Headstones, markers, and monuments
You can start with a question. Nothing has to be decided today.
Eastern Memorials designs, carves, and installs memorials for families across Northern Virginia. We handle the cemetery approval, the foundation, and the setting, so that part is not yours to work out.
What we make
Which memorial you can use depends on the section your plot sits in, not on taste alone. We confirm that with the cemetery before anything is drawn.
A die that stands on its own base. It carries the most lettering of any memorial, and it is what most family plots use.
Set level with the ground so mowers pass over it. Lawn sections almost always require this, and many memorial parks allow nothing else.
A cast bronze plate on a granite base. It darkens over the years and holds raised lettering that stays readable in low light.
How we work
Most families do this once. We do it every week, so lean on us for the parts that are not obvious.
By phone or at the shop, whichever is easier. Bring the cemetery name and the section if you have them. If you do not, we will find them.
We draw the memorial to scale with the lettering set in place. Nothing is cut until you have read the proof and signed it.
Every cemetery holds rules on size, stone, and finish. We file the application and get the approval back in writing before we start.
The stone is shaped, polished, and the lettering is cut. Roughly [TIMEFRAME] from the signed proof, depending on the stone and the season.
We set the foundation and install the memorial. You are welcome to be there when it goes in. You do not have to be.
Materials
We keep a sample of every stone in the shop. It is worth putting your hand on one before you decide.
The standard for monument work in the Northeast. A fine, even grain holds a crisp V cut letter for generations, and it weathers slowly and evenly rather than in patches.
Near black with a mirror polish. Laser etched portraits, landscapes, and hand lettering all read clearly on it, because the etch turns white against the dark face.
Soft white with visible veining, and the traditional choice in the older sections of most cemeteries here. It is a softer stone, so the edges round over decades. Some families want exactly that.
Raised lettering cast into a bronze plate, then mounted on a granite base. The face darkens to a deep brown patina in the first few years and then holds steady.
The shop
Eastern Memorials has worked out of Manassas for [YEARS] years. The person who draws your memorial is the person who cuts it, and the person who meets you at the cemetery on the day it is set.
We work with the cemeteries across Prince William, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Fauquier, which means we already know what each one allows, how long its approvals take, and who to call there.
We answer the phone ourselves.
Start here
If you do not have the cemetery name yet, or you are not sure how a name should be spelled on the stone, that is normal at this point. We will work it out together.