Bellefontaine Cemetery, Historic cemetery in St. Louis, United States
Bellefontaine Cemetery is a historic cemetery and arboretum in St. Louis, United States. It covers roughly 314 acres and holds thousands of graves, including monuments and mausoleums in Classical, Romanesque, Gothic, and Egyptian styles.
The cemetery opened in 1849 during a cholera epidemic when the city urgently needed a new burial ground. Its design was inspired by Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris and aimed to address both public health and urban space concerns.
The cemetery takes its name from a natural spring that once flowed at the site, inspiring the French term for beautiful fountain. Today it serves as a resting place for prominent figures from local history, their burial sites reflecting the era and social standing they represented.
The grounds can be explored on foot, with various pathways leading through different sections of graves and tree cover. Visitors looking to navigate the site can orient themselves using the entrances and the chapel as a central reference point.
The grounds are officially recognized as an arboretum and host more than 180 species of trees and shrubs distributed throughout the property. This botanical collection makes the site a living garden that changes with the seasons.
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