By CATHY MIGLORIE SPECIAL TO THE HERALD – Published: October 23, 2009 

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries the memorial stone business grew in leaps and bounds, and the Vermont Marble Co. was perfectly positioned to fulfill the public’s desire for these lasting tributes. As demand for monuments grew, the Vermont Marble Co. developed a bimonthly newsletter for use as an educational tool for their salesmen, craftsmen and other interested parties. First called simply “Vermont Marble,” the August 1925, Volume I, No. 1 issue stated its purpose as thus:

“The Home of Vermont Marble”

“For several years we have been sending out to our salesmen a multigraphed news bulletin, containing items of interest pertaining to the marble industry. Some of the craftsmen have seen copies of it and have asked why the same information could not be given to them. Thus we have been led to believe that a little folder of this kind going out to the trade every other month may be able to win a place for itself. We hope to make it not only easy to read but worth the reading. If we fail, we should be glad to have you tell us, if we succeed we shall be even more pleased to hear about it.”

In April 1927, the popular Vermont Marble Co. publication was renamed “The Memory Stone.” On its pages appeared many stories about famed memorials which were fabricated from the marble of the Vermont Marble Co. Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier were favorite topics, used to illustrate the versatility and endurance of Vermont marble.

Marble from central Vermont quarries graces personal, state, and national civic architecture and monuments, including headstones in the Arlington National Cemetery, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the U.S. Supreme Court Building and the Thomas Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C, the United Nations building in New York City, and the Washington State Capitol Building. Col. Redfield Proctor’s active political career and influence no doubt contributed to the popularity in use of Vermont Marble Co. marble in these places. Proctor was a U.S. politician of the Republican Party. He served as governor of Vermont from 1878 to 1880, served as secretary of war in the cabinet of President Benjamin Harrison from 1889, and was appointed to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate in1891, where he remained as senator from Vermont until his death in 1908.

In August 1925, on the first page of the first issue of the Vermont Marble publication appeared this paragraph praising Arlington:

“Post Offices Advertising the Arlington”

“The new fifty-cent stamp issued by the Post Office Department bears on its face a picture of Arlington Memorial, with the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the foreground. It is entirely in accord with the fitness of things that the Arlington should be applied to one of the stamps of higher denomination.”

Appearing in the December, 1928 issue was this brief history about Arlington, describing its transformation from a simple tract of land into the famous national landmark, and the use of Vermont marble in some of the prestigious monuments as well as in the ranks of white stones covering the slopes of the cemetery.

“Arlington, the Cemetery of Storied Military Shrines”

“Robert Howsen, ship captain, brought many colonists to America. In return for his services, he received from the Royal Governor of Virginia a grant of land on the Potomac River, acres of wilderness which he soon passed to another owner in exchange for a few hogsheads of native tobacco. A part of this grant, 1100 acres in extent, was finally bought by John Parke Custis, stepson of George Washington. To this new estate Custis gave the name of Arlington, a title which dated back to his old family home in Northampton County and which originally was a tribute to the Earl of Arlington.

The master of this later Arlington domain died in his country’s service near Yorktown, and two of his children were adopted by Washington. It was from Mount Vernon, therefore, that the second proprietor of Arlington, George Washington Parke Custis, went forth to claim his inheritance. The mansion that he reared there became a dominant factor in the social life of Virginia. There a true daughter of the South, Mary Ann Randolph Custis, was born, one who in later years became the wife of Robert E. Lee. And as time went on the place began to be known as the Lee Mansion, a title which it still holds.

It was from that home, in October 1859, that Col. Lee set out to curb John Brown’s uprising at Harper’s Ferry. From there in 1861, he rode to Richmond to take command of the Confederate forces.

This in brief is the historical background of Arlington National Cemetery. The details, as to how war transformed a colonial estate into a soldier’s burying ground, are of secondary concern. Enough to know that it was finally purchased by the U.S. Government, and that it has become in a very true sense a national resting place for honored defenders of the flag.

It’s quite the common thing in these days to think of the great cemetery on the Potomac as the home of the Arlington Memorial and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. No doubt this is the natural outcome, since of all the monuments within those gates the white marble Amphitheatre and the Tomb beside it are the most often illustrated and described. Besides, they are the first to be seen as the visitor leaves the nation’s capital and crosses the Potomac on the road to the Virginia hills. Yet notwithstanding their prominence, they constitute merely a dominating center around which cluster an ever increasing number of famous shrines.

Many of the pilgrims gather at Custis or Lee Mansion, with its massive columned portico, said to have been modeled from an old Greek temple. Congress now has a plan for restoring the interior of the building, and that will be almost certain to quicken public interest.

Directly in front of the imposing entrance is the marble tomb of Pierre Charles L’Enfant, the French engineer who saw a vision of the larger and more beautiful Washington. And off at one side is a simple shaft which guards the grave of George W.P. Custis, the first master of Arlington House.

Then there is the Argonne Memorial, a plain marble cross about fourteen feet high, which was raised by the American Women’s Legion and dedicated to the men of the Expeditionary Forces who are buried in France. Or perhaps, it is the Maine Mast Monument where reposes all that is left of the revered battleship, —- or the Coast Guard Monument, or the grave of Adm. Peary.

A new shrine, which is now being visited by thousands, is the modest marble tablet inscribed to the memory of Floyd Bennett, warrant officer of the U.S. Navy. Around its base the grass has been worn away by the tramp of countless feet. The face of the stone bears this record: ‘The first man to pilot an airplane over the North Pole with his friend Commander Richard Byrd.’

It is said that hardly a day passes without bringing another flag-draped casket to some one of these cemetery gates. Once again the three volleys are fired and taps are sounded. In that way is Arlington being consecrated as the ’shrine of all America.’

Nothing could be more impressive, to quote from Augustus St. Gaudens, ‘than the rank after rank of white stones, inconspicuous in themselves, covering the wooded slopes of Arlington and producing the desired effect of a vast army in its last resting place’.”

The story of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is the subject of a new exhibit to be unveiled in May at the Vermont Marble Museum in Proctor. In coming weeks, Marble Minutes will feature excerpts from the Vermont Marble Co. publication “The Memory Stone.”

Marble Minutes is designed to share the history of the marble industry in Vermont. It is part of the Dimensions of Marble program, which, through six distinct projects, will bring together the history of the marble quarries and workers, the communities in which they lived, the artistry of sculptors past and present, and the people, who over generations, created a multitude of new projects and brought prosperity to the region. For more information on Dimensions of Marble, visit www.dimensionsofmarble.org or e-mail Megan Smith, executive director at info@dimensionsofmarble.org.