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Also this issue: Art Night Lights Oh Captain, My Captain Wise Guides Bad Medicine |
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June 6-12, 2002
cover story
 Grave face: One of the ornate memorials at Laurel Hill Cemetery. Death and Statues Photo By: Michael T. Regan |
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From the upscale mausoleum district on Notman's terraces (still with available rentals) to the classical central section bristling with obelisks, the cemetery grew to almost 100 acres in less than 30 years. This Victorian visual feast includes rusticated crosses, graceful angels (check out the handsome winged guy on the 1886 Laurence S. Pepper tomb), lots of carved drapery and urns of every description. One of these, Robert Stewart's, is blasted by lightning, a symbol of violent death -- he was murdered by his manservant.
On a recent visit, we entered -- as you should -- at the north entrance on Ridge Avenue between 35th and Clearfield streets. This is Notman's original design and leads directly to one of the cemetery's most impressive and idiosyncratic monuments: Old Mortality by James Thon. Based on a vignette in Sir Walter Scott's novel of the same name, the sculptural group depicts Scott chatting with the character Old Mortality, a real-life Scottish eccentric who traveled his country recarving the worn names of patriots on their tombs.
Appropriately enough, in front of Old Mortality, we encountered Michael Brooks and Anthony Waskie, members of the Friends of Laurel Hill Cemetery, who have a mission similar to the Scottish carver's: preserving national heritage. At that moment, they were organizing volunteers for the annual task of placing new flags at the gravesites of some 1,000 veterans who are buried in Laurel Hill.
The two men recently prepared a handsome booklet, Guide to the Famous and Blameless in Laurel Hill Cemetery, which is available at the gatehouse office for a modest $5 donation to the cemetery, now nonprofit and a national landmark. The booklet includes a detailed map, a must for locating tombs of interest. "We love to have people come in and share in the beauty and magnificence of this place," Waskie says.
Waskie, who describes Maj. Gen. George G. Meade, victorious commander of the Union army at the Battle of Gettysburg, as "the man who saved our nation," hosts a champagne toast for all visitors to Meade's tomb on the general's birthday, Dec. 31.
Among many Union graves (including that of Frank Furness, acclaimed architect who received the Congressional Medal of Honor), there is one Confederate general, John C. Pemberton. You can also visit the grave of Frederick Graff, designer of the Fairmount Water Works, as well as the domed mausoleum of Henry Disston, saw-blade manufacturer who built Tacony.
Anything Greek, such as the Recivino Doric mausoleum, is emblematic of democratic values. Mourning or escape from earthly cares can be represented by an allegorical female figure, such as the woman at the William Warner tomb. Carved in 1889 by Alexander Milne Calder, who designed the sculptural program of City Hall, including the figure of William Penn, she opens the sarcophagus to release the soul in the form of a face on a winged cloud.
Every tomb tells a story, some more elaborate than others. Said to have been falsely accused of a crime as a young man, William James Mullen, a jeweler, dentist and philanthropist, estimated that he rescued 50,000 people from unjust imprisonment. His monument depicts the door of Moyamensing prison with a recently freed woman on the steps. Mullen himself, in a suit and flowing classical cape, stands nearby on a pedestal.
There is much more to Laurel Hill -- more than one visit can reveal. The cemetery is open every weekday 9 a.m.-4 p.m., and Saturdays 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. If scheduled in advance, Waskie or Brooks lead two-hour group tours for $10 (these can be arranged for Sundays).
Laurel Hill Cemetery, 3822 Ridge Ave., 215-228-8200.
