Off Highway 1 in Howard County, in the shadow of new townhomes and industrial-style apartments, a small forgotten park hides behind a stone wall.
The lawn here is pockmarked with potholes, and over the years the bronze plaque has sunk deeper into the soil. These are graves.
Not much else. A dilapidated old house, a collapsed barn, and a stone Buddha standing guard over you. A black cat stalks the tree line (honestly). Stephen King may have even written about this place.
This little park was once Arlington National Cemetery for our pets. This is where the late Governor William Donald Schaefer laid Lab Willie II to rest. This is where the former Baltimore Bullets buried the team’s dachshund, Alex. Forget about crying angels. A red fire hydrant marks the grave of one dog.
A sculpture of a police dog guarding a grave in the Rosa Bonheur Memorial Park. (Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Banner) An unused fire hydrant sits near the grave of one of the pet cemetery residents. (Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Banner)
“Right here,” said Candy Warden, standing in the central rose garden. “There was a sign on the pillar that said ‘Mary Ann the Elephant.'”
Warden leads a small group of volunteers who work to preserve the historic Rosa Bonheur Memorial Park and prevent development. The park on the border of Howard and Anne Arundel counties is home to thousands of famous and common pets, from pigeons to poodles.
Here is the horse Gypsy Queen. She traveled 11,356 miles on packhorse and under saddle, reaching every state in the United States and gaining fame for her perseverance. She shares this forever home with a Doberman named Rex. Rex’s growl famously warned the U.S. Marines of a Japanese surprise attack during World War II. The departed pigeon Pete drank coffee at the breakfast table and became a Depression-era celebrity in South Baltimore. He died like Methuselah at the age of 25. The headline was “World’s Oldest Pigeon.”
People are also buried here. Elizabeth Kirk Anderson, co-founder of the Greater Baltimore Animal Welfare Federation, has buried at least 18 pets and their mothers.
Despite its reputation, the pet cemetery was plagued by legal problems, mismanagement and scandal until it stopped allowing burials 20 years ago. The director and other volunteers do not own the property, but have watched new apartments and townhomes go up around the eight acres. They fear Rosa Bonheur will be uprooted to make way for new roads and gas stations.
Volunteers also fear that the dead, both human and animal, will be dug up and grouped together at the back, like a mass grave.
Those fears became reality last December. They found monuments piled up and soil turned over near the front of the cemetery.
Someone was moving the grave.
dear one who passed away
First, let’s go back to the elephant in the cemetery.
Mary Ann’s grand entrance into Baltimore in the 1920s was the culmination of a year-long campaign by the city’s children. A reception committee, a brass band and a streetcar parade in her honor greeted her.
Mary Ann was Baltimore’s first elephant and, despite her surly personality, remained a star at the zoo for 20 years until the night she collapsed in her cage. They buried her with honors in Rosa Bonheur.
The cemetery dates back to 1935, when Edward Gross, a Baltimore criminal court clerk, was devastated by the death of his beloved dog. Since there was no suitable burial place, he buried his faithful companion in a cemetery for the people. This experience inspired him to open the Rosa Bonheur Memorial Park, named after the 19th century French animal painter.
In a rural area 14 miles southwest of Baltimore, a pet was buried in an ornate manner. Imagine the hearse burying Fifi, the funeral directors in top hats, and, for example, a procession of Schnauzers. In 1939, the Baltimore Sun wrote that the dead were treated in expensive metal coffins with satin linings.
“The first thing people encounter with death is their pets, whether it’s a dead goldfish or a dead cat,” said David Zinner, a member of the state advisory committee on cemetery oversight. “The way a family deals with death leaves an impression on children about how to treat the dead, teaching them what it means to be respectful and to value life.” It gives me an opportunity.”
Maryland Governor William Donald Shafer and his dog Willie II. (Maryland State Archives, SC 4583-8-16-1)
By the 1950s, the property contained the remains of nearly 3,000 pets. The owners came from as far away as Florida and North Dakota, the Sun wrote. Later owners of the cemetery eschewed pomp in favor of quiet dignity. Bronze plaques include names such as Duke and Lady, Spanky and Tibby, Patch, Smokey, Inky, Zsa Zsa, and Tiny Boy Pierre.
owner’s carousel
William Green took over the cemetery in the late 1970s and promoted Rosa Bonheur as the only place in the world where people and pets could be buried in adjacent plots. Whether it’s true or not, the cemetery’s fame has exploded. The Sun newspaper wrote that by 1985, the property was home to 100 people and 8,000 pets, with one section reserved for lions.
If the lion were to rest in Rosa Bonheur, the story would be forgotten. There is also an old mention of Moses the monkey, but no other explanation. Cemetery records were lost in the owner’s merry-go-round.
A grave marker for the NBA’s first mascot, a dachshund named Alex the Bullet. (Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Banner)
Greene was embroiled in allegations of fraud and mismanagement.
In 1997, a Howard County judge ordered him to repay $20,000 to pet owners for grave markers he didn’t deliver and for things like mixing up cremation ashes, The Sun reported. His office manager testified that Schaefer’s dog, Willie II, was kicked and stomped on before being buried. Mr. Green denied the allegations.
“If I could sell property, I would,” he told The Sun. “But no one will want it.”
Businessman Günter Tertel did so. He purchased the cemetery under the name Bonheur Land Co. for $219,000 and continued the business for several more years. He announced in 2003 that burials would be canceled. “We don’t have the funds, we don’t have the money,” he told The Sun.
Soon, pet owners, wardens and other volunteers formed the Rosa Bonheur Society. Pet cemeteries lacked the legal protections other burial grounds have, so now they’re attracting other attention.
The land was valuable real estate.
A State Highways spokeswoman said the cemetery’s owners are exploring development opportunities and engineers have submitted plans for roadwork. (Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Banner)
never rest in peace
Ernest Bowen served in the Army during World War II before settling in Laurel with his wife, Annie, his grandson said.
On weekends, the Bowens hosted country dinners of venison and gravy for their children and grandchildren. Ernest hunted deer. Annie made her famous coleslaw and potato salad. Her family continues to make her recipes today.
“She was a little passionate because she had red hair,” said her grandson Russell Allen.
Ernest and Annie Bowen of Laurel were buried in Rosa Bonheur Memorial Park more than 30 years ago. After their graves are dug up, their grandchildren are demanding answers. (Courtesy of Russell Allen)
Ernest Bowen, a practical and hard-working man, did not see the value in spending more on an expensive cemetery. The Bowens were buried side by side near the front of Rosa Bonheur about 30 years ago.
Allen lived nearby and visited their graves from time to time.
Last December, volunteers noticed some graves being vandalized and alerted WBAL-TV. When Allen heard the news and rushed there, he found that his grandparents’ graves had been excavated.
“Everything has been torn apart. It’s total chaos,” he said. “The gravestones were just piled up.”
Allen doesn’t know what happened to his grandparents’ bodies, but he took the gravestones home and kept them.
Later, he met investigators at the cemetery, where workers told him the body had been reburied.
“They’ll probably be in the back corner,” Allen said. “They had them go back there, but there’s no proof of that. I’m not sure about that. I don’t believe anything at this point.”
Allen said the family was not informed that Ernest and Annie’s graves would be moved. The Maryland State Cemetery Superintendent’s Office continues to investigate the matter, a spokesperson said.
“It’s pretty disgusting,” Allen said. “I want to know where they are. I want proof that it’s them and it’s not just a pile of stuff. And I want to basically destroy everyone involved.
“Don’t dig up people’s families.”
Photos shared by volunteers show destroyed lawns and exposed or damaged plots after the graves were moved in December 2023. (Courtesy of Dennis Green)
hidden owner
Allen’s question of “who is involved” is also swirling among volunteers. The owner of the cemetery has not been disclosed.
Mr. Tertel’s Bonheur Land Co. sold the site in 2016 to a company called Memorial LLC for $100,000, according to state tax records.
Maryland law generally requires permission from the state attorney to dig a grave, but only for a limited number of reasons.
Last August, Owings Mills attorney Larry Caplan sent a letter to the Howard County State’s Attorney’s Office requesting permission to relocate nine Rosa Bonheur graves, including those of Ernest and Annie Bowen.
Caplan wrote that he is making this request on behalf of Naples Asset Recovery LLC. The company is registered to J. Kemp Deming, a development consultant in Fort Myers, Florida. His website lists consulting projects including a new 250-unit refinery apartment building next to the cemetery.
“All I did was the paperwork,” Deming said.
He directed questions to be referred to his attorney, but Mr. Caplan did not respond to calls or emails. The state attorney’s office approved his request to move the grave.
State law also requires public notice of demolition. The notice was published in the Howard County Times on July 6, 2023, and stated that the bodies would be removed to allow for construction on Route 1 and other roads around the cemetery.
A State Highways spokeswoman said the cemetery’s owners are exploring development opportunities and engineers have submitted plans for roadwork. But who is behind Memorial LLC?
Foxes roam the grounds of Rosa Bonheur Memorial Park. (Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Banner)
Worden and other members of the Rosa Bonheur Society believe Howard County developer Marc Levy owns the cemetery. His company owns land on both sides. Deeds show Memorial LLC transferred a parcel of land from the cemetery to one of his companies for $0.
Reached on his cell phone, Levy said he was too busy to speak to reporters and would call back. He hasn’t.
Meanwhile, volunteers concerned about further excavations at Rosa Bonheur are calling for a bill to be introduced at the next General Assembly that would require additional notification to families before graves are moved.
They act as watchdogs at pet cemeteries, keeping an eye on the grounds for disturbed graves and construction workers. Rosa Bonheur is more than a forgotten curiosity to them.
“We need to stand firm,” Jinnah said. “Today they will come for your pet. Tomorrow they will come for your body.”
Imagine what would happen if your final resting place wasn’t your last after all.
