Colonial Headstone Carvers

For those who were wealthy enough, a headstone was one of the final privileges life had to offer. The demand for carved headstones created a robust trade throughout the colonial United States. The work of stone carvers is unique because the artifacts they created still remain in situ centuries later. Colonial headstones don't only tell us information about the deceased. They can also be used to identify which individual carved the headstone, and by extension, where the headstone was manufactured and imported from. On this page, I will be identifying headstones I come across, and mapping the distribution of these stones. In order to do this, I have been using collections of identified headstones, such as the Farber Collection. This is not an exact science, unless the stones are marked specifically with the name of the stone carver. It was not uncommon for stone carvers to copy each other as well, which makes identification difficult in some cases. I've done my best to link to resources and ensure that all my sources are cited, so that anyone can see the research and decide for themselves.