Cockeysville marble: a heritage stone from Maryland, USA
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Published:October 21, 2020
Abstract
By virtue of its use in iconic monuments and historic buildings in the USA, Cockeysville marble, a dolomitic to calcitic lower Paleozoic (Cambrian/Ordovician) marble quarried in Baltimore County and adjacent areas in Maryland, is proposed as a potential Global Heritage Stone Resource. The most important use of this stone was for the Washington Monument in Washington, DC whose construction began in 1848; the second most important use was for the 108 columns of the United States Capitol's wings, completed in 1868. It was also used for two of the oldest major marble monuments in the USA, Baltimore's Battle Monument (dedicated in 1827) and Washington Monument (completed in 1829), as well as Baltimore's City Hall, Buffalo's Adkins Art Museum, Detroit's Fisher Building and parts of St Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. During the nineteenth century white Cockeysville was most desired, but a colourful variety, Mar Villa marble, was also used in the first decades of the twentieth century. Cockeysville marble is no longer quarried for dimension stone. All Cockeysville used outdoors has weathered to a lesser or great extent, but early testing indicating that the dolomitic marble would be more durable has proved to be true.
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Contents
Global Heritage Stone: Worldwide Examples of Heritage Stones
CONTAINS OPEN ACCESS

Heritage stones are building and ornamental stones that have special significance in human culture. The papers in this volume discuss a wide variety of such materials, including stones from Europe, Asia, North and South America, Africa and Australia. Igneous (basalt, porphyry, granite), sedimentary (sandstone, limestone) and metamorphic (marble, quartzite, gneiss, soapstone, slate) stones are featured. These have been utilized over long periods of time for a wide range of uses contributing to the historical fabric of the built environment. Many of these stones are of international significance and potential Global Heritage Stone Resources – stones that have the requisite qualities for international recognition by the Heritage Stones Subcommission of the International Union of Geological Sciences. The contributions in this volume bring together diverse information on these stones, ranging from their geological setting and quarry locations to mechanical properties, current availability and uses over time. As such, the papers can serve as an entry into the literature on these important stones.
GeoRef
- absorption
- Baltimore County Maryland
- building stone
- carbonic acid
- chemical composition
- color
- compressive strength
- construction materials
- density
- dimension stone
- engineering properties
- flexure
- geologic sites
- inorganic acids
- lithostratigraphy
- marble deposits
- marbles
- Maryland
- mechanical properties
- metamorphic rocks
- mineral composition
- ornamental materials
- petrography
- physical properties
- porosity
- quarries
- specific gravity
- supply
- testing
- United States
- utilization
- Cockeysville Marble
- Cockeysville Maryland
- Texas Maryland
- Stockbridge Marble
- Beaver Dam Quarry
- Texas Quarry