Abstract

The southern economy has long been perceived as dependent upon scores of extra-regional capital, skilled workers and technology. Economic development efforts geared to ending this dependence have found limited success. The granite processing industry of Elbert County, Georgia, however, presents a compelling, and often overlooked, example of a successful, locally owned manufacturing complex. While the Elbert County granite monument industry has shown itself to be resilient in the face of technological and economic change, recent global, national and local forces have brought this manufacturing center to a point of crises. This paper focuses on the historical evolution of this production complex, the role of localization economies in monument manufacturing, and the current threats to the industry driven by the arrival of global competition and cultural change.

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