Doing what's right: Inside restoration begins on tomb of Sutersville founder
Mar. 7—Frank Barbera knew if he was going to get inside the Suter mausoleum at West Newton Cemetery, it wasn't going to be through the bricked-over front door.
Instead, the former Sutersville mayor in November removed bricks covering the windows and shimmied his way into the structure that entombs Sutersville's founder, Eli Suter. Barbera, the first person to set foot in the structure since the 1920s, is working to restore the inside of the mausoleum to its former glory while paying respects to Suter.
"It was very inspirational the way he lived his life, and he started with nothing," Barbera said of Suter. "Even when he made all the money he made, he never acted like he had money. He treated everybody the same, like they were good people. ... I just thought we couldn't leave him like this. It didn't make sense."
Suter, a Ruffs Dale native, was a successful businessman who bought a flour mill at Waltz's Mill, and later another in Millvale. He later purchased land he would divide about 1870 into lots for the place once known as Suter's Village, along the Youghiogheny River. At that time, Suter began selling lot plans, cutting timber and building homes, records show. There, he ran a saw mill, a ferry and a farm. He also gave away free land to Lutheran churches. The borough was officially incorporated in 1903, as Suterville.
Suter died in 1904 and was the first person buried in the family mausoleum.
About 117 years after his death, Barbera entered the structure and found cracked marble from decades of water damage, with chunks falling from the ceiling and walls. Pieces were missing from stained-glass windows, and floor tiles, once clean shades of black and white, were scuffed with dirt.
The mausoleum, one of eight such turn-of-the-century tombs in the cemetery, has a storied past. The most notable event occurred in 1922, when robbers broke into the crypt in search of valuables. The burglary, which damaged the original doors, led to part of a hand on Suter's corpse being broken, possibly by the vandals stealing rings from his fingers.
Suter's coffin, along with one containing his wife Mary, were scattered in front of the mausoleum to be found by cemetery worker Herb Keck almost 100 years ago.
Barbera is working with local craftsmen, as well as with cemetery manager Ben Markle, to return the mausoleum to what it was before the robbery by cleaning marble name plates designating those buried inside, hanging restored stained-glass windows and newly fabricated limestone doors.
"When the sun hits it, you'll see stained glass, beautiful brass, white marble," Markle said.
The restoration so far has uncovered history of the Suter family, including the burial location of two of Suter's sons. According to Markle, cemetery officials knew two sons were entombed in the mausoleum before the renovation, but the removal of marble pieces unearthed two other sons who are inside.
Early cemetery records were lost in a fire, Markle said. He noted, with the help of the Westmoreland County Historical Society, he was able to identify the bodies as Suter's two other sons, Cyrus Markle Suter, who died in 1916, and Charles Hough Suter, who died Jan. 27, 1927.
The project is the second phase of a restoration that began in October when the cemetery association hired Artie Cochenour Masonry of Turkeytown to reface and reinsert several stone slabs that had bowed outward.
Barbera presented the idea for the inside of the mausoleum to the West Newton Cemetery Association before starting work. He said he is largely funding the project himself, although donations are welcome to help cover the costs of materials. Sutersville leaders Saturday presented Barbera with a $3,000 check to help with the project.
Inside restoration work is expected to be completed in June, Barbera said. At that point, the mausoleum will be open to the public for a few days before the doors are once again closed, only to be opened for occasional sweeping, Markle noted.
"I had to do a little something, and this way here, when we leave, we'll know that our legacy of 'Sutervillians' from there is intact," Barbera said. "We did what was right."
Megan Tomasic is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Megan at 724-850-1203, mtomasic@triblive.com or via Twitter .
