Built in 1878, this was originally the receiving vault for the cemetery: if you died in the winter when it was impossible to dig, you would rest here until spring. Now it is a columbarium, a place where cremated remains are kept. It is a masterpiece of Victorian Gothic architecture.
Strange as it seems, old Pa Pitt has never published pictures of this building before, although he has been accumulating them for years.
The pictures below are from November of 2021.
A Gothic mausoleum that the jungle seems intent on reclaiming. Perhaps the groundskeepers had some agreement to let the family maintain the landscaping; at any rate, the landscaping is taking over. There was probably a pair of bronze doors in the front, but it has been filled in with concrete.
Two different views of the chapel at the Homewood Cemetery, designed by Albert H. Spahr of MacClure & Spahr.
A tiny Gothic mausoleum for one, or at the most two. It suggests “Gothic” with a shallow point at the top of the façade, with a kind of streamlined suggestion of buttresses, and with deco-uncial lettering for the name of the deceased.
With bonus deer. This exceptionally grand monument is in the most romantic interpretation of the Gothic style. Although C. W. Robb lived until 1892, from the style Father Pitt is almost certain that this was put up when his wife Caroline Amelia died in 1869. C. W. married again; his second wife was nearly thirty years younger than he was, and lived until 1936. She shares a small headstone nearby with their daughter, who also died in 1936.
For some reason, Father Pitt suspects that C. W. Robb may have been an organist.
