| Zerubbabel Collins | |
| Birth Date: | 10 July 1733 |
| Birth Place: | Columbia, Connecticut, Connecticut River Colony, British America |
| Death Place: | Shaftsbury, Vermont, United States |
| Occupation: | Tombstone Carver, Stonemason. |
| Years Active: | 1755−1797 |
Zerubbabel Collins (1733–1797) was a carver of stone gravestones in New England in the 18th century. He has been called "one of the most important carvers represented in Vermont in the years after the American Revolution"[1] and "one of the most talented [gravestone carvers] of his time".[2]
Collins was the son of Benjamin Collins (1691–1759), a cabinet maker and prolific gravestone craftsman.[2] Collins' older brother Julius Collins (1728–1758) was also a gravestone carver and later a military man. Collins learned and worked under his father during the early 1750s, but by 1755 had begun carving full stones on his own.[2] He carved his father's gravestone when he died in 1759.[3]
Through the 1760's his style rapidly advanced with sculpting ability highlighted with various designs often with deep relief. In 1778 he moved to Vermont as former carving competitor Gershom Bartlett had several years earlier, though he worked in white marble of the Shaftsbury Quarry rather than dark slate. He continued carving stones around Vermont, as well as adjacent towns in New York and beyond until his death in 1797. He carved around 300 gravestones through his career, spread as far away as Nova Scotia.[2]