Pittsburgh Cemeteries

Author: Father Pitt

  • Haas Mausoleum, St. Michael’s Cemetery

    Haas mausoleum

    An attractive Art Deco design with more traditionally Gothic bronze doors that have survived because this mausoleum is right at the cemetery entrance, where people might tend to notice two men with a pickup truck fiddling with a mausoleum in the middle of the night. (Note the fence spike in the foreground: old Pa Pitt apologizes for that, but it’s sometimes hard to see what’s in the picture when the camera has to be held above a fence.) This is one of only two mausoleums in St. Michael’s Cemetery, and it is the grander of the two.

    Stained glass of the Holy Family

    The stained-glass window of the Holy Family is a very good one, though it was probably a standard catalogue item.

    Angel in bronze

    Angels adorn the bronze doors.

    Bronze decorations
    Corner view

  • Nickel Family Plot, South Side Cemetery

    Lina B. Nickel mourner

    A family plot of matching graves that is missing one important tenant, or at least the inscription for him.

    Nickel family plot
    Lina B. Nickel

    Lina B. Nickel, who died in 1916 at the age of 29 or 30, is buried here under an inscription identifying her as “MY WIFE.” But the matching headstone is blank, suggesting that Mr. Nickel (whose name was almost certainly William; see below) is not buried here. A husband in mourning might think that of course he would never marry again and would be buried next to his late wife when he died, but a year or two or five go by, and he begins to take a more realistic view of the rest of his life. Or it is quite possible that the whole matching set was ordered when the two sons died in 1912.

    Mourner

    A standard flower-dropping mourner. The wrists are always a weak point in this design.

    William and John Nickel

    Two young sons, William Jr. and John, died in 1912, very probably of the same childhood disease. From the name William Jr. we can deduce the father’s name.

    Angel

    This angel might also have been dropping flowers, as we can guess from its downward gaze and the eroded bouquet.

    Face and wings

  • Fall in the South Side Cemetery

    Japanese maple in fall color
    Fall landscape with tombstones
    Yellow
    Gold leaves

  • Hugh H. Wallace Stump, South Side Cemetery

    Hugh H. Wallace stump

    A stump with scroll inscription marking the grave of a member of the Improved Order of Heptasophs, which probably entitled him to this stump.

    Inscription

  • John and Elisabeth Seiferth Monument, St. Paul’s Cemetery, Mount Oliver

    Seiferth monument

    A prominent granite monument in this German Lutheran cemetery. John and Elizabeth are identified as “Uncle” and “Aunt,” suggesting that they had no children of their own.

    Inscription