A Sweeping Outdoor Museum, Full of The Dead
October 28, 2020
I'm polyamorous. I have three girlfriends here in St. Louis. All three have been very supportive of this, my new side hustle that I hope to grow into my next career. I am hoping to involve all three in my adventures. So, I went to one of my girlfriends and asked her where she wanted to go the coming Saturday. She wasn't sure at first, but soon enough she thought that since it was the Halloween season, a graveyard would be an appropriate place to get some great photos. I agreed. She was correct!
Unfortunately, she came down with the flu at nearly the last minute, so my "simulated travel" ended up being a solo trip. The more I think about it, I'm not simulating travel, I'm being a tourist in my local area. Something we all should probably do more, especially in these days of plague and unsafe travel. Turns out, going to a graveyard in the middle of a pandemic ended up being a great socially distanced choice.
St. Louis is a lot of things. By the timescale of The United States, it's a fairly old city. In fact, the city is older than the state of Missouri and the US itself. The city was founded in 1764, the Declaration of Independence was signed some twelve years later. The Louisiana Purchase was in 1803 and Missouri was admitted as a state in 1821. That age gives it a unique history that is often overlooked.
St. Louis also has a lot of graveyards, old ones by American standards. The larger graveyards were built well on the outskirts of the city in rural areas. Then the city and suburbs grew up, and the once rural graveyards are now in the center of suburbs that rival the city for both size and population.
Two of the older and larger graveyards in the city sit in North St. Louis, not far from the river. (In the video I took, I insisted they were in the county, in Florissant. Wrong again, Columbus! They're both on West Florissant Avenue but no where near Florissant!) The smaller of the two is Calvary Cemetery and the other is Bellefontaine Cemetery. Both were founded in 1849 as a reaction to a rapidly expanding city and a massive cholera epidemic that claimed more than 4000 lives in the area. Unfortunately, this is about where my research stopped before I headed out that day.
I got out of the apartment later than I had intended. If someone else had been involved, I would have been up and dressed and out the door before ten. I left my place after 1. The original plan was to visit both cemeteries and spend several hours taking pictures of the graves of the most rich, famous and infamous that were buried in those boneyards. I had no plan on how to find these graves, I guess I assumed they would be easy to spot.
By random chance, I pulled into Bellefontaine first. As I rolled past the gate, I noticed a sign: Gates Close at 5. I looked at the clock: 2:15. Yikes. Well, I should still have time to get some good pics and get to Calvary. Right? Sure!
This is nothing. They keep the small stuff at the front.
Think any Germans or Prussians migrated to St. Louis?
Lyons and Ratz, Oh My!
As I pulled past the gate, the graveyard expanded out in front of me. It was HUGE. It was like something out of a Land of Oz book. It was a mad sculpture park, statues stacked nearly on top of one another, yet precisely so. A forest of trees and a fountain. Monolithic spires reaching to the heavens, at least figuratively if not indeed literally. I wanted to take pictures of everything! I instantly regretted all the decisions I'd made so far that day. There was no way I was going to make it to Calvary. There was no way I was going to make even a dent on this place. It was like trying to see The Smithsonian in three hours, just with way more dead people and not a single rocket ship.
Scenes like this were in every direction.
Art Deco grave stones. Gorgeous.
The angel with patina stood out in the fields of stones.
I recorded video. I walked. I snapped pics. I walked. I snapped more pics. I cried a bit. I realized that one of the reasons I drug my heels that morning was that, while taking photos of a graveyard in October was a genius idea, especially this graveyard, walking around a graveyard less than four months after my Mother's death was an emotionally shaky prospect. However, the grandeur and beauty of the stone work was distracting, even overwhelming, it kept me from thinking about her - mostly.
I wish the glass had been cleaner, but it did give her an ethereal appearance.
This was the most famous monument I found.
There were feathers everywhere. Apparently there are multiple biblical references to God protecting the faithful under His wing.
Ghost of Christmas Future? Haven't seen him.
It had also recently occurred to me that this venture into career three wasn't just about where I worked. No, this is my midlife crisis. Some guys buy a sports car and get hair plugs. I bought camera equipment and started The Process to find my dream job. So, walking by some very large stones with the name BROWN on then didn't do great things for my mental state. Fortunately they were incredibly carved reminders of my mortality. Snap. Snap. Snap.
I expected more Egyptian themes, but this was the only one I found.
This is amazing. I wish I had a house like this!
Some of these mausoleums are the size of homes.
This mausoleum called out to me. I had to get pictures on my way out.
Some of these mausoleums are the size of homes.
About 4:15 I realized it was time to wrap it up. I found my car, headed over to one last mausoleum, snapped that, packed up and got ready to go. I turned on the GPS and followed her sexy Australian accent to the back gate of the yard. Locked. No one present. Covidland. Right.
All the roads in the graveyard are narrow and they twist and turn, so cardinal directions are meaningless. (Driving my boat of a car through a set of confined paths in a pretty country reminded me of all the narrowboat videos I have been watching!) I reversed, found a winding hole, turned and heading in what seemed like the right direction. All the while, my GPS is telling me over my car speakers "Turn Left!" "Turn Right!" "Turn Right then make an immediate Left!!" I ignored her. I was sure I wasn't the first photographer that had gotten lost in this place. Sure enough, a series of EXIT with an arrow signs guided me back and out of the gate. I left the fantasy land of the dead and drove back into the fever dream of the living.
Lessons learned:
First - Do my research. Seriously. Read the Wiki page! Second - Have a plan. A real plan. Even if you trash it, you still had one to trash. Third - Get out early. Apparently I'm going to have to drill this one into my head. Frourth - Sometimes, you just have to ignore the GPS and follow your instincts.