On Monday, October 19, from noon to 1:30 p.m., Landmarks Association of St. Louis will lead a $20 tour of New Mount Sinai Cemetery, a Jewish cemetery at 8430 Gravois Road whose first burial dates to 1853. It is on the National Register of Historic Places, and its grounds include a Greek Revival chapel, an Art Deco gate, a formal Japanese garden and about forty private mausoleums.

The cemetery’s story starts in 1850, when the B’nai Brith Society bought a one-acre tract on Gravois Road. Two years later, a cholera epidemic and the loss of members pushed two congregations to merge into B’nai El. In 1869, B’nai El and Shaare Emeth jointly formed the Mount Sinai Cemetery Association and bought more land. The rural-cemetery landscape that visitors walk through today was laid out in 1907. More than ten thousand people are buried here, and the mausoleums run through Egyptian Revival, Classical Revival and Modern styles, which adds up to a surprisingly complete tour of early twentieth-century taste.

The detail worth the trip is the office. The building, dating to 1916, was originally a rest house and luncheon spot for mourners, because funerals that arrived by horse-drawn carriage took an entire day. A cemetery with a place to sit and eat says something about how long that day used to be.

The tour is a weekday lunch-hour event, which suits the subject better than it sounds. The Landmarks Association’s listing doesn’t describe the route, so check the event page before you go.