EXPLORING SIX DIFFERENT TYPES OF STONES USED FOR GRAVES

If you’ve spent much time in a cemetery, you know that not all grave markers are the same. Today, we'll take a look at six types of stone you will find in a graveyard.

 

Types of Headstones

1)  Fieldstone (1600s – Present)

Fieldstones were the earliest types of grave markers used from 1600s to the present. Besides being plentiful, these rocks could be carved, chiseled or painted with a name, dates and other information. The main problem was that over the decades, the stones get moved so many might not be where they were originally placed. You will still find fieldstones in cemeteries. They became popular again during the Great Depression when families could not afford markers.

 

2)  Slate (1600s – 1900s)

Slate was very popular, mainly in the eastern U.S. during the 18th to the 20th centuries. One of the reasons is because the stone is easy to carve. Slate can withstand freezing and thawing fairly well, which is why we can still read them. And acid rain appears to have a minimal effect. But due to the stone’s porousness, it is subject to delamination, which means it separates into sheets and falls away.

 

3)  Sandstone (1650s – late 1800s)

Sandstone was another stone that carvers used from the 1650s to the late 1800s. It was easy to decorate and was available around the country. The stone's color may range from red to light tan to brown to grey. The problem with this stone includes spalling and flaking. This is where pieces chip off the stone making the surface uneven, hard to read and encourages  the growth of lichen.

 

4)  Limestone (mid-1700s – 1930s)

Limestone was favored in the Midwest from the mid-1700s to the Great Depression because of its availability and ease of carving. This stone is made up of calcite and calcium carbonate. These small particles are composed of fossils held together by a lime cement.

Although visually appealing, this soft stone is severely affected by weathering, which causes pitting and that slowly wears the details of the stone away. This also causes the letters to dissolve over time. Tree stones were usually crafted from limestone and were a very popular marker in the Midwest.

 

5)  Marble (1780s – 1930s)

Marble has been used for centuries due to its strength and beautiful appearance. In the U.S. marble gravestones were popular from the 1780s through the 1930s. The stone is usually white with blue or grey veins running through it but can also be black with white veins. When you rub your hand over marble, it feels like sandpaper.

But marble began to fall out of favor when weathering made it difficult to read. Acid rain has become the main enemy of this stone causing the surface to become grainy and the lettering on the stone to slowly fade away.

 

6)  Granite (mid-1800s – present)

Granite is the most durable of gravestones, and currently, the most popular. With use mainly from the mid-1800s to the present, these gravestones can be red or grey in color. The red stones contain a small amount of oxidized iron. Granite that ranges from bright red to pink in color usually come from Missouri, and the darker red stones are from Wisconsin. Grey stones are quarried mainly in New Hampshire. Granite lettering is resistant to deterioration, and the stone does not erode. Modern techniques make it easy to carve, and lasers allow etching of personal images to tell your life’s story.

 

And then there's the marker that isn't really a stone but still prevalent in cemeteries across the country: 

Bonus - White Bronze (Zinc) (1880s – 1920s)

“Tombstone Tourists” will be familiar with another type of gravestone made of white bronze or zinc. Although not white, and not made of bronze, these memorials are usually very detailed, always different, and found in very good to excellent condition. White bronze monuments are easy to spot once you start looking for their telltale bluish-grey color.

White bronze monuments offered a less expensive alternative for a custom designed and detailed grave marker.  But there were those who looked down on the white bronze marker as being a cheap imitation of a solid granite stone.  Some cemeteries even banned them, many times due to the urging of local granite and marble monument companies. This is part of the reason they had such a short life, only from the 1880s to the 1920s. 

These monuments weathered well but they did have one flaw – creep. This occurs when the weight of the top of the monument bears down onto the base and it begins to bow or bulge – very slowly, over the years.  The only way to rectify this is to place a stainless-steel armature inside the base of this hollow marker to help support the upper weight.

 

Regardless of what type of stone you decide on, be sure to put a little of your story on the marker with carvings, images or symbols. Leave something for the coming generations to consider and enjoy when they wander the cemeteries.

~ Joy

 

 

 

Those Amazing Tree Stones

If you’ve been a taphophile for a while, you have probably developed a special fondness for certain gravestones, those that just seem to draw you to them.  My current favorites are the white bronze, headstone photos, and trees stones.

I am amazed but not surprised by the number of people who love the tree stones.  I remember the first time I found one.  There, amid a mixture of short stones, flat stones, intricate sculpture and obelisks, set an unassuming limestone tree stump.  Touching, yet solid and dependable, maybe a true adaptation of the person resting below.

There is something peaceful and heartening about the natural rustic look of a tree stone. – Life has ended but as a part of nature, we go on….

Tree stones were popular from the 1880’s to 1920’s.  They are called tree stump stones, tree trunk stones and tree stones.  Joseph Cullen Root was the founder of Modern Woodmen of America (1883) and also of Woodmen of the World (1890,) both fraternal insurance benefit societies.  Both became well known for using tree gravestones for their members. Root decided on the woodmen name after hearing a minister describe his congregation as ‘trees in God’s forest.”

Modern Woodmen of America (MWA) offered its members the opportunity to purchase grave markers for deceased associates until the mid-1970’s.  Cemeteries around the country also have the tree stone monuments, engraved with the MWA initials and symbols.  The MWA did not supply these grave markers or provide any monetary assistance for their purchase to members.

However, from 1890 to 1900, Woodmen of the World’s (WOW) life insurance policies did have a proviso that provided for the grave markers, free of charge, for members.  From 1900 to the mid- 1920’s, members purchased a $100 rider to cover the cost of the monument.  By the mid-20’s, the organization had discontinued the grave marker benefit due to the increased cost of the stones.

As the tree gravestones became more popular, the Sears and Roebuck catalogue and Montgomery Wards catalogue offered them for sale to the general public.  A tree stone marker does not necessarily mean that person was a member of MWA or WOW.  Only if the organizations initials or symbols are located on the stone does it indicate that the deceased was a member of one of these organizations.

Tree stones vary in size and height from tiny children’s stones, just a few inches high, to soaring 10 to 12 feet high tree trunks.  All have intricately carved detailing at the base, and many ties around the trunk.  You could request certain elements be added to a stone to better tell the story of the deceased.  Many local stone makers could incorporate these carvings on the tree stone, making them very individualistic.

Symbols found on the tree stones include axes, mauls, wedges, any type of tool used in woodworking, flowers, vines, animals, chairs, buckets – anything that helped tell the story of the person buried there.

Tree stones also vary according to the area they were carved in and the type of cemetery.  Many local stone carvers left their personal mark on a stone.  This carver in Illinois put mushrooms on all of his tree stones.

The tree stones found in B'nai Abraham-Zion Cemetery in Chicago may feature an inscription in Hebrew, and photos – an extra bonus for the Tombstone Traveler.
  

Many times tree branches were broken off to show that a family member had died.  Tops were notched in certain ways and bark appeared to be peeled back or cut off to reveal the epitaph of those buried there.

Although no longer available for purchase, I can’t help but believe that if they were offered again, we would see a resurgence of tree stones in our 21^st century cemeteries – a link to our past, and a nod to nature.

 

~ Joy