Official Alabama Rock

Marble

Marble is a rock found in Alabama. Marble is most plentiful in Talladega, Bibb, Calhoun, Clay, Coosa, Etowah, Lee, Macon, St. Clair, and Shelby counties. The major source of marble is in Talladega County, where it occurs in a narrow belt from the Coosa River to southeast of Talladega. This area is known as the Sylacauga marble belt. In parts the marble is 200 feet thick. Marble from Sylacauga has been quarried, cut, and polished for over 160 years. Since 1900 approximately 30 million tons of marble have been quarried in Sylacauga.

Much of the state's marble has been used in buildings all over the United States. The Sylacauga marble has been used in numerous works of fine art, many of which can be seen in the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery and the Birmingham Museum of Art. Another use for marble is crushing it and mixing it in paints, electrical insulation, and plastics.

Marble became the state rock after the legislature passed Act no.755 in 1969.