The First American Sculptors.

In the seventeenth century, struggling to eke out a meager livelihood in the New World, colonists had little time for the decorative arts and paid little heed to artistic trends in England or on the Continent. When they did embellish the utilitarian objects they created, they based their decorations on the folk traditions of their home countries. The first American sculptors were the stonecutters and carpenters who carved low-relief designs on gravestones and wooden objects such as trunks and Bible boxes.

Stonecutters.

Early grave markers were made from several kinds of stone, some of which weather badly. Only a few markers from before 1660 are still in existence. The first decorations on gravestones, which began to appear in the mid seventeenth century, are simple geometric designs such as rosettes, pinwheels, and radiating suns. Such ornaments could be carved with simple tools...