A beautiful bronze angel lays a well-deserved palm on the monument to James Martinus Schoonmaker, who as a 22-year-old colonel in the Union Army led a charge that, years later, earned him the Medal of Honor. Of course, gallantry in combat does not bring in the sort of money that buys extraordinary works of art for one’s grave. That came from the coke industry and the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad.
What began in 1899 as a standard rusticated temple in the “modern Ionic” style was expanded in 1973 by the very unusual addition of left and right wings, where the crypts are accessible directly from the outside. The bronze doors have grilles with a striking passionflower pattern. According to the cemetery’s Web site, Mr. Robert Davidson King made his fortune in county government, which was a profitable business in those days.
A large bronze relief depicts the empty tomb of Jesus on Easter morning, with two astonished women confronted by an angel who points outward and upward.
An imposing and convincing bronze portrait of Mr. Wallace tops this monument, erected in 1900. It is a great pity that no one seems to know who the sculptor was, but it is cheering to see that he or she remembered to provide Mr. Wallace with a stack of books to take with him into the afterlife. He was a contractor, and that may be a set of blueprints in his lap.
Madonna and Child in bronze seated on an Art Deco bench from 1924.
