A monument in honor of the men of Sewickley who “sacrificed their lives for the unity of the republic in the War of the Great Rebellion.” This was, according to the cemetery’s site, the first Civil War memorial in Allegheny County, put up just after the war in 1866.
Here is our favorite flower-strewing mourner (see, for example, the Potts monument in the Mount Lebanon Cemetery) in the giant economy size—much larger than she usually is, rendered in granite rather than marble, and with her wrists intact, but recognizably the same character. Is she based on a famous original? Father Pitt would love to hear from someone who knows her story. The Heck family lost a small child in 1896, and that may be about the date of this monument.
A splendid Corinthian column with a…hat. James W. Porter died in 1901, so we may take that as about the date of this monument.
The Pittsburgh area gave more men to the Tuskegee Airmen than any other part of the country. As for the rest, the monument tells the story. “America is not perfect, but I’ll hold her hand until she gets well”—these are the words of a true patriot, the kind of patriot all true patriots pray for.
A classic Doric mausoleum, as correct as it can be. The hillside site gives it an opportunity for a stairway approach, which always adds to the impressiveness of a classical mausoleum.
