knawshaw OP t1_iuhn9vz wrote on October 31, 2022 at 12:25 PM

Reply to comment by lvngstndm in Happy Halloween from the cemetery at 6th and Smithfield! by knawshaw

A lot of 'relocation' in Pittsburgh did not involve moving the corpses, just the gravestones. So many former graveyards we're officially allowed to be built over. Or sports fields can be used on the sites. Troy Hill is a good example and there is a Pitt field that is on a former graveyard I believe. With limited space, you have to do something!

NSlocal t1_iuhq8r9 wrote on October 31, 2022 at 12:53 PM

The Pitt field you mention was Three Rivers Stadium which was formerly a native american burial site. Presumably long removed or built over by the time the stadium was built. Does not make it right though. Voegtly Cemetery in Troy Hill received the remains of many individuals rediscovered during the I279 project. If you go there today you will see a plaque that details the move. The cemetery is beautiful but has fallen into a bad state of appearance.

http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/allegheny/tsphotos/voegtly-pittsburgh.htm

knawshaw OP t1_iuhqo0q wrote on October 31, 2022 at 12:56 PM

I was referring to the cemetery on Robinson st. Ext / Allliquippa, now U Pitt Fields / Field House

NSlocal t1_iuhs2dk wrote on October 31, 2022 at 1:08 PM

Ahh got it, yeah it went on all over. The native american sites are poorly documented, I wish there was more info on where they were located.

jetsetninjacat t1_iujmjzt wrote on October 31, 2022 at 8:45 PM

I had a set of great great grandparents who had a house on Breckenridge where the tennis courts are now. One of my aunts has pictures of the cemetery there.

https://arcg.is/1119O8

Hike_it_Out52 t1_iui85ut wrote on October 31, 2022 at 3:08 PM

This is true. I took a historic tour through that area. Supposedly the graveyard covered multiple blocks in the city and a small remnant is left on 6th Ave near the 1st Presby church. The guide said the earthen walls of the basement will have bones occasionally poke through. It blows my mind how many cemeteries have been bulldozed when they should have been carefully excavated. He also said Heinz field stood, which had been an island, on an old native settlement who primary use in the 1750's was torturing captive European soldiers. While British soldiers had been tortured then killed during their campaigns through the area, I never have found any sources to back up that it was the use of the island.

NSlocal t1_iuihfe9 wrote on October 31, 2022 at 4:10 PM

It was called Smokey Island but was really a sandbar when the river was much more shallow. You can find info on it. The natives would capture Europeans on the North Side of the river and use the island to bind them to a pole where they'd proceed to torture and burn them in full view of people on the Point side of the river.

Nickyfist t1_iujhmzs wrote on October 31, 2022 at 8:12 PM

You son of a bitch you moved the cemetery but you left the bodies- didn't ya! You son of a bitch you left the bodies and you only moved the headstones! You only moved the headstones! Why? Why?!