Walking among graves on a rainy day, an eerie silence hung, broken only by a steady drip of water on tombstones and mausoleums.

Cemeteries dating back hundreds of years are evident by weathered stones with some names illegible. The stories of those laid to rest or entombed invoke vivid memories of the dead — people who changed the world, made a difference and created a legacy right here in Western Pennsylvania.

“They may physically be gone, but their legacies remain,” said Cindy Homburg, Tarentum historian and president of Prospect Cemetery in Brackenridge. “They are all part of history, and their names are often mentioned today. People remember what they did.”

Many have chosen their final resting place in a cemetery that has meaning to them.

Take Fred Rogers of the iconic children’s show “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” for instance, who died in 2003. He is in Unity Cemetery & Chapel, near his childhood home of Latrobe. Many of his family members were laid to rest there, in a mausoleum of the Given family, a name from his mother’s side.

“Fred Rogers never forgot his first neighborhood,” said Mary Lou Townsend, president of the Latrobe Historical Society and a historian at Unity Cemetery. “He always had a connection to his family and to this area. He was driven to do well, and his family was extremely generous. He always wanted unity. There is so much history here in Latrobe, and people like Fred Rogers never lost their connection to Latrobe.”

The banana split

Unity Cemetery & Chapel is also the final resting place of David “Doc” Strickler, the creator of the banana split. Strickler was attending the University of Pittsburgh and worked as an apprentice at Tassel Pharmacy when pharmacies also had soda fountains and counters to sit and enjoy them.

Although legendary golfer Arnold Palmer isn’t buried in Unity Cemetery, there is a memorial there honoring his late wife, Winnie Palmer. Their cremains were scattered at Latrobe Country Club, where Arnold Palmer learned to play golf.

Kristina Serafini | TribLive A memorial dedicated to Winnie Palmer, wife of golf legend Arnold Palmer, inside Unity Cemetery.  

From modest to large

Headstones range from modest to large mausoleums. One of the largest in Prospect Cemetery is for Jacob G. Vogeley of the Vogeley Dry Goods store on East Canal Street, present-day East Sixth Avenue in Tarentum.

“(Vogeley) was so well-liked that all the stores in Tarentum closed from 1 to 4 p.m. the day of his funeral and all went to Prospect Cemetery to pay their respects,” Homburg said.

Kristina Serafini | TribLive The Vogeley mausoleum at Prospect Cemetery in Brackenridge.  

Henry Marie Brackenridge, a judge, lawyer, U.S. Congressman and author, is in Prospect Cemetery.

Richard Curry Esler, a quality engineer for PPG for 30 years and then a teacher at then-Tarentum High School, who wrote the book “Once Upon a Time in Tarentum,” is buried there, as is Shields Stockdale, owner of Stockdale Hardware Store.

Homburg said Stockdale was quite the character, well-known and loved by all.

Dr. George M. Getze, one of the founders of Allegheny Valley Hospital, and Charles Preston Howe, founder and publisher of the Valley Daily News, are in Prospect Cemetery.

So is Felix Negley, who died in 1835. He was one of the first settlers in the Tarentum area, then known as East Deer. He owned more than 200 acres in what is now West Tarentum. He had a grist mill and a sawmill on Bull Creek. He was the father of 13 girls and one boy. He fought in the Revolutionary War as a scout.

In Bull Creek Cemetery in West Deer lies Hance “Job” McMurdy, who died in 1850 in a flash flood on Bull Creek while riding his horse.

“The area is well-known today as ‘Job’s Hole,’ ” Homburg said.

Taking a walk

A walk through Homewood Cemetery in Point Breeze near Frick Park unveils ornate mausoleums with well-known names including Frick, Heinz and Mellon, and David Lytle Clark, who founded the D.L. Clark Co., where the famous Clark Bar was produced on Pittsburgh’s North Side.

Graves of prominent photographer Charles “Teenie” Harris and civil rights activist Daisy Lampkin are in Homewood Cemetery. In 2001, the Carnegie Museum of Art in Oakland purchased Harris’ archive of more than 70,000 black-and-white and color negatives, prints and films from the artist’s family. The Pittsburgh Hill District native chronicled the city’s ever-changing communities as well as the fullness of Black life and experiences in mid-century America. He was also a photojournalist at the Pittsburgh Courier.

JoAnne Klimovich Harrop | TribLive The grave of Charles “Teenie” Harris at Homewood Cemetery in Point Breeze.  

Another of the city’s museums, the Carnegie Science Center, in its Miniature Railroad & Village on Pittsburgh’s North Shore in 2020 unveiled a model of Daisy Lampkin’s Hill District Home — prominent because she was being honored for her devotion to civil rights and women’s suffrage movements.

The model celebrated the centennial anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which granted women the right to vote. Lampkin made an indelible mark on the future of Black Americans and American history.

She started her public career in 1912, leading groups of Black women for street-corner campaigns and consumer protests and was instrumental in the growth of the NAACP, winning its National Woman of the Year award in 1945.

History lessons

For the second year, Prime Stage Theatre hosted a fundraising event at Homewood Cemetery where actors dressed in costumes from the past to portray some of the people buried there and the impact they had.

“Our unique approach to live theater is like The Cemetery Walk where people discover and hear live people from the past who were leaders in our community,” Prime Stage Theatre producing artistic director Wayne Brinda said via email. “Our interactive post-show discussions are led by people who are personally connected to the plays — like having Mark Charles Dickens share stories of his great-great-grandfather on the upcoming opening night of ‘Great Expectations,’ and having the son of George Orwell and two grandchildren of Dr. Maya Angelo make the Prime Stage literary and theatrical experiences enjoyable, real and relevant for all audiences.”

The Homewood Cemetery and Lawrenceville’s Allegheny Cemetery offer self-guided tours. Allegheny Cemetery — the place where the annual Memorial Day Parade concludes with a service to honor those from all branches of the military from the Revolutionary War to Vietnam — encompasses 300 acres.

JoAnne Klimovich Harrop | TribLive The tombstone of Negro League’s star baseball player Josh Gibson in the Allegheny Cemetery in Lawrenceville.  

Buried there are Dr. Charles Avery, a philanthropist and early corporator of the cemetery; composer Stephen Foster, who wrote the song “Oh Susanna”; and James Laughlin, co-founder of Jones & Laughlin Steel. Also at Allegheny Cemetery are Joseph Horne, of Horne’s Department Store in Downtown Pittsburgh, and Negro League baseball star Josh Gibson, a 1972 inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Visitors can watch pop art icon Andy Warhol’s grave site in Saint John the Baptist Catholic Cemetery in Bethel Park 24 hours a day on the Andy Warhol Museum’s website. The project is called “Figment.”

Pulitzer Prize playwright August Wilson’s remains are in Greenwood Cemetery in O’Hara. He wrote 10 plays about the Black experience in the 20th century, called Wilson’s American Century Cycle, which included “Fences,” “The Piano Lesson,” “Jitney” and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.”

Frank Gorshin Jr., who played The Riddler on the television show “Batman,” is buried in Calvary Catholic Cemetery in the Greenfield/Hazelwood neighborhoods. The cemetery also has late Pittsburgh mayors Richard Caliguiri, Thomas Gallagher, David Leo Lawrence and Bob O’Connor. Mayor Sophie Masloff was laid to rest in New Light Cemetery in Shaler.

Sports connections

Champion boxer Billy Conn is also buried in Calvary Catholic Cemetery.

Inventor of the Terrible Towel and former Pittsburgh Steelers broadcaster Myron Cope was laid to rest in Chartiers Cemetery in Carnegie. Proceeds from sales of the towel have raised millions of dollars for charity.

Steelers founder Art Rooney and coach Chuck Noll are buried in Christ Our Redeemer Catholic Cemetery in Ross. They are remembered for the four Super Bowl victories in six seasons and the dynasty of the 1970s they created.

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