Casey Stevens (left) and his father, Thomas Stevens, founder of Thomas A. Stevens Cemetery Memorials and Cemetery Restoration, stand in front of display pieces at the business, now known as Stevens Monuments & Granite Works, at 10 Lynch Road in Newcastle. (Piper Pavelich photo)
After nearly 50 years in operation, Newcastle’s Thomas A. Stevens Cemetery Memorials and Cemetery Restorations is seeing a change in ownership and name, as the business is being passed down from father to son.
Founder Thomas Stevens said the decision to retire and hand the reins over to his son, Casey Stevens, came from feelings of being overwhelmed with running the business.
“I’m 70 years old; I guess I should be retiring. I had hoped to do it another 10 years, but it just isn’t going to work out, for the customer especially,” said Thomas Stevens.
The business will now be known as Stevens Monuments & Granite Works, according to Casey Stevens.
“I probably should’ve (taken over) before now, but that’s OK. I think it’s a good time for me to do it. I think it’ll work out good with my family, looking forward to it,” said Casey Stevens. “My dad has been providing quality monuments for people in Lincoln County since ‘75, and my plan is to continue on with that.”
While Thomas Stevens was developing his business over the years, Casey Stevens was growing up and lending his father a hand in the business, eventually working his way up the ranks in his own career.
“When I was younger, I was with him all the time … even in high school. After high school, I got different jobs; I worked for the county for 14 years and I just recently started working for Lincoln Academy,” said Casey Stevens.
A graduate of Lincoln Academy, Casey Stevens joined his father as a member of the Newcastle Fire Co., and then worked as a dispatcher for Lincoln County Communications, eventually becoming Lincoln County Emergency Management Agency director, a role he resigned from in March 2023. Casey Stevens is currently the Newcastle fire chief and director of facilities at Lincoln Academy.
Thomas Stevens began working in the business of monuments when he was a kid. His father, Horace Stevens, owned a funeral home and had a small display of monuments. Following his graduation from high school, Thomas Stevens attended Spaulding High School’s Vocational Center in Barre, Vt. to learn how to engrave monuments.
In 1975, Horace and Thomas Stevens went into business together, purchasing what was once known as Page’s Marble and Granite Works in Damariscotta following previous owner Robert Page’s death. The next year, they moved the business over to 597 Route 1 in Newcastle.
In 1986, Thomas Stevens built a house and moved the business further down Route 1 in Newcastle to the home at 10 Lynch Road, where it stands today.
Thomas Stevens left Maine behind to move to Florida in 1995; however, two years later, he returned to the Northeast. He moved back to Newcastle and established Thomas A. Stevens Cemetery Memorials and Cemetery Restorations, a business that municipalities around the state hire to reset, repair, and clean monuments in their ancient cemeteries, according to Thomas Stevens.
“We appreciate it when people shop local,” said Thomas Stevens.
The business will stay where it is located on Lynch Road in Newcastle for the foreseeable future, according to Casey Stevens. The only noticeable difference customers will see moving forward, beside a change in ownership, is modernization within the shop, such as the use of computer software that helps with stencil cutting and stone design.
“Between those two things, it should save a lot of time and mean quicker turnaround for the customer,” said Casey Stevens.
Stevens Monuments & Granite Works does work such as granite benches, posts, and engravings, as well as monuments and markers in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors.
For more information about Stevens Monuments & Granite Works, call 563-1376, email stevensmonuments@gmail.com, go to stevensmonuments.com, or find the business on Facebook.
