Halloween edition
Post by Camila
When you think about Halloween what are the first images to come into your mind? Most of us associate this spooky holiday with trick or treating, pumpkins Jack-o' lanterns and all sorts of costumes, especially those of the ghostly variety. Many of us decorate our front yards with cemetery graveyard decorations and tombstones.
Did you know that tombstones, or grave markers as they were more commonly known, are believed to date back as far as 3,000 B.C. to the Roman and Celtic cultures? In earlier times cemeteries did not exist and people instead had burial plots near their homes where all their family members would be buried together. As such, the need for individual gravestones wasn't there, and instead markers would identify a group burial site. And what is the preferred material used to make tombstone? Granite!
Any visit to a cemetery should provide a clear indication that granite is the preferred stone for monuments. The elemental composition of this durable product is primarily feldspar and quartz. This is why you never see color imperfections, visible flaws, or fractures in slabs used in cemeteries. Other stones that are used to create headstones are inferior in their ability to remain intact and legible after the first few years of weather exposure.
Granite Is Dense and Durable
People tend to group marble and granite together as though they are the same, but granite is considerably stronger. Diamonds are a great material to use as a comparison tool because it’s one of the hardest, with a rating of 10 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness.
A slab of granite is going to range between 6 and 7, and the man-made products are considered a 5. The actual task of cutting, polishing, and carving granite is more difficult because the molecules are packed tighter than marble, but it’s worth the investment in a headstone that will last. True granite headstones also resist natural discoloration and deterioration between different seasons. Marble tends to be softer than granite, falling into a rating of 3 in the Mohs Scale.
Aesthetically Pleasing
Granite is available in various natural colors. The majority of granites possess patches of gold, blue, gray, or green, depending on the kinds of minerals present in them. Granites are aesthetically pleasing because no two granites can ever be identical, as they are removed directly from the quarry bed and hold many variations based on different locations.
Simple Maintenance
It’s effortless to clean and restore the original beauty of a granite headstone in case it gets filled with hard water, moss, lichens, and debris. It be can easily cleaned using a little amount of water, dishwashing liquid, and a clean cloth.
So why there is marble in cemeteries?
Older cemeteries that feature monuments dating back to the mid 1800’s contain a lot of marble. It was the most popular choice because the tools used in that time period could easily work with marble.
Unfortunately, marble is a calcite structure that is prone to erode when exposed to acid rain and other pollutants in the air over the year. This is why the ancient memorials are barely legible and highly deteriorated compared to granite monuments being exposed to the same weather conditions.
So there you go! Once again Natural Stones proving can be versatile, long lasting and scary!
Happy Halloween!
We wish you a fun and spooky night filled with lots of yummy treats!
Comments