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Morgan Tombstones, Bethany Cemetery

In Memory of BILLINGSLEY MORGAN Who departed this life [Marc]h the 7th 1836 [in the —]th year of his age Here is a pair of tombstones by the same extraordinary folk artist—and, because he actually...

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Dr. Nathaniel Bedford Monument, Trinity Churchyard

Dr. Nathaniel Bedford was the first physician in Pittsburgh. He came with the British to Fort Pitt and stayed. Here are two paragraphs from the Standard History of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania (1898):...

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Dr. G. T. Jacoby Mausoleum, Prospect Cemetery

A small but rich-looking mausoleum in a kind of classicized Gothic style, topped by Hope clutching her anchor. The bronze doors are particularly worth looking at. The mausoleum and statue are nearly...

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Master of the Robinson Run Reliefs

This particular craftsman, active in Robinson Run Cemetery in the 1830s, sticks to one particular symbol, which Father Pitt interprets as a stylized thistle—emblematic of sorrow, but also emblematic of...

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Jane Brown Monument, Homewood Cemetery

An exceptional Gothic monument with beautiful foliage-and-flower reliefs. The inscription is also exceptional, with a wide variety of different lettering styles.

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McKee Monument, Homewood Cemetery

“Youth and Age at the Tree of Life” is the title of this relief. It is rare to find a work of art with a title in a cemetery; we wish the artist had signed it as well.

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Brackenridge Circle, Prospect Cemetery

Henry Marie Brackenridge, son of the famous Hugh Henry Brackenridge, founded the borough of Brackenridge, and his family has an honored place in the middle of the circle at the entrance to Prospect...

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Ross Foster Tombstone, St. Clair Cemetery

A well-preserved tombstone in the “poster style,” as Father Pitt calls it, that was popular in the 1840s and 1850s. This one adds a very woodcutty weeping willow.

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Robert Long Tombstone, Bethel Cemetery

IN MEMORY OF ROBERT LONG Who departed this life August 1st 1832 aged 60 years. Go home dear friends And cease from tears. Here I must lie Till Christ appears. — W. Savage, Sculptor, Williamsport. We...

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Hax-McCullough Monument, Allegheny Cemetery

A row of Haxes and McCulloughs rests in front of this angel under identical slabs. C. C. Hax died in 1927, and this monument was put up in 1928 (according to the cemetery’s Web site). The Haxes made...

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Louis Knoepp Monument, St. Paul’s Lutheran Cemetery, Mount Oliver

Louis Knoepp died in 1895 at the age of 40, and either he had already made enough of a fortune that this expense seemed appropriate to his heirs, or he came from a family with plenty of money already....

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Duncan Mausoleum, Union Dale Cemetery

There is nothing else remotely like this in Pittsburgh. This huge mausoleum supports a towering shaft with a recording angel at the top taking notes. It was designed by Theophilus P. Chandler Jr....

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Katherine Litwin Monument, St. Anne Parish Cemetery

A monument for a girl who died at the age of fourteen. The weathered and damaged angel is probably much more picturesque in this condition than it was when it was new. The base includes a photograph...

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Henry Mausoleum, Allegheny Cemetery

Doubtless a memorial company’s stock model, this small mausoleum is encrusted with floridly Victorian Romanesque details in a rather weighty German style. A good architect would have displayed more...

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Statue on the Graham Monument, Allegheny Cemetery

Father Pitt thinks this picture of mourning and consolation (no one seems to know who the sculptor was) is one of the finest things in the cemetery, and fall colors add much to the effect.

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Schreiner Mausoleum, Union Dale Cemetery

A large and luxurious classical structure with a prominent cupola topped by a statue of Hope shaking her fist at heaven. At least that is how old Pa Pitt always reads the statue: it is certainly Hope...

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Kelley Monument, Union Dale Cemetery

Flower-dropping mourners are very common in our cemeteries, but this one is made of bronze and unusually fine.

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Sutmeyer Mausoleum, Allegheny Cemetery

A small stock mausoleum with indeterminate medievalish details. The cross-bearing angel on top has weathered into picturesque abstraction, looking far more otherworldly now than it did when it was new.

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A. J. Sunstein Mausoleum, West View Cemetery

Considering that the Exodus is the central event in Israel’s sacred history, Egyptian Revival has always struck old Pa Pitt as an odd choice of styles for a Jewish cemetery. But with this particular...

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Shanor Column, Union Dale Cemetery

An odd mixture of styles: the base is a sort of medieval-classical fantasy, from which sprouts a column with an Egyptian-style lotus capital, and on that stands an allegorical figure of Hope.

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