Marble & Granite Headstones and Memorials

About Marble and Granite Headstones

Today most monuments throughout the world are made from granite and not from marble. Granite and marble tombstones, headstones and monuments are based on completely different stone materials. Here is some information that may help you in your decision to find the best material for your headstone, monument or gravestone.

You can also contact one of our customer care consultants for your complimentary telephone consultation. 

There are three basic kinds of rock.

1. Igneous – This rock was first a molten substance that was extruded from the earth’s core to the surface.  Granite is an igneous rock.
2. Sedimentary – This rock was formed from the sediment of coral, shells, bones and other such matter.  Limestone is a sedimentary rock.
3. Metamorphic – The name of this rock implies a change of form after creation.  Intense pressure and heat over millions of years transforms sedimentary rock into metamorphic rocks like marble.

Granite

Granite is made up of 3 major elements; feldspar is the main ingredient, while quartz is the hardest ingredient and the balance is generally made up of biotite or mica.

Many types of granite are found around the earth. There are many granite deposits but very few are of the high quality needed for permanent, outdoor memorialization. The proper mineral constituents and the right amount of mixing combined with slow cooling over many thousands of years will create deposits where grade 1, memorial quality granites can be quarried. Even the best granite quarries provide only about 15 to 30 percent of memorial quality granite. The rest of the usable material is fabricated into other less demanding products such as building cladding, counter tops and tiles.  Fractures, color imperfections and other flaws require that over 2/3 of quarried granite is discarded forever on “grout” piles.

Diamond is the hardest material on earth.  The Measures of Hardness Scale (MOHS) rates diamonds as the benchmark at 10, with quartz at approximately 7. Granite ranges around 6 (generally depending on how much quartz is contained therein) and most marble is around 3. Since both marble and granite are capable of taking a high polish, many people equate marble and granite but granite is considerably harder and much more dense than marble.

Granite is quarried in large blocks, cut by diamond-toothed saws into slabs, and then polished by huge computer controlled grinding machines.  These machines use a variety of diamond impregnated grinding blocks that gradually smooth down the rough surface into a mirror-like finish. The final polish is generally a buffing with tin-oxide (jeweler’s polish) or similar material to bring out the natural color of the material. 

Marble

Marble is a crystalline, compact variety of metamorphosed limestone, consisting primarily of calcite and dolomite. Pure calcite is white, but mineral impurities add color in variegated patterns. Extensive deposits are located throughout the world. The great works of Michelangelo were carved from a white, translucent variety of Carrara marble, which is quarried in Italy.

Many older cemeteries are filled with marble memorials that are nearly unreadable today.  Certain conditions (moisture, salt, hydrocarbon and sulfur dioxide pollution) contribute to decompose the calcite structure of marble and allow it to be eroded rather rapidly.  Some types of marble are more durable than others and in dry, rural areas (without major automobile and industrial hydrocarbon pollution) most marble survives for longer periods. Granite, on the other hand, is capable of enduring wide ranges of extremes in dry or moist, hot or cold climates and also withstands acid rain pollution without noticeable change over thousands of years.

Marble was used almost exclusively for monuments before the 1920’s.  Gradually better technology like wire saws, sandblast carving, carbide and diamond tools allowed more efficient and less costly quarrying, cutting, polishing and carving of the harder granite.  Today marble has been relegated to mainly indoor uses and granite has proven to be the most durable and is thus the preferred choice of most customers for cemetery memorialization. Most cemeteries in the U.S. no longer permit the use of marble memorialization for outdoor use.

Choosing a headstone memorial begins with telling a story. We’d like to hear about your loved one’s faith and beliefs, family heritage, interests and accomplishments. With an understanding of what made your special person unique, we can begin sketching a memorial that’s as one of a kind as he or she was. From there, we can help you choose the headstone memorial type, stone color, size and shape that will best tell your story for generations to come.

Please select our upright, flat grave stone, granite monument benches, cultural grave stones to help select the perfect headstone memorial.   Call us for suggestions and to discuss your family's needs.

Basic Types of Memorials