Voices at Historic Bellefontaine Cemetery

The Hawthorne Players are bringing their storytelling back to Bellefontaine Cemetery this weekend, with performances on Saturday, October 17, and Sunday, October 18. The format is a guided tour: a trolley carries you through the grounds, stopping at various sites for seated performances where the actors bring to life the stories of people buried there. It's a way to hear about the city's past while standing right where those people are laid to rest.

Bellefontaine is a heavy hitter when it comes to St. Louis history. It was founded in 1849 by a group of prominent local men, and the layout was handled by Almerin Hotchkiss, an associate of Frederick Law Olmsted—the man who designed New York's Central Park. Hotchkiss became friends with Henry Shaw, and together they helped the cemetery grow one of the finest tree collections in the St. Louis area. Beyond the greenery, the site is known for its architecture and cemetery art, as well as for being the final resting place of figures like Adolphus Busch of Anheuser-Busch, explorer William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and James Eads, the architect of the St. Louis Eads Bridge.

That's the kind of company the Hawthorne Players are drawing from. The trolley takes you from one spot to the next, and at each stop, the actors step in to tell the stories of the people buried there. It's a seated experience, so you're not just walking and listening—you're sitting and watching the stories unfold. Because the tour moves through the cemetery, you get a sense of the scale of the place as well as the individual lives it holds.

There are three performances each day—10:30 AM, 1 PM, and 3:30 PM—on both Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are required and space is limited, so you'll want to book your spot ahead of time. The cemetery is at 4927 West Florissant Ave, St. Louis, MO 63115.