Homewood Cemetery celebrates Founders’ Day
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Homewood Cemetery will mark Founders’ Day next Saturday with music that was popular during World War I.
From noon-4 p.m. Aug. 19, there will be music, a train display, a genealogy booth, food trucks and a talk about African-American soldiers of that period. World War I began in 1914, but the U.S. did not declare war on Germany until April 1917. The cemetery opened Aug. 17, 1878.
Local singer Phat Man Dee and members of The Cultural District will perform songs of the era selected from sheet music in the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. Tom Roberts, a leading exponent of early jazz piano, will serve as a disc
jockey and play 78 rpm recordings of World War I music on vintage gramophones and Victrolas.
The Kids’ Club of the Train Collectors’ Association will operate a kid-friendly model train display in the cemetery’s chapel and hospitality room. This year’s display will be based on World War I stories from Pittsburgh. Also on display will be vintage cars, including hearses from the Pittsburgh Professional Car Association.
At 3 p.m., Samuel Black, director of African-American programs at the Sen. John Heinz History Center, will give an illustrated talk about the 351st Infantry Regiment, the only all African-American heavy artillery unit to fight in World War I.
Staffing the genealogy booth will be historian Marilyn Evert, author of “Discovering Pittsburgh’s Sculpture.” She will be joined by Janet Kettering, a local historian, and Rich Boyer, who has photographed more than 30,000 graves for www.findagrave.com. Mr. Boyer also is an amateur genealogist who volunteers at Homewood Cemetery.
All events will take place in or around the cemetery chapel, 1599 S. Dallas Ave. 15217. Information: www.faceb oo k . c o m / e v e n t s / 317802958672920.