Monuments and Commemoration
A Lasting Tribute to a Unique Life
For over 175 years, Bellefontaine Cemetery has been a tranquil final resting place. Today, as Missouri's first Level III Arboretum and a revered site on the National Register of Historic Places, we are dedicated to honoring each unique life. Our beautiful grounds offer a compassionate sanctuary where memories are nurtured, stories live on, and the living find solace, connection, and inspiration. As a non-sectarian institution open to all, we welcome everyone.
Bellefontaine
can work with you to design beautiful memorials for placement on our grounds.
Design, Customization, and Craftsmanship
We work with the finest engravers and artisans to design memorials that beautifully reflect the unique spirit of the life they honor. Whether simple or complex, we can meet your family's needs and wishes. Our offerings include:
Custom Design and Historic Matching
We create markers that align with your family's needs and wishes, from simple gravestones to large family monuments, with expertise in matching the history and aesthetic of existing markers.
Specialty Memorials & Engravings
Options include wall engravings, benches for reflection, and markers that can accommodate modern digital memorialization technologies.
Existing Inventory
The thousands of unique memorials across our grounds serve as a natural inventory of examples to help guide your selection.
Artistic Monuments & Statuary
We specialize in crafting bespoke artwork, including grand 20-foot obelisks and custom angel and animal statues.
Memorializing Without Interment (Cenotaphs)
A memorial is not solely determined by the location of remains. This is why we offer Cenotaphs—memorials placed with no interment. A Cenotaph is a crucial option for those who have chosen to donate their body to science or scatter cremated remains at a site of personal significance.
A Cenotaph ensures family and friends still have a permanent, meaningful place to visit, grieve, and remember. Our Wildwood Valley Gardens offers beautiful Cenotaph options, including garden statuary, pavilions, or wall engravings, allowing you to honor a loved one even if their remains are not interred at Bellefontaine Cemetery.
- Cenotaph Definition: Cenotaphs are memorials placed with no interment. They ensure family and friends still have a place to visit and grieve in remembrance.
- Cenotaph Options: These can take a variety of shapes and sizes, including traditional small markers, boulders by our stream, angels placed under trees, garden wall engravings, benches, and fountains.
Ensuring the Continuity of Our Family Heritage Through Generations
A memorial is not just for the present—it is a vital record for the future. Without a final resting place, a legacy can be scattered and lost, potentially breaking your family's genealogical chain for years to come.
- Permanent Record: Memorials serve as a permanent record for future generations, allowing researchers to know about past family members.
- The Power of Place: The Cemetery is a place to grieve, honor, and remember, and to keep families linked through the generations with tangible markers.
Unmarked Graves and Community Remembrance
There are literally thousands of unmarked graves at Bellefontaine Cemetery and Arboretum—many of which could be long-forgotten ancestors.
- The Opportunity: We specialize in matching existing markers and creating new designs to memorialize loved ones, and this work extends to helping you place a marker on an unmarked family grave, ensuring they are remembered forever.
- Memorialization for All: Even if the person is a stranger, memorials serve the community by providing historical context and beauty. We are happy to discuss options for memorializing total strangers in need of a tribute.
Registration in the Archives
A Cemetery is one of the best equipped institutions for long-term record keeping. For a minimal registration fee, the deceased’s name, dates of birth and death, and other basic information will be permanently kept at the Cemetery.
Ensure Discovery: This registration ensures that later generations have a starting place as they research their personal ancestry, linking your family through the generations with markers, records, and documents.