Thoughtful, Personalized Arrangements for Peace of Mind
Planning your final arrangements in advance is one of the most thoughtful gifts you can give your family. This critical step can alleviate the stress and financial burden on your loved ones during an already difficult time, ensuring they can mourn together rather than worrying about final arrangements. Pre-need arrangements offer the invaluable gift of peace of mind
Why is Pre-planning Important?
While many of us invest in end-of-life planning from retirement funds to wills, burial planning is often left out of the equation. By pre-planning with Bellefontaine Cemetery and Arboretum, you ensure your wishes are clearly documented and honored. Locking in your choices now protects your family from future price increases and gives you control over the legacy you leave behind.
Your Pre-planning Options
Our Family Service Counselors will guide you through all available options to create a personalized plan that fits your vision and budget. Your choices include:
Location
Selecting a final resting place, from a new private lot or niche in our Hotchkiss Chapel Columbarium to a space in our Wildwood Valley Gardens.
BCA
Funeral Services
Bellefontaine offers green burial, traditional cremation, and flameless cremation services, allowing you to work with one person.
Monuments and Markers
Designing a lasting tribute that reflects the unique life and legacy of your loved one.
Family Inclusion
Planning for future interment rights for your spouse and descendants on the same family lot.
The Pre-planning Process
If you are interested in pre-planning for yourself or your family, the best way to begin is by speaking with a Bellefontaine Advisor. We invite you to arrange a personal tour to view our beautiful grounds and available spaces, helping you visualize your final arrangements.
To begin your pre-planning process, please contact us to schedule an appointment.
Financial Responsibility
Pre-planning is a sound financial decision. By arranging and funding services now, you stabilize future costs and remove guesswork for your family. Our prices accommodate most budgets, whether modest or substantial, and our staff is here to walk you through specific options without pressure.
Where to Begin?
Frequently Asked Pre-planning Questions
To make immediate arrangements for a loved one, contact the Cemetery office at 314-381-0750. If you are interested in pre-planning for yourself or for your family, get started by reading through the following frequently asked questions.
Making pre-need arrangements offers many benefits to you and your loved ones. While many of us invest in end-of-life planning from retirement funds to wills, burial planning is often left out of the equation. This critical step can alleviate the stress and financial burden for your family during an already difficult time. Pre-need arrangements offer the invaluable gift of peace of mind, ensuring that your family can mourn together rather than worrying about final arrangements.
Our staff will work with you to honor your wishes. We are committed to serving both our established and new families, and can accommodate cremation, full burial, green burial, memorials without remains, and many other options. If you have not yet decided about your interment preferences, we are happy to walk you through specific options. Our prices accommodate most budgets, whether modest or substantial.
As a non-profit, non-denominational Cemetery, we are the final resting place for people of all faiths and walks of life. While Bellefontaine is known as the resting site of many historical figures, for every famous burial, there are hundreds of everyday people. Founded over 175 years ago, Bellefontaine was created to serve all citizens of St. Louis, and that continues to be an essential part of our mission today.
Over the past 175 years, families and individuals have established over 7,000 private lots at Bellefontaine. Lots were purchased with the intention of creating a legacy by providing a place for family members to be buried together for generations to come. If you are a descendant of the original lot owner (purchaser) at Bellefontaine, you, your spouse, and your descendants may have rights of interment on that lot. If you are interested in learning more about who is buried at Bellefontaine, please consider our burial search tool at the bottom of the page, or contact the Cemetery office, and our friendly staff will be happy to assist you with establishing your rights of interment.
Just as families move to new homes as they outgrow old ones, for hundreds of years families have also moved their loved ones to new resting places. In fact, Bellefontaine was founded in 1849 in part because many of St. Louis’ cemeteries had closed, moved, or were too small to accommodate the needs of the city’s burgeoning population. In its first two years of operation, almost half of burials at Bellefontaine were re-interments of people and families moved from other cemeteries. Still today, families move within Bellefontaine when their old lots are full, and move from other cemeteries when they want to bring family together from different locations, or have concerns about finances or maintenance if their cemetery has fallen on hard times. Please call our office to find out more about this process.
To browse a few of our available private lots online, please visit our interactive map. For an appointment to tour available graves, niches, and lots, please contact the cemetery office at 314-381-0750. Want to learn a little more about cemeteries and your options in general? Email us or call us and we’d be happy to answer questions and provide solutions.
Key Questions to Ask About the Cemetery
As you consider this important decision, we recommend asking the following critical questions to ensure the cemetery you select will be there for the long term and will take proper care of its grounds.
Cemeteries may
be family-owned, part of a for-profit chain, church-owned, or a nonprofit. It
is important to be comfortable with the owner, the mission, and the way the
property is operated and cared for. Bellefontaine is a nonprofit whose mission
is to preserve and protect the cemetery, its history, and its landscape.
Cemeteries incur significant expenses over time for continuous upkeep
and repairs. If a cemetery does not have a sizable endowment, be sure to ask
how it plans to care for the Cemetery in perpetuity. Bellefontaine maintains
both a state-regulated "Endowed Care" (Perpetual Care) endowment and
an independent endowment that supports the long-term maintenance of the
grounds, gardens, and buildings.
It’s important to note that you do not actually own the lot, crypt, or
niche. Instead, think of it as a perpetual lease with rights of use—the common
term is “right of interment.” This should be spelled out in the purchase
contract. You do, however, own any marker or monument that you purchase and
place on a lot.
Unless a cemetery has elected to become an “endowed” or “perpetual care” cemetery, it has no obligation to take care of the grounds. Bellefontaine is an "Endowed Care" Cemetery, ensuring basic care (like grass mowing and roads) is always provided. Because you own the marker, if you wish to have it periodically cleaned or repaired, it will be at your expense. Bellefontaine offers "special" or "enhanced" care contracts for regular cleaning or special landscaping.
With many thousands of interments, the ability to keep meticulous
records over many decades is very important. Select cemeteries have
sophisticated software systems that may allow for digital storage of photos and
family records. Bellefontaine has these capabilities.
Always here
For more information about our services at Bellefontaine Cemetery and Arboretum, please contact Gracie or Rick via email, or by calling the Cemetery office at 314-381-0750 to set an appointment.
Gracie Griffin
Vice President Customer Relations
Richard Lay
Vice President Customer Relations