Hi Jan,
This isn't really totally a cemetery preservation question (well,
I guess it
is, in a way). I just found out where my gr-gr-gr-aunt is buried, and she
doesn't have a marker. I was wondering, out loud, how much a very small one
cost now.
A small granite marker, about 12X14 inches or so, with all of the important
details on it, runs $100-150 if you pick it up at the "monument store". (I
live
in Southeast Texas.) We have found that if you buy from someplace other than a
funeral home, they cost less for the same stone. My suggestion: Get out the
yellow pages and call around. Something else to think about. Some cemeteries
require that you buy the headstone and pay them to set the stone at the grave.
You need to check on this.
My husband said "Why don't you make one?". I've
come across
"home-made" markers in some old cemeteries, usually fairly crude, but at
least the information is there. Does anyone know if this kind of thing is
still allowed? Is it something that, maybe, each individual cemetery would
have their own policy on?
You need to check with those in charge of caring for the cemetery BEFORE you make
a headstone. Some cemeteries don't mind and others absolutely will NOT let you
put "home-made" markers in "their" cemetery. I was thinking that you
could get
the alphabet tiles that they are using to make garden stepping stones and make
your own grave marker. I don't know how long this would last but it seems that it
would do pretty well for a while at least. My suggestion is that you need heavier
stones in the more visible cemeteries so that they would not be easily carried
away.
Just my two cents worth.
Jeanie in Texas