A panorama of part of the high-rent district in the Homewood Cemetery, including examples of the three best-known classical orders: the Burleigh mausoleum (Ionic), the Bigelow mausoleum (Doric), and the Pitcairn mausoleum (Corinthian).
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Taylor-Langfitt Mausoleum, Highwood Cemetery
Father Pitt does not know the date of this mausoleum, but the style and the dates of other burials in the same area suggest the 1890s. It is a small thing compared to some of the magnificent mausoleums in the Union Dale Cemetery nearby, but it is in very good taste: the classical style is rich without ostentation, the bronze doors are well matched to the style of the whole, and the Boston ivy adds a romantically picturesque touch.
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McLean Monument, Highwood Cemetery
A very luxurious combination of polished granite and bronze, this monument is hard for Father Pitt to date. A William McLean who died in 1873 has a headstone in this plot, but that seems too early for this style of monument. Three McLean children were buried here in the 1890s, but even that seems early. If Father Pitt had to guess from the style, he might say that the monument itself was erected in the 1920s, perhaps replacing an earlier marble monument from 1873 that had already eroded beyond recognition.
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Keenan Angel, Highwood Cemetery
This eroded marble sculpture (which probably dates from about 1880) sits on an obviously newer, and not very well matched, base. The sculpture itself is a bit unusual: Father Pitt cannot recall having seen another angel-in-book composition.
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Thomas B. Dunn Monument, Allegheny Cemetery
Thomas B. Dunn died at the Battle of Five Forks in 1865, less than a week before Lee surrendered at Appomattox. This elaborate romantic trophy-tombstone crowds every symbol of martial victory into a busy but harmonious composition. (Although much of the inscription is obliterated, cemetery records confirm that the half-obscured family name is Dunn.)
