A row of Haxes and McCulloughs rests in front of this angel under identical slabs. C. C. Hax died in 1927, and this monument was put up in 1928 (according to the cemetery’s Web site). The Haxes made their money in leather goods and the McCulloughs in electric equipment, so this was what you would call a mixed marriage.
IN MEMORY OF
ROBERT LONG
Who departed this life
August 1st 1832 aged 60
years.
Go home dear friends
And cease from tears.
Here I must lie
Till Christ appears.
—
W. Savage, Sculptor, Williamsport.
We have seen another pair of tombstones in a similar style in the Bethany Cemetery near Bridgeville: the tombstones of Billingsley Morgan and his (illegible) wife, which were signed by H. Savage. Was H. Savage a brother or other relative of W. Savage? And if “Williamsport” means the only Williamsport Father Pitt knows of in Pennsylvania, then this stone was hauled across the mountains, which must have been quite expensive. Perhaps there was no one in the immediate area who could carve a stone of this quality in 1832—for it certainly is a splendid piece of folk art, well worth the trouble of hauling in from Williamsport. —Update: “Williamsport” was the former name of Monongahela, which is considerably closer than the Williamsport in central Pennsylvania.
A well-preserved tombstone in the “poster style,” as Father Pitt calls it, that was popular in the 1840s and 1850s. This one adds a very woodcutty weeping willow.
Henry Marie Brackenridge, son of the famous Hugh Henry Brackenridge, founded the borough of Brackenridge, and his family has an honored place in the middle of the circle at the entrance to Prospect Cemetery.
The obelisk once bore a number of inscriptions, but they are almost obliterated by time.
Henry Marie’s own grave is marked by a very modest headstone. Father Pitt was not able to read the epitaph, although it might be clearer in morning light.
Cornelia Brackenridge McKelvy, on the other hand, who died in 1882 at the age of 29, has a very expensive grave with a life-size statue. Is it meant to be a portrait of the deceased?
“Youth and Age at the Tree of Life” is the title of this relief. It is rare to find a work of art with a title in a cemetery; we wish the artist had signed it as well.
