Walking Tour

Kept seeing billboards for Bellefontaine Cemetery that said The Other Forest Park. Really?

I got curious enough to look on their website and saw that they had Notable Burials and Civil War tours.

Thought Gloria might be interested and invited her along. Interesting tour with a good guide. Three notables stuck with me: Mother Baltimore, Eliza Haycraft and Sara Teasdale.

Today is the first time that I've heard the expression soiled dove (Haycraft) and I'd never heard of Mother Baltimore who bought her freedom for $1,000 dollars. Found it touching that people leave items on Sara Teasdale's grave.

The tour was two hours long and about three miles -- maybe.

Cemetery and Arboretum

Retro Walking Tour Guide*

Perpetual Mourner Statue

This perpetual mourner statute was chosen for a wife who died during childbirth. The child also died and the husband chose the statue to show the depth of his sorrow. It's captivating for sure.

The guide joked that apparently you can take "it" all with you. There were some serious mausoleums and monuments. One section of mausoleums looked like a subdivision.


*The retro walking guide made me think about an episode of Undercover Boss. The undercover university president had a really hard time walking backwards but our guide was a pro.