Pittsburgh Cemeteries

Tag: Obelisks

  • Philotus Dean Obelisk, Union Dale Cemetery

    Philotus Dean was a beloved high-school principal, unlikely as that sounds, who died at the age of forty-nine. The extensive inscription on his monument tells the rest of the tale.

  • Berg Obelisk, Smithfield East End Cemetery

    The basic shape of the obelisk is set, so to speak, in stone; but the base and the material allow for quite a bit of variation. A well-chosen material like this makes the Berg family’s obelisk stand out in a forest of obelisks, guiding Bergs to the family plot across the wide landscape of the cemetery.

  • W. J. Kountz Obelisk, Allegheny Cemetery

    Cemeteries in Pittsburgh are littered with obelisks. Let us agree that, in this post-Freudian era, we have no need of the facile explanation that occurs to the snickering schoolchild in each one of us, and admit that a lofty obelisk can be a grand symbol of heavenward aspiration.