Almerin Hotchkiss – Cemetery Designer

Bellefontaine Cemetery is blessed with a remarkable natural setting. It all started when Cemetery founder James Yeatman traveled to New York where he found Almerin Hotchkiss, an associate of Frederick Law Olmstead, at the Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. Hotchkiss came to Bellefontaine in 1849 and spent the remaining 46 years of his life planning and implementing the landscape architecture of the cemetery. He laid out 314 acres with 14 miles of winding roads, capturing picturesque vistas in all seasons of the year. Friends with Henry Shaw of the Missouri Botanical Garden, Hotchkiss planted many unusual species with the result that the cemetery had a greater variety of plants and trees than the Botanical Garden until the middle of the twentieth century. Today, Bellefontaine has 4,181 plants and 4,173 trees, representing 155 species.

The Language of Flowers

During the Victorian Era, flowers were everywhere. Gardens flourished, arrangements decorated every corner of the home, floral patterns appeared in clothing, upholstery and jewelry and flowers became an important element in gravestone carvings. Floral carvings beautified the romantic Victorian cemetery and they brought additional meaning to the monuments. In a popular book, The Language of Flowers, each plant was given a symbolic meaning. Roses were the symbols of love, the lily represented purity and pansies depicted humility.

Monument makers decorated graves in a grand form with flowers before the turn of the century. Gradually, as graves became smaller and simpler the symbolic plants were scaled down to what was considered a tasteful size. Even though the presence of the flowers is not so strong today, they still carry the same symbolic meaning. Everything on a grave tells a story. Next time you walk through Bellefontaine Cemetery, stop to read the language of the flowers.

• Morning Glory: Resurrection
• Calla Lily: Majestic Beauty
• Daisy: Youth and Innocence
• Oak: Strength, Honor, Eternity
• Pansy: Humility
• Ivy: Immortality, Remembrance
• Grapes: Fertility and Sacrifice
• Dogwood: the Cross of the Crucifixion
• Lily: Purity, Chastity and the Resurrection
• Roses: Love, Perfection
• Laurel: Reward and Glory
• Thistle: Independence and the fall of Man
• Pine Cone: Fertility and Regeneration
• Rosette: Love

Floral Tribute Program

Honor your loved ones with annual and ever-changing floral arrangements. We will place a beautifully arranged bouquet at the location of your loved one, season after season.

The types of flowers – either fresh or silk – in the arrangements will vary, depending upon availability and weather. A fresh evergreen wreath with a red bow will be the selection during the holiday season.

An acknowledgement, with the name of the one you are honoring, will be sent to you when each arrangement is delivered.

Click here to download and print out the order form, fill it out and then fax or mail it to us.