Essentially the Only One

A particularly inviting fall day this Sunday, and I took my camera out to Bellefontaine Cemetery to see what I could see.

Usually, I am one of only a few visitors to this enchanting cemetery, but today Trailnet was raising money by organising a treasure hunt of sorts for about 35 bicyclists who were to ply the many, maze-like, roads that criss-cross this cemetery.

But this was yet to begin when I arrived at the Anheuser (of Anheuser-Busch brewery fame) chapel.

It's a striking building, that cost several thousand dollars to build at the beginning of the last century. A sum that would translate into about three million of today's dollars, I was assured by a lady who sat perched on a seat by the building to assist the bicycling adventurers to come.

Much of this must have gone into the steeple, an extraordinarily ornate piece complete with miniature gargoyles.

As is the case with all the private chapels on the Bellefontaine site, it was impossible to go inside as the doors were locked.





So I peered in through the door to see a lovely and very English Anglican-style stained glass window at the back of the chapel. It was brightly lit by the afternoon sun. I set up my tripod to photograph it, and was able, by virtue of the reflective quality of the glass door, to capture the stained glass seemingly hovering over the green trees of the cemetery.