Monuments

MICHAEL FANNIN
Stone Carver

Middletown Springs, Vermont USA



More about monuments and the process at my new web site Custommemorials.com

"It's Never Too Early
to Consider Your Monumental Needs"

I didn't wake up one morning and decide I wanted to carve tombstones. It was just part of my ascendancy in training that I ended up in the monument division at Vermont Marble.

It was a hell of a good place to learn the fundamentals of architectural form. It's all there, along with quite a bit of artistic expression. And the occasional quirk. I once carved matching 45 caliber pistols on the headstone of "The Man Who was Against Gun Control". (And in another ironic twist, for a time I lived in renovated funeral home, rode to work in my buddy's 1962 Cadillac hearse, and worked the graveyard shift carving tombstones. Go figure.) In this sort of atmosphere, it's good to maintain a healthy attitude about the idea of mortality, especially your own.

Tombstones have been around since our primitive ancestors decided to use piles of stones to protect burial sites, to deprive scavengers form a midnight snack. Stone even became an object of religious veneration. The remnants of this type of worship exist to this day in religious iconization.

There is some debate about wether cemetery memorials are justified in this day and age. I've given this some thought myself, and have come to these conclusions:

For one, they are a good genealogy record. The first place people go to research their ancestors is in the cemetery. Secondly, they are a historical record of our times. Stone is built to last and what they represent will be uncovered and studied by the archeologist of the future . The conclusions they come to, we can only speculate about.

Thirdly, this is one way that I make my living, and so I would like to remind you that "it's never too early to consider your monumental needs". Jean Eisenhart did.

EISENHART MONUMENT

Some people like to design their own monument, so they can make a statement and enjoy it themselves. Jean Eisenhart is one of those people whose hobby it was to take rubbings of antique memorials. She had seen another colonial tablet type stone that I had done and gave me a call.

We worked together to select different facets from several rubbings and combine them into one design. This was drawn up and approved by Jean, and I began the production process.

There was no sandblasting involved, so it was a traditional stone done in the manner of it's period. Every part of it carved by hand in marble native to the area. Aside from its lack of weathering, it is identical to the 150 year old stones that keep it company in the cemetery.

Jean and I had a lot of fun during the process and still keep in touch. Her monument was one of my favorite projects. Her will stipulates that her date of death should be hand carved. If I'm not here, I hope someone can be found to do it.


Another reproduction of an early tablet type, carved in Vermont marble.

A fancy reproduction stone with some serious moulding,
to match a family plot in Texas.
About 2' x 3.5'
Vermont marble


A family crest for a tablet stone.
Diameter about 2 feet.
Vermont marble



There's nothing like drapery out of solid rock, is there?
Approximately 2'x2'x4.5', marble.



Architectural Ornament Sculpture
Portraiture Restoration Signage

More about monuments and the process at my new web site Custom Memorials.com




MICHAEL FANNIN
Stone Carver

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e-mail: fannin@vermontel.net


182 Gulf Road, Middletown Springs, Vermont 05757

Telephone: 802.235.2412

Fax: 802.235.2040


Web site design by
HYBL/FANNIN DESIGN
All images and text copyright © Michael Fannin 1996-2003