Bellefontaine Cemetary

Better late, than never, eh?

I may have blogged about Bellefontaine Cemetary before, but here I am again. My mom and I drove through on a summer's day and explored its vast acreage, and historical plots. I drove through again recently with a friend of mine, and I saw things differently. We did less hopping out of the car (actually almost none) and I became 'obsessed' with doors on all the mausoleums.



There's also just some beautiful gravestones:



One of the historical graves, Eads:


And sites:

And two for my opera friends:



And a few more things crossed off Photo Project 2011:

Urban Decay in St. Louis

I know it's strange, but I LOVE urban decay as a photographer. If I was a resident near any of this decay, I'm sure I'd think differently. There's something tragic about it. Not all of it is beautiful in my eyes - I like urban decay with history. For example, last Spring, I had a chance to walk through an amazing building, the former St. Louis Southwestern Freight Depot. I was accompanied by a very burly male photographer who was tattoo-ed and he happened to know the homeless man who watches over the building. I would never venture in there again without being accompanied by him.



We also found these two houses that MUST have been hit by bad weather because the damage is pretty hit and miss:



Here's what looks like an old funeral home:



Falling down alleyway:



A boarded up buildling:



But the gem of the trip was this building on Mallinkrodt. This building was falling down and had been for a long time. Looked like a victim to a hefty fire. My companion and I drove slowly around the entire building and were enraptured by the decaying tragedy before us. I really really wanted to know the history of this building and I found it after some internet research.

The building is called the Nord St. Louis Turnverein, and was home to the Turner Society, a German organization. Check out the link to see what the building used to look, and check out the photos below to see what it looked like today:



More info here about the building.

Up next, a visit to Bellefontaine Cemetary.