This still-splendid Gothic headstone has eroded to the point where the name is illegible, at least in this light. We can just make out “Hier ruhet in Gott” as the first line, and at the bottom a birth date of 1829 (or perhaps 1828) and a death date of 1880. On the base is an epitaph that might almost be legible in different light.
Golden winter sun illuminates the Sunshine mausoleum in the South Side Cemetery.
For their mausoleum, the McCutcheons chose a remarkably tasteful miniature Gothic church, dated 1881 over the stone doors on both sides.
This mausoleum and its stone mourner are doubtless both standard catalogue items. But they are picturesque, and much more so because of the deep blackness of the stone. Most stone buildings in Pittsburgh used to look like this, but few of them have escaped cleaning.
The other thing that makes the mausoleum stand out, of course, is the delightful name “Sunshine” over the door.
Leslie C. Steen died in 1867 at the age of 20, according to cemetery records. We may presume that this ponderous and weighty Gothic-classical monument was put up by his parents.
