Place

Bailly Cemetery

Tall walls of concrete blocks with a decorative top stand in a woodland beneath a blue sky — Bailly Cemetery in August, 2023.
NPS / Joseph Gruzalski

Located on a serene hilltop in Indiana Dunes National Park, the Bailly Cemetery holds the legacy of the Joseph Bailly family. This Roman-style cemetery was carefully redesigned in 1914 by Theodore Stephens at the request of Frances Rose Howe, granddaughter of Joseph Bailly, to preserve and protect the graves of her ancestors.

The Historic Cemetery Layout

The cemetery's first burial was that of Joseph and Marie's son Napoleon "Robert" in 1827. Soon after the burial of his son, Joseph erected a large cross on the site and a small structure for conducting prayer that protected its occupants from the weather. Granddaughter Frances Rose Howe details the origin of the Bailly Cemetery from her perspective. In her 1907 book The Story of a French Homestead in the Old Northwest, Howe writes:

He [Joseph Bailly] had chosen a spot for a cemetery on a sandy knoll, about three-quarters of a mile from the house. There he had buried his son and had raised a huge cross of oaken beams as a landmark. In front of the cross he erected a little log building, where the only opening was a rather wide door, facing the cross. This building was not a chapel, but merely a shelter for those who went to pray at the foot of the cross, as did all the household on Sundays and Holy Days. There was no appointed hour for this visit, neither was there any public prayer. The rile was that the visit should be made in the morning, and each one prayed silently, according to the bent of personal devotion.

Joseph and Marie Bailly's daughter, Rose Howe, enclosed the cemetery area with a wooden fence in 1866. She specifically requested that her neighbors, mostly being Swedish immigrants, discontinue using the cemetery for burials and to remove their dead relatives. Few neighbors apparently complied with her request. In fact, during Rose's absence on an extended trip with her daughters to Europe between 1869 to 1874, at least three Swedish immigrants are known to have been interred in the cemetery.

Reportedly distressed by the fact that her neighbors did not comply with her requests concerning burials in the cemetery, Rose had a six-foot limestone wall constructed on the site in 1885, topped with iron spikes. The inside of the wall included stations of the cross placed inside wooden cabinets mounted in limestone, as well as an altar at the southeast corner.

Caption: Interior of old Bailly Cemetery as it appeared in 1910 (prior to being filled with sand.)
Source: The Old Bailly Homestead, John Bowers, 1922.

Despite its height and security, local youth often climbed over, curious about the enclosed grounds. After Rose's death in 1891, her daughter Frances Howe was known to catch these adventurous visitors, sternly warning them against trespassing.

Inside the walls, the graves of the Baillys lay in two uneven rows, marked by thin slab tombstones with simple inscriptions. The central area featured a large oak cross atop a stone mound, with the graves of Joseph and Marie Bailly nearby. Their son’s grave lay to the east, and Howe family graves, including that of Frances Howe’s mother Rose, were to the west. Around the cemetery walls, small wooden cabinets depicted the Catholic Stations of the Cross, giving the cemetery an aura of quiet reflection.

The 1914 Redesign by Theodore Stephens

Worried about the future care of the cemetery, Frances Howe envisioned a more enduring design. She hired local builder Theodore Stephens to encase the original limestone wall with a new, rusticated concrete wall, creating a double-layered barrier for added security. The space between the two walls was filled with cement to ensure durability, and Stephens crafted concrete blocks, coping, and decorative spindles to complement the Roman style that Miss Howe favored.

Stephens also removed the wooden Stations of the Cross and relocated plaques commemorating the Bailly and Howe families. He then filled the inside with sand up to the top of the new walls, burying the original cemetery beneath seven feet of earth. A plaque he crafted himself from white Portland cement now adorns the outer wall; though modeled after the original, it subtly differs as Stephens accidentally reversed a letter in the inscription—a small, enduring quirk of the design. By 1914, the cemetery had evolved into the tranquil space seen today.

Landscape Enhancements and Memorial Cross

Frances Howe took care to landscape the cemetery and the surrounding hill. She planted “grave plants” and colorful flowers, creating a vibrant and dignified environment. She also purchased a large cross in California, which Stephens assembled and placed atop the wall, mainting a spiritual focal point visible from the nearby old stagecoach road, now U.S. Route 12.

Unfinished Visions

In her final years, Frances Howe intended to make the cemetery accessible for funeral processions and visitors by adding a concrete drive and steps down to the road. Although Stephens began work on this plan, Frances passed away before its completion, and her vision of roadways and stairways leading from the highway was left unfinished. Today, Bailly Cemetery remains a quiet, historical site, preserving the memories of the Bailly family. The cemetery's design, blending durability with a reverence for the past, offers visitors a glimpse into the life and faith of the early settlers.