Come hear Carol Shepley and Nancy Ylvisaker speak at the Daniel Boone Library branch about Historic Bellefontaine Cemetery. The event starts at 6:30 p.m. Seating is limited; early arrival is recommended. For more information, click here.

Looking for a Civil War unit for your 8-12th grade class? Join us for an open house Saturday, August 27 from 10:00am – 1:00pm. During your visit, you will learn how to use the cemetery in your classroom plus take away on a flash drive– the complete unit of study, including primary sources!

This teacher open house features:

• Tour of cemetery by author Carol Ferring Shepley
• Complete unit of study including primary sources for grades 8-12
• Discussion of unit with Rockwood history teacher, Lauren Schoellhorn
• Lunch in the historic Hotchkiss Chapel
• An inside peak of tombs including Wainwright and Lemp.

Bellefontaine Cemetery, founded in 1849 is the first rural cemetery west of the Mississippi, and is one of the nation’s finest examples of a garden cemetery. Resting in peace among our 314 acres of rolling hills are 115 officers from the Civil War. Next to them lie civilians who took a leading role in this great conflict.

As the 150th anniversary celebration begins, we honor the Union and Confederate soldiers who fought in some of the great battles for this nation’s soul. More Civil War Medal of Honor winners are buried here than at any other cemetery in St Louis. Among the citizens of importance are three governors of Missouri, four mayors of St Louis, the highest ranking Confederate General, one member of President Lincoln’s cabinet and three Confederate congressmen.

A museum of the finest sculpture and memorial art, Bellefontaine Cemetery remains to this day the legacy of one of the country’s most noted 19th century landscape architects, Almerin Hotchkiss. Amid the silent beauty he designed, you may reflect upon the deeds and sacrifices of these historic persons. The unit was put together by Lauren Schoellhorn, docent at Bellefontaine Cemetery for three years, besides teaching history at Rockwood School District.

Please contact us to save a space for you at 314-381-0750 or email Jean Steck.

Lest We Forget–In 1866, 18 people were buried at Bellefontaine, they all died of Cholera. Some names include: Mary Williams who was 16 years old, Ann Emery who was only 18 months old, Maria Gibbs who at age 10 was an orphan at 11th and North Market Streets, Clara Miller was 35, while Bessie Ewing age 4 and her brother, Robert age 2 months joined their Aunt Mary Ewing Newell age 27. Robert and Anna Emery, both 33 and married also died on this date. The task of burying so many people during an epidemic put a heavy work load on the cemetery staff. Payroll for this month was $1,638 for a Superintendent, 3 foreman and 45 laborers. Today we remember all of those who perished from Cholera and hope we never have epidemics like that again.

Inside masoleum

Please join us as we honor Mother Priscilla Baltimore, founder of Brooklyn, Illinois.

Born into slavery in 1800, Priscilla Baltimore not only bought her own freedom, but also that of her mother and her husband. She founded the first African Methodist Episcopal Church in the west in her living room, and led eleven families across the Mississippi in the early 1820’s to establish Freedom Village, which is now known as Brooklyn, Illinois, the oldest black incorporated town in America. She died at age 82 and history had forgotten her. Fast forward to 2007, Roberta Obadan, past resident of Brooklyn, now living in Houston Texas, along with Ronnie Steele found The Historical Society of Brooklyn, Illinois which has raised money for a marker for Mother Priscilla Baltimore, 129 years after her death.

This formidable woman, known as Mother Priscilla Baltimore, devoted her life to helping others and the African Methodist Episcopal Church and will be memorialized with a marker and ceremony. The public is invited to this ceremony. Roberta Obadan will speak along with Nathaniel O’Bannon, Mayor of Brooklyn, and George McShan, Board member, Quinn Chapel, Brooklyn, Illinois.

Event Details

• When: June 17, 2011 at 3:00 pm
• Where: Bellefontaine Cemetery, 4947 West Florissant Ave. St. Louis, MO 63115

Thank you ALL for coming to Bellefontaine in Bloom! In the rain and cold, you braved the weather to share our lovely space. We hope you all enjoyed yourselves and come back soon for another visit!

If you did, please take this short survey about the event and what you thought. We want to make sure we bring more great events your way in the future!

Please join us Sunday, May 15 from 2:00pm – 4:00pm at the Lakeside Fountain for this all-ages event featuring…

• Horse drawn carriage and golf cart tours to the grave sites of many notables
• Walking tours along Prospect Avenue, with stops inside the famous Wainwright and Lemp mausoleums
• Re-enactors portraying William Clark, Robert Campbell, Eliza Haycraft and Irma Rombauer
• 161 years of cemetery memorabilia including maps and photographs
• Food tent offering culinary delights from Irma Rombauer’s book The Joy of Cooking
• Jazz quartet playing New Orleans style music

For more information, contact 314-381-0750

Join us Sunday, April 10th from 2-4 p.m. for Tales About the Tellers. This event features a rare visit inside a few of the cemetery’s great mausoleums. The tour starts at 4947 West Florissant Avenue and costs $10, which will be donated to the Greater St. Louis Book Fair. RSVP to dana@stlmediaflashpoint.com.

To watch a video about this event click here.

Bellefontaine Cemetery cordially invites you to a concert of Baroque music on Saturday, April 9th, 2011, at 2:00 p.m., with the instrumental group Sprezzatura performing on period instruments.

Featured will be the talented and exciting harpsichordist Bethany Cencer from New York City. The historic Hotchkiss Chapel at Bellefontaine Cemetery has lively and intimate acoustics well suited for her solos of pieces by Frescobaldi and both Scarlattis which will include Domenico Scarlatti’s Cat’s Fugue. Ms Cencer will be performing on a recently built harpsichord based on Neapolitan models. In other Baroque works by Marcello, Philidor and Quantz, she will be joined by Sprezzatura members, Paul Thompson and Alex Shaffer on baroque flutes and recorder, and Sara Edgerton featured on baroque cello. The flutists will also offer a Telemann duet for baroque flutes. (Founded by Cencer and Thompson in 2009, Sprezzatura’s Italian name derives from Castiglione’s The Book of the Courtier – published in 1528 — where it refers to “a certain nonchalance, so as to conceal all art and make whatever one does or says appear to be without effort.”)

The performance will be followed by a wine and cheese reception with an Italian flair and an opportunity to visit with the musicians and their instruments.

Tickets are $20 per person and available by phone at 314-381-0750 or in person at the cemetery office. There are a limited number of tickets, so reserve yours soon!

Come hear Carol Shepley, author of Tales from Bellefontaine Cemetery tell the history of Hudson Bridge’s donation of the organ in 1909, and then hear the refurbished instrument played by Robert Ruby. 2-5 pm. Reception to follow.

October 17, 2010. 2-5 pm. Begins and ends at the Lemp Mansion.

Bus tours featuring a rare visit inside the Lemp mausoleum, plus 12 other locations with a connection to Lemp history. Tours narrated by Davidson Mullgardt, historian, and Stephen Walker, author of “Lemp – The Haunting History” and will be followed by a book signing at the Lemp Mansion.

$35 – Reservations Required. (314) 706-6183

Robert Campbell hosts “Death Takes A Holiday” Saturday, October 31, 2009 at 6 & 8pm.

Join us for a theatrical presentation by Etc. Senior Theatre featuring some of Bellefontaine Cemetery’s most notable and colorful inhabitants. Spend your Halloween night at Bellefontaine.

Tickets are $8 per person. Please call (314) 495-1713 for reservations.

Carol Ferring Shepley, author of Movers and Shakers, Scalawags and Suffragettes: Tales from Bellefontaine Cemetery, will be signing copies of her book Thursday, October 29, 2009.

The signing will take place at the Missouri History Museum at 1:30 p.m. in the Lee Auditorium. Admission to the event is free and books will be available for purchase in the museum’s shop: Louisiana Purchase.

To find out more about this IPPY Award winning book and read an excerpt, click here.

Carol Ferring Shepley, author of Movers and Shakers, Scalawags and Suffragettes: Tales from Bellefontaine Cemetery, will be signing copies of her book May 30.

The signing will take place at St. Louis County Library Headquarters (Lindbergh at Clayton Road) from 1-2 p.m. Admission to the event is free.

Carol Ferring Shepley, author of Movers and Shakers, Scalawags and Suffragettes: Tales from Bellefontaine Cemetery, will be signing copies of her book February 28th.

The signing will take place at Barnes and Noble in West County Mall at 2 p.m. Admission to the event is free.

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Join author Carol Ferring Shepley for the launch of Movers and Shakers, Scalawags and Suffragettes: Tales from Bellefontaine Cemetery, published by the Missouri History Museum.

A presentation and book signing will take place at the Missouri History Museum on January 25th, 2009 at 2 p.m. in the AT&T Foundation Multipurpose Room. Admission to the event is free and books will be available for purchase in the museum’s shop: Louisiana Purchase.

Movers and Shakers, Scalawags and Suffragettes: Tales from Bellefontaine Cemetery by Carol Ferring Shepley

The history of Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis is told through the stories of some of the 87,000 people who are buried there. Shepley’s guidebook to St. Louis’s notable residents is organized into sections, such as artists, fur traders, and Civil War generals, and features biographies of William Clark, James Buchanan Eads, Susan Blow, and Adolphus Busch, not to mention some more notorious backgrounds. Cemetery records and interviews with such insiders as the cemetery’s superintendent and gatekeeper inform the research. The contributions and controversies that make up St. Louis history are revealed, and the architecture and landscape of the cemetery are celebrated as significant to the region.

Find out more here.

We’re proud to announce the launch of the Bellefontaine Cemetery website. We hope everyone enjoys exploring the Timeline, where you can find out more information on some of the historical and interesting people we have interred at the cemetery.

We will consistently be updating the site with additional people, information, events and more, so come back often. Thanks to our friends at Atomicdust who designed and developed the website!