Our Story

Honoring lives Well Lived

Chillicothe Monument opened for business in February 2015. Owners Eric Gunnoe, Justin Long, and Dave Strickland feel that honoring a loved one after death is just as important as the respect you give someone while living. A monument is a respectful personalized image for a deceased loved one that all can see.

Steps to Selecting Your Monument

Step 1: Understand the Cemetery Regulations

All cemeteries have rules and regulations concerning the style and size of memorials placed on their grounds. Some only allow lawn level grass markers, others require a minimum number of lots depending on the width of the base. Some have height restrictions. Now you don’t have to study these regulations. Our design team will walk you through the whole process while designing you a beautiful monument.

Step 2: Single or Companion

After the first step the next step will be for an individual or will represent a married couple, or even a family.

Step 3: Upright or Flat Grass Markers

If there is no height restrictions in your cemetery, you have a choice of memorializing anywhere from 6 inches in height all the way up to a sky scraping obelisk. The only restriction now outside the budget, will most likely be the width of the plots which determine the with of the base on which most uprights depend on. Grass Markers can still be customized to your liking with laser etching, images, and sandblasting. However uprights offer greater opportunity for variation and creativity.

Step 4: Shapes

Monuments come in all shapes in sizes. The traditionally serp top to custom shapes you made up. The only thing that limits the shape of your monument is your imitation

Step 5: Colors

With many colors to pick from it can be hard to decide on the perfect one but our team will help you get the perfect color for your monument. All these colors and more are on display in our office. Feel free to come in and take a look at any of them because granite colors may look different in person than in pictures.

Step 6: Finishes

There are 3 different finishes for granite.

Sawn, this is a result of the stone being cut but not polished
Polished, when the stone is smoothed into a glassy finish. This leave a shimmer in the stone and is much easier to clean.
Rock Pitched, this is the more natural finish of the 3. This looks rough but offers an aesthetic symmetry to the sides of your monument.

Step 7: Fonts

With hundreds of fonts to choose from the easiest way to find your favorite, is to come in for an appointment. There are also many finishes to these fonts which you can mix and match to your liking.

Foundations

The Foundation of the monument is essential to the life of the monument because, if not constructed properly, the monument could lean even to the point of falling over. We at Chillicothe Monument will prepare and install the foundation for your monument in accordance with industry standards. We offer, at no additional cost, a foundation warranty. In the unlikely event that the foundation would fail, causing the monument to lean, sink, or fall over, Chillicothe Monument would reset the monument at no cost to the consumer.

Common questions regarding foundations:

1. Do ALL monument choices require a foundation?

A grass marker does not require a foundation; and, a bronze marker will go onto either a grass marker or a pre-cast concrete backer.

2. Will Chillicothe Monument do the foundation work for every cemetery?

Some cemeteries install the foundations and will obtain the necessary information from us to complete the job.

3. What are the requirements for the size of a foundation?

Cemetery grave plot size can vary and this is important information to have prior to purchasing your monument. Foundations will be based on the size of the base of the monument. Chillicothe Monument will typically have a 2″ extended margin outside of the base for the foundation; however, some cemeteries will require a 3″ margin.

Our Work

At Chillicothe Monument, we treat our clients like family and it is inherently important to us that we are empathetic, kind, intuitive, and thorough in order to provide the best experience possible for a difficult task. From the beginning of the design process to following up with the client after we have set their monument, we want each family to know that they matter and that their concerns and needs have been met.