Loiselle Memorials

Loiselle Memorials Loiselle Memorials is dedicated to preserving the memories & sentiments of the people of the Glens Falls, Saratoga & Southern Adirondack regions.

Whether through our national award winning designs, our exclusive Rock of Ages partnership or for the fact that Loiselle Memorials staffs the areas only certified memorialist, we are uniquely able to create your story in stone.

🪨 Velvet Textures & Closed Quarries: The Legendary Story of Westerly and Quincy GraniteOver the years, some of the most ...
06/22/2026

🪨 Velvet Textures & Closed Quarries: The Legendary Story of Westerly and Quincy Granite
Over the years, some of the most beautiful, prized granites in American history have been completely quarried out. The mines are closed, the machinery is gone, and one of the few places left on Earth to see these stones is on historic memorial grounds.

🏛️ The Famed Westerly Granite (Rhode Island)
Westerly granite is the royalty of the monument world, highly sought after for its incredibly tight, fine-grained texture. Because its mineral crystals were so tiny and uniform, it carved like butter, allowing old-world sculptors to achieve unbelievable detail.

The Comstock Monument (image_15.png): This is a perfect example of how we used to marry two classic stones. The upper part of the Comstock monument is crafted from legendary Gray Westerly granite. Notice how incredibly smooth and velvet-like the texture is under the name, contrasting with a pointed base made of Barre granite.

You can also find Westerly in a delicate, warm pink. the Folsom monument utilized Westerly because its strength and fine grain could hold perfectly sharp geometric lines.

🖤 Quincy Granite (Massachusetts)
Another absolute legend no longer available today is Quincy granite. Famous for its dark, rich, almost blue-charcoal hue, Quincy granite was so heavy and dense that it took a polish like a dark mirror. Large obelisks were often crafted of this majestic stone to create an imposing, powerful presence that commanded the entire lot.

⏳ Preserving the Unreplaceable
Because these quarries are gone, these monuments are completely irreplaceable. They are historical artifacts.

While we have access to incredible, vibrant granites from all over the world today, there is a deep reverence in looking back at the definitive American stones that built our country and memorialized our time.

✨ The next time you take a walk through a local historic cemetery, look closely at the grain of the stone. You might just be standing in front of a piece of history that can never be mined again.

06/20/2026

The June MBNews Member Benefits issue features "Hogan" by Loiselle Memorials, a project that also received third place honors in the Medium Monument category of the 2026 Design Awards.

Congratulations to the team at Loiselle Memorials on this recognition. MBNA members can log-in and read more about the project in the June issue: https://associations.my.site.com/MBNA/s/

🏛️ Hidden Masters: Where the Stone Speaks for ItselfWhenever people talk about visiting the historic monuments of Barre,...
06/20/2026

🏛️ Hidden Masters: Where the Stone Speaks for Itself
Whenever people talk about visiting the historic monuments of Barre, Vermont, Hope Cemetery is usually the first name on everyone's lips. While Hope is undeniably magnificent, if you wander into some of the smaller cemeteries—like St. Monica Cemetery—you will discover a quiet gallery of hidden artwork that rivals anything found in the world.

Today, I was in Barre visiting our own family lots, and I couldn't help but marvel at the craftsmanship that surrounds my own history.

🎨 The Masters of Barre
Barre became a sanctuary for master stonecutters and sculptors who treated hard granite not just as a durable marker, but as a fine-art canvas. Look at the incredible variety of ways these historic artisans let the stone do the talking:

High-Relief Florals: In image_6.png, the deep, intertwined flowers look almost soft, defiance against the hard reality of gray granite.

The Earthy & Organic: image_7.png and image_9.png showcase the rugged "rock-pitch" style where the monument is shaped like a natural boulder, letting the raw texture of the earth do the talking.

The Italian Angel Artistry: The sorrowful angel leaning over the tablet in image_8.png shows the classic European influence that transformed American cemeteries into open-air museums.

Symbolism in Stone: In image_10.png, a massive stone cross is meticulously carved to look like a rustic tree trunk, complete with a beautifully draped stone chain wrapped around it—every single link chiseled by hand.

🖤 A Deeply Personal Connection
For me, looking at these photos isn't just an appreciation of trade history—it's my family's story. My mother and father left Barre in the early 1960s to purchase Loiselle Memorials right here in Hudson Falls, but our roots remain firmly planted in Vermont granite.

While walking through St. Monica, I stopped by to pay my respects at the Giroux family monument (image_12.png), where my paternal grandparents rest beneath a beautifully carved alcove of the Blessed Mother. Just a short walk away sits the classic, striking LaCroix family mausoleum (image_11.png), built for my grand-uncle.

The blood, sweat, and artistic standard of those old-world carvers is woven into the very fabric of how my parents ran our business, and it’s exactly how we carry it on today.

Cemeteries like St. Monica aren't just places of rest; they are galleries of human devotion and family history. Every time I go back, I bring that inspiration right back to our own shop floor, keeping that time-honored legacy alive.

🎨 Stone & Bronze: The Art of Living ContrastWhen we design a memorial, we are always looking for ways to add depth, text...
06/17/2026

🎨 Stone & Bronze: The Art of Living Contrast
When we design a memorial, we are always looking for ways to add depth, texture, and a personal touch that tells a story. One of our favorite ways to elevate a traditional granite monument is by incorporating custom bronze elements.

Granite provides an enduring, solid foundation, but when you pair it with sculptural bronze, it creates a stunning contrast that catches the light and adds a whole new dimension of artistry.

✨ The Alchemy of Patina: Art Meets Nature
The true magic of bronze lies in its patina—the rich color and finish on the surface of the metal. There are actually two stages to a bronze piece’s life:

The Foundry Patina: Before a piece ever reaches our shop, master foundry artisans use heat and specialized chemicals to pre-weather and color the metal. Look at the deep, warm tones highlighting the details in the praying hands, or the lifelike, vibrant orange tones sealed into the monarch butterfly. This initial process gives the sculpture its immediate depth and contrast.

The Natural Patina: Once placed outdoors, nature takes over the brush. Over years and decades, exposure to the elements causes the bronze to slowly develop its own unique, protective natural patina. This gradual deepening of color means the monument will beautifully evolve alongside the landscape, growing more distinguished with age.

🦅 Breaking the Plane of the Stone
Adding a bronze element allows the design to literally step out from the stone. You can see how the sleek, modern lines of the stylized birds and sun perfectly contrast against the raw, chiseled texture of the recessed granite circle. It turns a beautiful piece of stone into a true mixed-media work of art.

Whether it’s a subtle nature accent, a traditional symbol of faith, or a contemporary abstract piece, bronze brings warmth and life to eternal granite.

💭 What kind of imagery best tells your family’s story?
Stop by our shop to see how we can combine stone and metal to create a truly unique legacy.

📜 Receipts from the History Books: Proof That Physics Doesn't ChangeIn our last post, we showed you a massive granite mo...
06/12/2026

📜 Receipts from the History Books: Proof That Physics Doesn't Change
In our last post, we showed you a massive granite monument suspended right in the middle of our Hudson Falls shop floor (take another look at 720180485_1407994694686830_4012312479502700380_n.jpg. We talked about how we still rely on the exact same principles used by ancient builders: the balanced sling, the block and tackle, and heavy wooden cribbing.

Well, we decided to dig through the history archives, and we found the receipts! 🔍🏗️

Take a look at how the tools we use every single day have evolved—or rather, how they've stayed beautifully the same:

The Original Blueprints: Look closely at the French architectural engraving 7ccc197ce7620077b9d8d539593f7f0e.jpg. Look at Fig. 151 and Fig. 156. Centuries ago, master masons were using those exact same geometric A-frames, timber blocks (cribbing), and hoist systems to manipulate stone without destroying it.

The Physics of the Pull: The hand-colored schematic in 82416cc09434d0cf85200d5fa9012daa.jpg details the internal mechanics of historical winches, gears, and pulleys. When you see the heavy chain and hook handling our granite today, it’s just the modern descendant of these exact gear teeth and rope slings.

Our Industrial Grandparents: By the time the workshop crane in 2f8d85f2f137d5a7dc5189acd1673760.jpg was cast in iron, the monument trade had entered the industrial era. Yet, notice the boom, the manual gears, and the heavy chain hoist—it looks strikingly familiar to the rigging currently hovering over our workbenches.

We still stand on the shoulders of the artisans who came before us.

The tools get stronger, but the legacy remains cast in stone.

✨ Loiselle Memorials: Honoring your history by preserving our own.

Two Thousand Years of Leverage and Legacy. ⛓️🏛️We talk a lot about modern technology in the monument industry—field lapt...
06/09/2026

Two Thousand Years of Leverage and Legacy. ⛓️🏛️

We talk a lot about modern technology in the monument industry—field laptops, digital design software, laser etchers and automated stencil cutters. But when it comes down to the heavy physics of actually handling stone inside the workshop, the trade is very much the same as it was 2,000 years ago.

No matter how advanced the world gets, you cannot negotiate with gravity.

This shot shows a massive granite monument suspended at a precise tilt right in the middle of our shop floor. I am getting it perfectly positioned and prepped before it heads into the sandblast booth for deep-relief carving.

To manipulate thousands of pounds of stone safely without scratching the finish, we still rely on the exact same principles used by ancient architects and builders:

🧵 The Balanced Sling: Using heavy-duty canvas rigging straps to cradle the stone, distributing the weight evenly so it won’t slip or mar.
⛓️ The Block and Tackle: Utilizing manual chain hoists and pulleys to gain mechanical advantage, allowing a single craftsman to effortlessly lift what a team of horses couldn't move.
🪵 The Cribbing: Relying on simple, heavy wooden blocks to support the stone between moves, absorbing the pressure so the granite stays pristine.

There is a quiet reverence in doing things the time-tested way. Every time I pull that chain or adjust a sling, I'm using the exact same hands-on techniques passed down through generations of stonemasons. We build things to last for eternity, so it only makes sense that we use methods that have already stood the test of time.

✨ Spotting a Masterpiece in Stone ✨If you’ve ever walked through an old cemetery, you know that some monuments do more t...
06/04/2026

✨ Spotting a Masterpiece in Stone ✨
If you’ve ever walked through an old cemetery, you know that some monuments do more than just mark a grave—they capture an entire era of design. Take a close look at this stunning, early-to-mid 20th-century marble headstone for the MacLaughlin family. Beyond the beautiful, deeply carved Celtic cross intertwined with intricate grapevines, the typography tells a fascinating story. This lettering is a classic Vermarco—one of the most influential geometric sans-serif typefaces in American monumental history.📜 The Story Behind the Stone: Before "Vermarco" became a standardized alphabet, stone carvers often relied on classic Roman lettering or hand-drawn, gothic-influenced styles. In the early 1900s, the powerhouse Vermont Marble Company sought to create a clean, uniform, and highly legible alphabet specifically optimized for the physical demands of stone cutting and the newly emerging art of sandblasting. The result was Vermarco (named directly after the Vermont Marble Company!).🎨 Why It's Beautiful: Look at the sweeping, perfectly circular curves of the 'C' and 'G' in "MACLAUGHLIN" and "GUITEAU". Notice the unusual, almost square-bottomed 'U', and how every single line maintains the exact same weight. There is an understated, architectural elegance to its geometry. It doesn't rely on flashy flourishes; its beauty lies in perfect balance and absolute clarity.🏛️ Next time you pass an old monument, look past the dates and appreciate the artistry of the hands—and the fonts—that carved history into stone. 🖤

A Carver’s Holiday: Standing Before New York’s First Monument. 🏔️🔨Last summer, my friend Chris told me about a hidden pi...
06/01/2026

A Carver’s Holiday: Standing Before New York’s First Monument. 🏔️🔨

Last summer, my friend Chris told me about a hidden piece of master stone-carving history tucked deep in the Catskills. So, we decided to take a day off from the shop, head down to Prattsville, NY, and hike up to see it for ourselves.

What we found carved into the living rock face blew me away.

This is Pratt Rock, commissioned in the 1840s by Zadock Pratt. Long before modern tools, computerized designs, or heavy crane trucks existed, a master stonecutter named Newcomb Mapes stood on scaffolding against these sheer cliffs for years, manually chiseling history directly into the mountain.

Looking closely at these panels, you can appreciate the immense skill it took to pull these sharp details out of rugged, vertical rock:

📜 The Scroll Work: A beautifully detailed stone scroll dedicated to the Bureau of Statistics, complete with a hand gripping the top and an arm raising a stone hammer.
🌿 The Relief Plaques: Meticulous commemorative wreaths and lettering chiseled into recessed panels right out of the mountain face.
🐎 The Organic Details: Beautifully sculpted horses and circular seals that have braved nearly 180 years of brutal New York winters.

Walking along these cliffs as a monument builder, you realize that while tools and technology change, the human desire to etch a legacy permanently into stone never does. The durability of our craft is unmatched—nearly two centuries later, Mapes' chisel lines are still telling their story.

A huge thank you to Chris Dugan for pointing us toward this incredible spot. If you’re ever down near Prattsville, the hike up to see this legendary hand-carved history is worth every single step.

The Sculptor’s Palette: Painting with Texture and Shadow. 🎨🔨When people look at a monument, they often just see the colo...
05/28/2026

The Sculptor’s Palette: Painting with Texture and Shadow. 🎨🔨

When people look at a monument, they often just see the color of the stone. But to a master craftsman, granite isn't just a solid block—it's a canvas, and different textures are our paint.

Just like an artist uses an array of brushstrokes to create depth, we use a specialized toolkit to change how light and shadow hit the stone. Having the palette is one thing, but knowing how to combine them is where the craft becomes fine art.

Swipe through to take a close-up look at some of our favorite shop "mediums":

🪨 Rock Pitching: Hand-hammered, rugged borders that give the stone its natural, mountain-grown character.
🦷 Pointed-Tooth Chiseling: Creating rhythmic, sculpted ridges that give a monument an elegant, old-world flow.
🔥 Thermal / Flame Finish: Using intense heat to lightly fracture the surface, creating a beautiful, soft matte texture.
🖊️ Stippling & Frosted Finishes: Fine-impact texturing that creates crisp, bright contrast against dark granite.

The Real Magic? The Combinations. > Look at the first photo—that’s a setting sun carved directly into a rich, thermal-finished background. By juxtaposing smooth lines against a textured canvas, the stone actually looks like it's catching the last rays of daylight.

Preserving the Markers of Sacrificed Legacies. 🇺🇸🕊️On Memorial Day, our attention naturally turns to the quiet rows of l...
05/25/2026

Preserving the Markers of Sacrificed Legacies. 🇺🇸🕊️

On Memorial Day, our attention naturally turns to the quiet rows of local cemeteries, where small American flags catch the spring breeze over the resting places of our fallen heroes. But remembrance is also found along the historic roads we drive every day.

We were deeply honored several years ago to handle the restoration of this historic bronze plaque marking the General Henry Knox Trail.

In the bitter winter of 1775–1776, General Knox and his men undertook an almost impossible feat—hauling 60 tons of heavy artillery by oxcart through our local towns, from Fort Ticonderoga all the way to Boston, to help George Washington secure American liberty.

Time and the elements had taken their toll on this monument. Our job was to meticulously clean, restore, and protect the intricate bronze relief, ensuring that the story of that grueling, patriotic sacrifice remains crisp and legible for generations to come.

Whether we are carving a modern tribute, placing a custom veterans' memorial, or restoring a century-old piece of bronze history, our mission at Loiselle Memorials remains the same: we preserve the tangible markers of those who gave everything for our freedom.

Today, we pause, we remember, and we honor.

Address

402 Lower Main Street
Hudson Falls, NY
12839

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+15187474170

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Loiselle Memorials posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Loiselle Memorials:

Shortcuts

Share