This simple Doric temple received its first burial in 1896. Inside is a fine window of an angel bearing lilies and laying a victor’s wreath at the grave.
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Civil War Memorial, Greenwood Cemetery
In memory of the soldiers from Sharpsburg and Etna and the surrounding area. The statue is typical of this sort of memorial: not exactly crude, but not subtle. The monument was erected by a post of the Grand Army of the Republic named for General George A. Custer, whose later reputation tends to obscure his successes in the Civil War.
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Sellers Monument, Allegheny Cemetery
Cemetery records tell us that Sellers burials here go back to Benjamin C. Sellers, who died in 1830; he would have been moved from one of the cemeteries downtown when the Allegheny Cemetery opened in 1845. It is possible, therefore, that this is one of the earliest generation of monuments in the cemetery. The form is a little unusual; it might be described as an octagonal obelisk. Octagons had a bit of a fad in architecture of all sorts in the early to middle 1800s, and several of the older monuments in the cemetery—most notably the Moorhead mausoleum from 1862—are octagonal.
As a practical matter, too, an octagonal base gives you twice as many sides for inscriptions as a square base, and the Sellers family certainly got their money’s worth from this monument.
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McCandless-Johnston Monument, Allegheny Cemetery
A particularly tasteful monument from 1924. The classical form might be almost severe, but the lettering gives us a hint of Art Deco, and the bronze angel seems very inviting. “Major McCandless likes it on the other side,” the angel seems to say. “I think you will, too.”
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Stockton Monument, Allegheny Cemetery
A grand classical pillar for David Stockton, who died in 1858, and his family. Although age has softened the edges, the inscription was deep enough that it is still quite legible. Observant viewers will note the moon in the upper right corner of the picture.
