurs, and ensures your loved one is honored as he or she wishes.

Bellefontaine tries to make this as easy as possible: in addition to taking care of decisions about interment, you may also select and purchase a monument and pre-pay interment fees.

Key Choices and Decisions

Questions such as, “Do I want to be buried in a casket or cremated? Do I want a green burial? How do I want my grave to be marked?” are all important and should be given serious consideration.

Traditional Burial or Cremation?

A wide variety of family and faith traditions can influence the decision to choose between a traditional burial and cremation. While traditional burial practices remain strong, cremation is now acceptable in nearly all faiths. In Missouri, almost 40% of the public now chooses cremation.

As in a traditional casketed burial, cremated remains may be interred in any gravesite across our grounds. They may also be placed in a private family mausoleum, or in a niche in Bellefontaine’s Hotchkiss Chapel or Lakeside Columbarium. Should you choose to scatter cremated remains of yourself or a loved one at a site of personal significance, you may then decide to memorialize at Bellefontaine, providing a tranquil and accessible place for family and friends to go for reflection and remembrance, and ensuring a permanent record for future generations.

For more information about the options of casket burial, green burial, cremation, or tributes, view the Interment, Cremation, and Commemoration tabs in this section of the website. For personal assistance, contact our staff at 314-381-0750.

Selecting Interment Space

Once a decision has been made about traditional burial vs. cremation, a family can focus on selection of interment space. Frequently, couples come to Bellefontaine to seek grave space for themselves and then decide to purchase additional space to accommodate children and grandchildren. By doing so, they provide a gift of their family’s legacy across the generations.

After being shown available site options by our staff, we suggest you tour the cemetery with your loved ones so that you choose the space that feels right to you. We understand that this can take time and, perhaps, several visits.

Visit other tabs in this section of the web-site, or the interactive map of our grounds to familiarize yourself with the many options at Bellefontaine. And of course, we invite you to see for yourself the majesty of our 314 acres, beautiful in all seasons.

Bellefontaine Cemetery’s Personal Service Commitment

Bellefontaine Cemetery was founded in 1849 with the vision of burying and commemorating the dead in a landscape of exceptional beauty and tranquility that would provide comfort and inspiration to the bereaved. Now, 163 years later, Bellefontaine remains dedicated to that mission.

Meticulously maintained, Bellefontaine offers a long history of extraordinary stewardship of its natural and cultural resources and financial assets. It is a place to mourn, to find solace, and to honor life.

We know you have many options for funeral planning and memorial services in the St. Louis area. Learn more about Bellefontaine Cemetery’s unparalleled personal service and commitment to perpetual care by contacting us at 314-381-0750.