With ancient trees and artistic landscapes, cemeteries are very good places to enjoy the delights of fall.
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Autumn Landscapes in Chartiers Cemetery
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Steen Vault, Chartiers Cemetery
A unique Victorian interpretation of the Baroque style—unique in Pittsburgh, at any rate, as far as old Pa Pitt knows. The date of the mausoleum is 1874, which is the year of the first interment there.
The front probably had bronze doors, now stolen. This plaque, however, should last a good long time. It records that the first interment was David C. Steen, who died the year the mausoleum was built (according to the date over the door). He was probably the son of David and Mary Dickson Steen, who may have built this extravagant vault in mourning for their 21-year-old son.
It would be interesting to know how the Reeds and the rest came to be in this vault.
These were families who were no strangers to tragedy. Of eleven names recorded here, six—a majority—died before the age of thirty.
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Grimm Monument, Chartiers Cemetery
A fine zinc monument with only one panel inscribed, for Caroline Grimm. She died in middle age; perhaps her husband remarried and is buried elsewhere. As is usually the case with zinc monuments, it looks almost as fresh as the day it was erected.
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Landscape, Chartiers Cemetery
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Dinsmore Obelisk, Chartiers Cemetery
A typical marble obelisk of the Civil War era. The inscriptions are eroded into near illegibility, but one legible death date is 1840. Since the cemetery is not that old, the monument was probably put up in the 1860s, and previously deceased family members were honored on it then.
