Types of Gravestones:

Understanding the different types of gravestones used throughout history can help genealogists and family historians figure out when a marker was placed. Our ancestors were likely to have grave markers made of one of the following materials depending on when they lived and what was available.

Fieldstone Slate Sandstone Homemade Cement Limestone Marble White Bronze Granite #1 – Fieldstone

Fieldstone was commonly used from the 1600s until today, sometimes even earlier.

Fieldstones can be one big rock or a pile of smaller rocks. The main purpose was to keep animals away from the burial remains. Piles of stones were sometimes called “wolf stones” since they were intended to keep wolves from digging up the grave.

Wooden markers were sometimes placed in the pile of rocks to mark the spot so family members would be able to find it again. At first, the wooden markers seldom had names or dates engraved but in later years, that became more common.

#2 – Slate

Slate was used from the 1600s to the 1900s. It usually came from the New England area in the United States. late withstands weathering well but it is also porous, so it sometimes breaks off in sheets.

Slabs of slate and sandstone were sometimes brought from England to America as a ship’s ballast. Then the slate was reused in cemeteries as grave markers.

Many early slate gravestones were carved with winged skull symbols.

#3 – Sandstone

Sandstone was used from the 1650s to the late 1800s. It was dark brown, light tan, or reddish, depending on the quarry it came from.

Sandstone is susceptible to having small pieces chip off and then lichen and mold grow in the open spaces, sometimes causing the gravestones to split.

#4 – Homemade Cement

During the Great Depression, many impoverished families made homemade grave markers from cement. The markers were made of cement poured into a wooden frame. Sticks were used to etch names and dates in the wet cement.

Sometimes, adornments of pebbles, glass marbles, seashells, and pieces from broken porcelain dishes were pressed into the wet cement. After the cement had hardened, the wooden frames were removed.

Many homemade cement markers have held up surprisingly well for decades.

#5 – Limestone

Limestone was popular in the Midwest from the mid-1700s to the 1930s.

Most of the limestone in the United States was quarried in Kentucky.

Families in the United States often hired Italian immigrant sculpture artists to carve their limestone grave markers because they were already experienced in carving marble. Limestone is much softer than marble, so it was easy to carve.

The result was many elaborately hand-carved sandstone gravestones all across the Midwest.

# 6 – Marble

Marble is both strong and beautiful, and it was used primarily from the 1780s to the 1930s. The marble can be blue, white, or gray. Acid rain can make marble grainy and cause the lettering to erode.

This marble piano is the gravestone of Harry Thornton, a concert pianist. He and his wife entertained troops during the First World War.

Thornton died during the 1918 flu epidemic and is buried at Highgate Cemetery in London, England.

The epitaph on the side of the piano reads, “Sweet thou art sleeping; cradled on my heart; safe in God’s keeping; while I must weep apart.”

Following the US Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln determined that military cemeteries were needed. He chose the shape of the shield emblem and the patterns of names and regiment numbers that are still used on military headstones today.

Gravestones that are made of marble in our day are carved with lasers instead of being hand carved.

#7 – White Bronze

Most gravestones were made out of stone from the 1880s to the 1900s but some were white bronze metal. In truth, the metal was not actually “white” or “bronze.” It was actually a zinc alloy. (But “white bronze” sounded better, so they went with it!)

White bronze gravestones were a less expensive alternative to marble or limestone, so it quickly became very popular. They were sometimes even used for war monuments.

White bronze gravestones were sold through department store catalogs and by door-to-door by salesmen. They didn’t weigh as much as stone grave markers and could even be taken apart in sections, so they were easier to ship and set in place. Not only that, but they were also much more durable.

White bronze grave markers were resistant to tarnishing and corrosion. Lichen and mold will not grow on them. Those that were placed more than 100 years ago remain legible even today.

There were many reasons that white bronze gravestones were popular, but legends say that they were especially popular with prohibition-era bootleggers as hiding places for their liquor.

Buyers snuck into the cemetery at night, opened the side panels, and left money inside the hollow “moonshine gravestones.” Later, bootleggers took the money out and left a bottle of home-brewed “hooch” for the buyer.

The designs for white bronze grave markers were virtually unlimited since the side panels could be removed (notice the little screws in the corners) and customized to meet each family’s needs.

So, the next time you are at a cemetery, keep your eye out for white bronze gravestones and look for the little screws in the corners of the side panels.

As white bronze gravestones became more common, stone carvers worried that they would be out of work soon. So, they petitioned cemetery managers for help. Many cemetery managers began prohibiting white bronze markers on their grounds.

#8 – Granite

Granite gravestones were used from the mid-1800s until the present day. They are the most durable gravestones and seldom have trouble with acid rain, weathering, chipping, or splitting.

Granite colors can vary from light gray to blue, green, red, and black.

Granite is so durable that it is used not only for gravestones but for large monuments and sculptures like Mount Rushmore.

The nature of granite makes it the ideal material for carving detailed grave sculptures like this one of the Henry Thiele family.

Granite is so stable that it can be carved into lifelike images.