Drive south from Ellijay on GA-515 and within half an hour you reach Pickens County, where the ground is full of marble. Stone from the quarries around the small town of Tate has been shipped across the country for more than a century, and the New Georgia Encyclopedia says it was used in the U.S. Capitol. The encyclopedia goes further and says 60 percent of the monuments in Washington, D.C., are made of Georgia marble.

Before the quarries

Georgia marble was carved long before anyone opened a quarry. The encyclopedia dates the earliest known use to about 1400, when effigies, bowls and projectile points were made from it. Some of those pieces are on permanent display at Etowah Mounds near Cartersville.

An Irish stonemason and the Tates

The industry began after the mid-1830s, when Henry T. Fitzsimmons, an Irish stonemason, found outcrops while traveling through North Georgia. He opened the Long Swamp Marble Company in the Long Swamp Valley and carved monuments and memorials that sold throughout the area.

Samuel Tate came next. In the 1830s he bought land lottery tracts in North Georgia, much of which held marble. He went into a quarry partnership in 1850, but the early industry had faded by 1880. The arrival of the Marietta and North Georgia Railroad in 1883 changed that. The Tate family created the Georgia Marble Company the following year, in 1884.

The Etowah quarry opened in 1890 and produced what the encyclopedia calls the first truly pink marble. In 1905 Samuel Tate’s grandson, known as “Colonel Sam” Tate, became general manager. Between 1917 and 1920, as president, he bought out the surrounding finishing plants so the company could sell finished marble products.

Where it went

The encyclopedia lists 1930s projects built with Georgia marble, including:

  • The Longworth House Office Building in Washington, D.C.
  • The capitol of Puerto Rico
  • The New York Stock Exchange
  • The Federal Reserve Bank and Public Library in Cleveland

Closer to home, the Georgia State Capitol, completed in 1889, has a cornerstone, floors, steps and many walls of Georgia marble. The Pickens County Courthouse in Jasper, built in 1949, is made of marble quarried in Tate.

Polycor Inc., based in Quebec City, bought the company in 2003. The encyclopedia reports that Polycor sells about 75 percent of its Georgia marble to governments around the world.

The Georgia Marble Festival

Every fall, Jasper celebrates the stone with the Georgia Marble Festival. The Pickens County Chamber of Commerce listed the 44th annual festival for Oct. 3–4, 2026, with arts and crafts, a parade, a road race, quarry tours, live marble sculpting demonstrations and festival food. The quarry tours are a chance to see the working side of the industry. Check the chamber’s festival page for the next year’s dates.

The Marble Festival falls just before the Georgia Apple Festival in Ellijay, so a single October trip can include both.

Seeing marble on a regular day

Even outside festival weekend, it is easy to spot marble in Pickens County. The encyclopedia notes that Georgia marble was used heavily for gravestones, and the 1949 courthouse in Jasper is a short stop. The downtown Ellijay guide covers what to do once you head back north, and our Cherokee history guide explains the land lotteries that made the Tates’ purchases possible.

The Pickens County Chamber’s visitor center is at 500 Veterans Memorial Blvd. in Jasper (706-692-5600).

Sources and further reading

Facts in this article were checked against these sources on October 30, 2026. Hours, fees and seasons change, so confirm before you go.