Where Does Marble For Graves Come From

No mention was made of the recessed shield that would come to define the civil war headstone and have such a visual impact on the national cemeteries.

Where does marble for graves come from. For the unknown dead the stone was a block of marble or durable stone six inches square and 30 inches long. Petrographically marbles are massive rather than thin layered and consist of a. Marble is soft enough to be scratched with a knife blade. Marble is commonly used for sculpture and as a building material.

Commercially it includes all decorative calcium rich rocks that can be polished as well as certain serpentines verd antiques. The top and four inches of the sides of the upper part were finished and the number of the grave cut on the top. It s a metamorphic stone that is a result of limestone being subjected to immense amount of pressure for long periods of time. Large 6 3 8 w x 4 3 4 h x 1 2 d medium 3 3 4 w x 2 7 8 h x 1 4 d and small 2.

But the business of producing tens of thousands a year has become a. 3 1879 congress authorized the furnishing of stones for the unmarked graves of veterans in private cemeteries. The medallion is available in three sizes. Marble granular limestone or dolomite i e rock composed of calcium magnesium carbonate that has been recrystallized under the influence of heat pressure and aqueous solutions.

The medallion also offers a way to identify the grave as that of a veteran when a cemetery only allows one headstone per grave preventing the use of a standard va marker as a footstone. The price of the granite depends on where it comes from and how it s extracted from the earth. Marble s popularity began in ancient rome and greece where white and off white marble was used to construct a variety of structures from hand held sculptures to massive. A headstone tombstone or gravestone is a stele or marker usually stone that is placed over a grave they are traditional for burials in the christian jewish and muslim religions among others.

Marble weathers more quickly however and requires more upkeep over the years. Though marble costs the most many choose it for its polished appearance. A low square 6 x 6 stone marker inscribed with a grave number on top was selected to mark the graves of unknown soldiers. Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals most commonly calcite or dolomite marble is typically not foliated although there are exceptions in geology the term marble refers to metamorphosed limestone but its use in stonemasonry more broadly encompasses unmetamorphosed limestone.

Generally the larger the grave marker the pricier it will be. In fact a scratch test with a knife can determine marble from granite. Marble is one of the oldest and most beautiful stones available on the market for countertops. If the stone can easily be scratched then it is marble.