Pittsburgh Cemeteries

Author: Father Pitt

  • McKee Shaft, Union Dale Cemetery

    McKee shaft

    A tall shaft topped by an urn. The very Victorian design includes elaborate monograms and ample space for inscriptions, but no inscriptions were ever engraved. Instead, the McKees have individual headstones around the monument. Eleanor McKee died in 1877, and that may be the date of the monument as well; but from the style old Pa Pitt might guess that it is later, perhaps from 1892, when Eleanor’s husband John, the family patriarch, was buried. They had two children who died before either of them. All the McKees were buried with sentimentally illiterate rhymed epitaphs. The worst is for Samuel Sterrett McKee, who was born in 1861 and died in 1868:

    CEASE DEAR PARENTS CEASE THY WEEPING
    O’RE THE GRAVE WHERE I AM SLEEPING
    FOR E’RE I LEFT MY HOME BELOW,
    THE ANGELS WERE BECKONING ME TO GO.

    Father Pitt counts two bad spellings and one grammatical error; he has given up the punctuation for lost.

    Urn

  • Henry Shaft, St. Clair Cemetery

    Henry shaft

    If an illustrator wanted to draw a typical cemetery monument of the middle 1800s, it would look like this. Rich but not extravagantly ornate, these shafts were popular because they easily direct the family to the plot, and they have abundant surface for inscriptions, meaning that one expensive monument can take the place of any number of tombstones, an expense that adds up over the years as scarlet fever and cholera take their toll.

    Unfortunately, the material—limestone or marble—erodes over the decades, so that the inscriptions become illegible after a while. Our readers are welcome to try their hands at reading the inscription for James M. Henry below, but poor old Pa Pitt gave up. The inscription may remember a child who was born in 1831 and died in 1837, but Father Pitt is not willing to stand by that reading.

    Inscription

  • Schreiner Mausoleum, Union Dale Cemetery

    Schreiner mausoleum

    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 (the anchor is her ID card), and Father Pitt doesn’t know what else to make of the raised-fist salute.

    Statue of Hope
    Monogram

    Ornate monograms flank the entrance arch.

  • Annie F. Wood Monument, Union Dale Cemetery

    Annie F. Wood monument

    A good example of the romantic style of the middle 1800s, which—as we can see here—lasted into the 1870s. These monuments were usually in marble or limestone, which erodes far too quickly in our climate—although it is often beautifully picturesque in its eroded state. This is Father Pitt’s best attempt at reading the inscription:

    ANNIE F. WOOD,
    WIFE OF
    ROBERT J. GRIER
    DIED MARCH 8, 1873
    IN THE 32 YEAR OF HER
    AGE.

    We are fairly certain of the name “Annie F. Wood,” but almost all the other readings are subject to amendment.

    There was also an epitaph in a kind of cartouche below the inscription, but it seems hopeless to try to interpret it now.

    Inscription

  • Robert Carson Mausoleum, Union Dale Cemetery

    Robert Carson mausoleum

    A simplified Doric mausoleum without entablature or any of the usual fiddly bits. It dates from 1885, but one could be forgiven for supposing it a twentieth-century modernist’s interpretation of classical style.