Headstones Too Go Global, and One City Pays the Price:
For decades, the granite industry made Barre, near Montpelier, a boomtown and Vermont’s biggest melting pot, drawing immigrants from Italy, Ireland, Poland and Canada. During their heyday, in the early-to-mid-20th century, the manufacturers here employed about 3,000 people.
Today the number is only 1,500, said John P. Castaldo, executive director of the Barre Granite Association, and most of those are in sales or administration. Roughly 300 actually make headstones and memorials, working with heavy machinery, and those who still hand-carve granite are no more than six or so.
The biggest problem during the last decade has been imported headstones, mostly from China and India, which cost about half as much as those made in Barre (pronounced BEAR-ee).
“The labor costs in China are significantly lower than they are here, and it’s taking its toll on the American manufacturers,” said Pennie Sabel, president of the International Cemetery and Funeral Association, a trade group.
Barre’s manufacturers describe the quality of the imported stones as poor and say it shows, but to the typical customer the only difference is price. Further, Chinese companies are also producing black granite headstones, which are becoming more popular than gray ones.
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