Tenn. Black Marble

["George Graham" <georgergraham@zzzzzzzzzzz>]

Bill,
I've never had to buy some Tenn. Pink. Having access to marble was one of
benefits to working in a monument shop. Especially in the south where marble
is used as much as granite. The shop had a large pile of scrap stone that
was rejected for various reasons. Vandalized and discarded monuments and
bases were removed by the company as a gift to the owners who couldn't do it
themselves. So at a time when I was putting all the pieces together to learn
how to carve and cut stone in a very controlled way, I was able to pick from
the waste pile and use the company tools to do my own thing. It was like
being a kid in the candy store. There was not many pieces of Tenn. Pink
there, but I got them all!

To answer your question as best I can, Tenn. Pink comes from quarries in the
Knoxville area of eastern Tenn. The black is also in that general area. I'm
sure they have a web site, but you'll have to so a search for them.
There is a long history of using this stone for buildings, monuments, and
sculpture, so it turns up in a lot of different places. The good sculpture
supply companies should be able to get it , even if they don't list it in
the catalogs. Up here in western NY, some years ago cemeteries started
making rules to forbid any marble monuments to be erected. In some cases
perfectly good monuments were taken out ,to be replaced by granite. I was
able to drag some great pieces out of the junk pile, and still have some
stock for the near future!  One thing great about this stone is that it is
very stain resistant. Some of my stock was covered in dirt and forest mud
for years, and had no discoloration. I think recycling old monuments into
something beautiful is so much better then throwing it into the trash.

Also, as a student, I got a piece of tenn. marble that was called Cedar
Marble, or Craig Mountain Marble. It was similar to the pink, but was a much
darker reddish brown, nice layering, and markings.
I've never run across it since , and maybe some out there has heard of it.
The main point of all this, is that eastern Tenn. is a great source of
excellent marble.

If I find out more I'll pass it on.
George