
About Michael A. Angelicola Stone Carving
High quality, hand-crafted monuments.
Michael Angelicola Stone Carving offers high-quality, unique, hand-carved monuments with a classic, vintage style. Each block of stone is selected, shaped, finished, and carved by hand, giving each piece the highest level of quality and uniqueness.
I set monuments throughout CT, NY, and the Northeast and can ship monuments anywhere in the United States.
About Mike
My adventures in stone started in 1985 when I began working as a mason's laborer. By 1996, I worked my way up to mason and began my own business. My work as a mason included a wide variety of stone work and my biggest passion at this time was working to restore historic stone structures like churches and other significant buildings.
I knew I wanted to continue advancing my skills from here and began hand carving house numbers, bird baths and soon, I was working with historic cemeteries to carve exact replacements for their damaged and broken early New England gravestones, preserving the legacy of these important monuments.
Soon after, I began carving custom monuments upon request while continuing to work as a mason full-time. Then, an unexpected visit to Hope Cemetery in Barre, VT showed me the true possibilities that exist for stone monument artistry and design. Within three years of that trip, I retired from masonry work and opened Michael A Angelicola Stone Carving to craft stone memorials and monuments full-time. I carve mainly out of my shop in Bristol, CT and am also honing my skills under the tutelage of one of Barre, Vermont’s most talented stone sculptors. I love to learn and will continue to build my carving skills on top of my decades of masonry and stone work experience. I hope to continue the rich tradition of monument stone carving and offer the highest level of monument craftsmanship to my local community and beyond.

Our Process
Take a look into the behind the scenes work it takes to create a monumental work of art.
June 27, 2025 · inventory,monument design,custom monument,stone carving,selecting a headstoneJune 27, 2025 · stone carving,granite,monument design,process,sculptureJune 27, 2025 · inventory,monument design,custom monument,stone carving,selecting a headstoneJune 27, 2025 · stone carving,granite,monument design,process,sculptureHand-Crafted Process
Monuments can have different finishes and we use many different carving techniques to achieve the desired aesthetic effect. Different from most monuments available today, our monuments are polished and carved completely by hand. Here are some examples of finish and carving styles.
Rock Pitch Styles
Rock pitching is the action of taking a chisel and hammer and breaking away the stone leaving a rough, rocky surface know as rock pitch. Different styles of rock pitch give monuments the chance to look more natural, particularly around the top and sides, with some styles appearing more extreme than others.
Shell Rock Pitch
Shell rock pitch is much less commonly used than it once was and is becoming another lost art of monument making.
First, I start with a much larger block of granite allowing at least five inches of extra material on all sides and top. I will then work off material with either feathers and wedges (there are several names for them ) or, with an 18 pound sledgehammer (which is what I prefer).
A carver needs to understand the grain pattern and know where to hit, how hard to hit, and how the stone is going to react. The goal is to remove stone leaving behind scoop-like patterns in the granite, without leaving any tool marks or flat spots.





Connect With Me
Please contact me with any questions and to request information, to see my work in Winchester, CT, or to set up a time to visit my workshop in Bristol, CT.
Call 203.565.6011, or email michaelangelicola@yahoo.com.
Follow me on social media to learn about open-house events and my latest projects.
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