High Cross Monument Co.
If you are looking for a memorial with Celtic design in the form of a Celtic cross, monument or marker, we will make it easy for you. Since 1992 High Cross Monument Co. has been creating fine memorials, specializing in the traditional artwork of the ancient Celts.
Most of our customers are of Irish, Scottish or Welsh descent. For them our memorials serve as an eternal reflection of their proud heritage.
With the growing popularity of memorial gardens in churchyards, a large and growing amount of our work is for churches. Our Celtic crosses serve as majestic and reverent centerpieces and focal points within many of these gardens.
Of course we have had many customers with no particular Celtic connection. They chose our work just because they found it unique and beautiful! They wanted more than the standard, mundane memorials that are offered everywhere.
Our work can be found all across the U.S., up into Canada and even out in the Caribbean.
We invite you take just a few minutes to go through the pages of our site. You will be able to see many examples of our past work to gather inspiration for your own memorial and learn how we make it easy for you to have one.
About Us
People frequently ask me how I got into this business and are generally fascinated by the story. Well, it all started back in the early 80's when I began digging into my roots. I came across pictures of the beautiful old Celtic crosses. I realized that a Celtic cross was what I would want for my cemetery memorial. Then I began to think about what it might be like to make one. I knew that there were hundreds of thousands of others like me all across the country who were into their Celtic roots. I felt perhaps many of them might also find it meaningful to have Celtic designwork on their memorial. I also thought that many churches might like to have a fine Celtic cross on their grounds. But, I convinced myself that it was a foolish dream and that no one would want one but me.
However, it was a dream that would not go away. By June of 1992, after working for many years in financial data processing, I had reached a point where I was determined that I would never again work for anyone else if I had the choice. So, I took a huge leap of faith and decided that I would try to make my dream a reality.
Sure, there were a few minor hurdles to be overcome. I didn't know anything about the monument business. I didn't know how to carve stone. I didn't even have a place to set up a shop. This is where what I believe was a bit of divine intervention came into play on the way to achieving the "American Dream"! It was uncanny how I managed to get through to the right people, at the right time, with the right questions to learn everything I needed to know to get things started. The start up process proved to be long, hard and expensive. But after a mere nine months of arduous work I sold my first memorial!
Over the last 15 years I have developed a wide-ranging body of work to show to prospective customers. Now, each year gets a little bigger and a little better. High Cross Monument Co. is now known in the monument industry as the best source in the country for memorials with traditional Celtic designwork.
I consider myself extremely fortunate. I truly love what I do for a living. Remember, "You can't do what you can't imagine, so imagine!"
If you like the memorials you see here I hope you will contact me. I would enjoy making a memorial for you or a loved one.
John W. Scott, AICA
Owner
About Our Work
You may be wondering why people and churches from all over the U.S. and Canada have chosen High Cross Monument Co. to make their memorials. The answer is simple, if a bit surprising. Monument companies deal almost exclusively with customers within a relatively small trading area. There is simply not enough demand for memorials with traditional Celtic designwork within anyone's trading area to justify the great amount of time and effort required to learn how to layout and carve it properly.
I have many good friends in the business who have made "Celtic crosses". Everyone understands the shape, but the traditional designwork is a mystery. I have never met anyone who could even carry on an informed conversation about Celtic designwork. Consequently, on occasion we do serve as a supplier to other monument companies when they have a customer who wants a memorial with Celtic designwork. It is simply easier for them to work with us than to "reinvent the wheel".
There are about a half a dozen categories of Celtic designwork. They are all geometric in nature and very difficult to work with. The art is in selecting the right design for the space available, one that fills the space attractively. Once the layout of the design has been created, the next challenge is the actual carving. We have received many calls over the years from other monument builders who have set our work. They ask "How did you do that"? They know their carving techniques would not have produced the high-quality carving we offer.
We have developed our own techniques to make Celtic designwork look as it should. These are our "trade secrets". We sculpt each cord intersection in knotwork patterns to make the cords appear to flow over-and-under, for a three dimensional appearance. Rather than use nondurable paints to temporarily enhance contrast as is commonly done, we use a process known as "bluing and whitening" where the surface finish of the granite, and thereby its color, is permanently changed to make designwork and lettering really stand out. Our goal is always to make memorials that will look as good hundreds of years from now as they do today.
Finally, if you encounter a local salesperson, hungry for a sale, who assures you that "they can do anything", make sure you insist on seeing all the examples of memorials they have made with traditional Celtic designwork and compare them to ours.
High Cross Monument Co.
8865 College St
Beaumont TX 77707
Tel: 409 866-4649; 800 862-2686
E-mail: highcross@earthlink.net
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