Explore Bellefontaine Cemetery and find the limestone mausoleum built for beer baron Adolphus Busch and the grave of the famous explorer William Clark.
The tour covered about 1.5 miles on paved roads, with a few hills to walk up and down.
I joined a Bellefontaine Cemetery Walking Tour led by Master Guide Cathleen. She showed us the graves of Civil War generals and members of high society and pointed out some interesting gravestone features.
She explained that the cemetery covers 314 acres and holds more than 87,000 graves. It was established in 1849, north of the city, on what used to be the 138-acre Hempstead property.
Gatehouse
We all parked near the entrance by the Gatehouse. Inside, you can view cemetery artifacts, historical documents, informative pamphlets on various tours and walks, and a restroom.
Outside, in a small garden, an information board explains that the cemetery is home to many Civil War veterans from both the Union and Confederate sides.
I learned about James Eads, who designed and produced the ironclad warships that plied the Mississippi River and contributed to the Union’s victory in the war. He was also the engineer for the Eads Bridge in St. Louis.
Hotchkiss Chapel
We began the tour by driving to the Hotchkiss Chapel, built in 1909, and where the walking tour begins. It originally served as a storage space for caskets in the winter before the graves could be dug in the spring. After the invention of new mechanical devices for digging, it is now used as a columbarium, which holds the cremated remains of the deceased. The outside is fronted by white columns and large wooden doors.
Inside, you will find stained glass windows and a statue in the back, along with dark wood paneling.
Tumulus
Across from the chapel, she showed us a tumulus mound, which is a pile of earth and stones built over a grave. This one features two separate entrances and an obelisk at its top.
Then, to the west of the chapel was a druid-designed grave. In the circle at the top are markings related to the apostles- Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Cradle
Next, we visited a grave shaped like a cradle, with a space for flowers. These are often made for babies who have passed away, but not always.
Hamilton Gamble
We then passed the double obelisks marking the grave of Hamilton Gamble, who was Chief Justice of the Missouri Supreme Court during the Dred Scott case in 1852.
Although his colleagues voted to overturn the 28-year precedent in Missouri of “once free always free,” Gamble wrote a dissenting opinion.
During the Civil War, he was appointed Governor of Missouri after Union forces took over the state capital in Jefferson City and removed the elected governor, Claiborne Jackson.
Sterling Price
Sterling Price, a Major General in the Confederate Army who led many soldiers during the Civil War, is also buried here.
Joseph Charles Barzanty II
She then showed us a grave marked ‘Joe’ with a maze design around it. Joe was autistic and created mazes for St. Louis publications. Sadly, he died by suicide. The back of the grave says, ‘He found his way out of the Maze and now he’s home in A Maze ing Grace.’ There is also a circular maze resembling a brain, with ‘joe’ written into the design.
Sol Smith
Then we came to the grave of former stage actor Sol Smith. His epitaph reads “Life’s but a walking shadow – a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more.” EXIT SOL!
Henry Blow
Now we have come to the grave of the former U.S. Representative from Missouri and ambassador to both Venezuela and Brazil. A smaller grave in the Blow family plot is dedicated to his famous daughter, Susan Blow, who founded the first successful kindergarten in the U.S. and is known as the “Mother of the Kindergarten.” The Blow school can still be found in the Carondelet neighborhood in South St. Louis.
Isaiah Sellers
Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, learned steamboat navigation from Captain Isaiah Sellers. Twain once poked fun at Sellers for marking the river’s depth as he traveled, which eventually led Sellers to stop the practice.
Adolphus Busch
Architect Thomas P. Barnett designed the Busch family’s elaborate Gothic Revival mausoleum, built in 1921 from unpolished red Missouri granite.
Adolphus Busch, born in Germany in 1839, co-founded the Anheuser-Busch Brewery. He joined the company after marrying Lily, Eberhard Anheuser’s daughter, who is also buried in the mausoleum.
The mausoleum features a gray-green slate roof with a copper spire, decorative finials, and engraved grape vines.
Bronze doors are decorated with hop flower designs.
The structure features elaborate stained glass panels, resembling a small church. The Latin inscription above the entrance reads, “Veni, Vidi, Vici,” which translates to, “I came, I saw, I conquered.”
Nicholas Wall
Across the road from the Busch Mausoleum is the Nicholas Wall Mausoleum. He was a steamboat captain and then a miner who struck gold in Montana, before returning to St. Louis. It is designed in the Gothic style, featuring a clear glass door and stained glass windows on the rear. Running down the middle of the mausoleum is the sarcophagus of Queen Reynolds Wall, the wife of Captain Wall’s son, Nicolas Roe Walls.
Daniel Houser
Behind the Busch Mausoleum is the Houser family plot. Daniel Houser founded the St. Louis Globe-Democrat newspaper.
Edgar and Lucy Ames
His wife inherited his business after he died and continued its success. She was a pioneer businesswoman and suffragette. She became the president of the Ames Real Estate Company and, along with her son, developed the Ames Place residential district in University City, Missouri. The grave features a steeple with numerous details.
Next, she pointed out some unique graves as we walked the loop back to the chapel.
One was an angel sitting down between graves.
Ann Clark Thruston Farrar
She was the wife of General Bernard Gaines Farrar, M.D., the first American-born doctor to practice medicine west of the Mississippi. Ann was also the niece of General George Rogers Clark and of Governor William Clark.
Her grave is topped by a roof and has columns. The cover of the grave is on rollers and can be moved. It leads to steps down to the burials below.
Samuel Gaty
This grave features an obelisk, surrounded by stones that represent the circle of life, depicting images of birth, growth, and eventual death. Although you can’t make out all of them.
Kate Brewington Bennett
Regarded as the most beautiful woman in St. Louis, she died suddenly at 37. Her pale complexion was admired by many. After her death, it was discovered she had been taking small amounts of arsenic to stay pale, not knowing it was poisonous. At the time, arsenic was advertised as a way to look young.
Her husband, one of Bellefontaine’s original trustees, erected an elaborate Gothic canopy of white marble, once considered the finest memorial in the cemetery.
New Mausoleum
Next, we drove to the newest mausoleum, but the person responsible for its construction has not been identified.
This mausoleum faces a pond in the cemetery. In front of the white building, there is a lion statue with a black wall behind it.
In the center of the white structure are stairs that lead to a cross, and then stairs that extend to a lookout over the lake.
Inside are religious-themed stained glass windows. Metal doors have the eye of God, the thorn of crowns, and the holy spirit.
Looking from the front, you can see its considerable size.
After that, we returned to the chapel. I wanted to see the Clark grave, part of the Lewis and Clark expedition, so she obliged to take me and another person there.
Clark Gravesite and Monument
A tall white granite obelisk marks the final resting place of William Clark.
At its base stands a bust of Clark inscribed with the following epitaph: “William Clark—Born in Virginia August 1, 1770—Entered Into Life Eternal September 1, 1838—Soldier, Explorer, Statesman, and Patriot—His Life Is Written in the History of His Country.”
Around the obelisk are more quotes from Clark.
A rededication memorial, placed by the monument, was installed in 2004, on the bicentennial of their journey, and is located in front of the obelisk. Funds were raised to restore the monument that year.
It includes an interesting quote: “It is to be lamented that the deplorable situation of the Indians do not receive more of the human feelings of the nation,” writing to his old friend Thomas Jefferson, Dec. 15, 1825.
John C. Stewart
Nearby is an interesting memorial to John C. Stewart. On the grave it reads “Robbed and killed resisting bandits May 29, 1927, just after crossing into El Paso over the International Bridge from Juarez, Mexico.”
After checking out this grave, we headed back to the gatehouse.
Final Thoughts
I only scratched the surface of the many interesting stories behind those buried here, and I plan to return for another tour in the future.
Bellefontaine Cemetery offers several tours, so be sure to check their website for more details.
DETAILS
Cost: Free, but donations are accepted
Directions: Take exit 245 off Interstate 70, head north on Florissant Avenue, and look for the main entrance to the cemetery on the right, just before Calvary Avenue.
Address: 4947 W Florissant Ave, St. Louis, MO 63115
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