The Daniel Boone Branch Library in Ellisville will host two speakers Wednesday that may inspire history buffs to explore a local cemetery in the spirit of Halloween.
Carol Shepley, author of the book "Movers and Shakers, Scalawags and Suffragettes: Tales from Bellefontaine Cemetery," will discuss the institution that is interwoven with some of St. Louis' most hauntingly-dark parts of history.
Bellefontaine Cemetery Association President Nancy Ylvisaker also will speak Wednesday, giving listners the chance to learn about the business of cemeteries, environmental concerns at cemeteries, archives and record keeping.
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Did You Know ...
• There are more than 87,000 people buried at the Bellefontaine Cemetery, including explorer William Clark, engineer and inventor James Buchanan Eads and "Mother of Kindergarten" Susan Elizabeth Blow.
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• The Bellefontaine Cemetery had its first internment in April of 1850, just more than a month before the worst cholera outbreak in the city of St. Louis
• America's first rural cemetery, marking a movement away from the use of church yards and vacant lots for burial, was Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts founded in 1831.
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