North Carolina
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Emeralds - Emerald Hollow, Hiddenite, NC
What you'll find - Emeralds and other Minerals
Hours - Almost year round, 8:30am to sunset
Fees - $5 sluicing fee that includes one bucket of ore, $10 for sluicing &
creeking, $20 for sluicing, creeking and digging
Website - www.hiddenitegems.com
Address - 484 Emerald Hollow Mine Drive, Hiddenite, NC
Phone - 828-632-7986
Tips: Sluicing is the way to go here. We got the combination permits, but digging hard packed Carolina clay in a random spot in the woods hoping to find a giant emerald, seemed pretty silly once we wasted an hour or so. Creeking was good wet fun, and we found a small variety of interesting rocks, but nothing to exciting. The emerald buckets in the sluicing lines were definitely the way to go for the kids. The emeralds are green, but most of them are pretty foggy, not that the kids care. They also offer buckets of all kinds of rocks so if you get tired of emeralds you can purchase different buckets.
Hours - Almost year round, 8:30am to sunset
Fees - $5 sluicing fee that includes one bucket of ore, $10 for sluicing &
creeking, $20 for sluicing, creeking and digging
Website - www.hiddenitegems.com
Address - 484 Emerald Hollow Mine Drive, Hiddenite, NC
Phone - 828-632-7986
Tips: Sluicing is the way to go here. We got the combination permits, but digging hard packed Carolina clay in a random spot in the woods hoping to find a giant emerald, seemed pretty silly once we wasted an hour or so. Creeking was good wet fun, and we found a small variety of interesting rocks, but nothing to exciting. The emerald buckets in the sluicing lines were definitely the way to go for the kids. The emeralds are green, but most of them are pretty foggy, not that the kids care. They also offer buckets of all kinds of rocks so if you get tired of emeralds you can purchase different buckets.
Rubies and Saphires - Sheffiled Mine, Franklin, NC
What you'll find - Rubies, Saphires, Other Minerals
Hours - Apr 1 - Oct 31, 7 days/week, 10am - 5pm
Fees - $15 ages 15 - 60, $10 all others, Admission includes 2 buckets
Website - www.sheffieldmine.com/
Address - 385 Sheffield Farms Rd., Franklin, NC
Phone - 828-349-8383
Tips: You sluice whatever you want to pay for. They have buckets with many different kinds of stones. The native dirt buckets are filled with very orange clay, and pretty time consuming to sluice through. We ended up getting "Rainbow" buckets for the kids to sluice wile the adults plugged away at the native dirt. These are buckets that have rocks from all over the world planted in them were much easier for the kids to sort through. They found a variety of rocks for their collection, but no "honker" rubies. Us adults only found a few small rubies, but a number of people around us, including a 13 year old kid, were pulling out quarter sized rubies. This is another one where you need to follow the directions on the website and not your GPS.
Hours - Apr 1 - Oct 31, 7 days/week, 10am - 5pm
Fees - $15 ages 15 - 60, $10 all others, Admission includes 2 buckets
Website - www.sheffieldmine.com/
Address - 385 Sheffield Farms Rd., Franklin, NC
Phone - 828-349-8383
Tips: You sluice whatever you want to pay for. They have buckets with many different kinds of stones. The native dirt buckets are filled with very orange clay, and pretty time consuming to sluice through. We ended up getting "Rainbow" buckets for the kids to sluice wile the adults plugged away at the native dirt. These are buckets that have rocks from all over the world planted in them were much easier for the kids to sort through. They found a variety of rocks for their collection, but no "honker" rubies. Us adults only found a few small rubies, but a number of people around us, including a 13 year old kid, were pulling out quarter sized rubies. This is another one where you need to follow the directions on the website and not your GPS.
Rubies and Saphires - Cowee Mtn. Ruby Mine, Franklin, NC
What you'll find - Rubies, Saphires, Other Minerals
Hours - March 1 - Dec 15, 7 days/week, 9am - 6pm
Fees - Free Admission, You just pay for whatever buckets you want
Most buckets are $5 - $15
Website - www.coweemtnrubymine.com/Home_Page.php
Address - US-23, Franklin, NC
Phone - 828-349-5271
Tips: You sluice whatever you want to pay for. They have buckets with many different kinds of stones. We mostly stuck to the sapphires and rubies since that's what we came for and found plenty. Most were dime sized or smaller, but we also got a few larger ones as well. The buckets at this place are all "slated", or added too, but for kids, that means it's pretty easy to find the rocks you are looking for. Again with sapphires and rubies, they can be hard to identify with the brownish coating they seem to have, but the guy working there was extreemly helpful, and had lots of corny jokes for the kids. Use the directions on their website, but this one was easy to find right on the side of US 23.
Hours - March 1 - Dec 15, 7 days/week, 9am - 6pm
Fees - Free Admission, You just pay for whatever buckets you want
Most buckets are $5 - $15
Website - www.coweemtnrubymine.com/Home_Page.php
Address - US-23, Franklin, NC
Phone - 828-349-5271
Tips: You sluice whatever you want to pay for. They have buckets with many different kinds of stones. We mostly stuck to the sapphires and rubies since that's what we came for and found plenty. Most were dime sized or smaller, but we also got a few larger ones as well. The buckets at this place are all "slated", or added too, but for kids, that means it's pretty easy to find the rocks you are looking for. Again with sapphires and rubies, they can be hard to identify with the brownish coating they seem to have, but the guy working there was extreemly helpful, and had lots of corny jokes for the kids. Use the directions on their website, but this one was easy to find right on the side of US 23.
Rubies, Saphires and Artifacts - Cherokee Mine, Franklin, NC
What you'll find - Rubies, Saphires, Artifacts, Other Minerals
Hours - April 1 - Oct 31, 7 days/week, M - Sat 9am to 4pm, Sun 12pm - 5pm
Fees - $15 for ages 12+, $10 for ages 6 - 11, Free 5 and under
Admission includes 2 buckets of dirt, Extra buckets are $2.50
Website - www.cherokeerubymine.com/index.php
Address - 41 Cherokee Mine Road, Franklin, NC
Phone - 828-349-2941
Tips: My kids loved this place, but they love anywhere they can sluice when its sunny. This place does not "salt" or add anything to their buckets, unlike a number of places around Franklin. This means you will have trouble finding anything overly large, but at least you know the dirt hasn't been tampered with. We found a number of tiny sapphires and rubies, but the best find was a small shard of clay Cherokee pottery. This place was small, very laid back and lovely. The woman running the operation was extremely helpful in identifying our finds. Rubies and Saphires in Franklin, thanks to the reddish clay coating then often look like ordinary rocks at first. By the way use the directions on their website, GPS's will often get you lost in Franklin.
Kid Fact: Rubies and sapphires are both corundum, just one is blueish, and one is reddish.
Hours - April 1 - Oct 31, 7 days/week, M - Sat 9am to 4pm, Sun 12pm - 5pm
Fees - $15 for ages 12+, $10 for ages 6 - 11, Free 5 and under
Admission includes 2 buckets of dirt, Extra buckets are $2.50
Website - www.cherokeerubymine.com/index.php
Address - 41 Cherokee Mine Road, Franklin, NC
Phone - 828-349-2941
Tips: My kids loved this place, but they love anywhere they can sluice when its sunny. This place does not "salt" or add anything to their buckets, unlike a number of places around Franklin. This means you will have trouble finding anything overly large, but at least you know the dirt hasn't been tampered with. We found a number of tiny sapphires and rubies, but the best find was a small shard of clay Cherokee pottery. This place was small, very laid back and lovely. The woman running the operation was extremely helpful in identifying our finds. Rubies and Saphires in Franklin, thanks to the reddish clay coating then often look like ordinary rocks at first. By the way use the directions on their website, GPS's will often get you lost in Franklin.
Kid Fact: Rubies and sapphires are both corundum, just one is blueish, and one is reddish.
Aquamarine & Garnets - Gem Mountain, Spruce Pine, NC
What you'll find - Aquamarine, Garnet, Golden Beryl, Tourmaline, etc.
Hours - Mar 1 - Dec 31, 9am - 7pam, Closed Sundays
Fees - Free, but buckets for sluicing start at $20
Website - www.gemmountain.com
Address - Highway 266, Spruce Pine, NC
Phone - 888-817-5229
Tips: The sluicing here is excellent, but I really recommend signing up for for one of their mine trips. It's a bit pricey, but you will find A LOT of beautiful, cuttable gem stones. We have made the drive from NY to NC twice with the kids to do this, and they love this place. You'll leave from their shop in a white van, and be transported to one of their two working mines. You'll have about 3 or so hours to collect, with no nearby amenities, so bring food, drink and maybe TP. You can keep whatever you can carry, and they will give you tools to use and bucket. When you get back to the shop, you can wash your rocks in the sluice line, and then bring them inside for their experts to look at. They will tell you which ones are good for cutting, and which one are good for the bottom of the fish tank. We've had several stones cut here, and when you get them in the mail a couple of weeks later, it's like Christmas oping them up to see how they turned out. I've put some pictures of this place and our finds in the Gallery.
Kid fact: Aquamarine, Emeralds, Golden Beryl, Morganite and Goshenite are all found here, and are all actually the same rock, Beryl, just different colors.
Hours - Mar 1 - Dec 31, 9am - 7pam, Closed Sundays
Fees - Free, but buckets for sluicing start at $20
Website - www.gemmountain.com
Address - Highway 266, Spruce Pine, NC
Phone - 888-817-5229
Tips: The sluicing here is excellent, but I really recommend signing up for for one of their mine trips. It's a bit pricey, but you will find A LOT of beautiful, cuttable gem stones. We have made the drive from NY to NC twice with the kids to do this, and they love this place. You'll leave from their shop in a white van, and be transported to one of their two working mines. You'll have about 3 or so hours to collect, with no nearby amenities, so bring food, drink and maybe TP. You can keep whatever you can carry, and they will give you tools to use and bucket. When you get back to the shop, you can wash your rocks in the sluice line, and then bring them inside for their experts to look at. They will tell you which ones are good for cutting, and which one are good for the bottom of the fish tank. We've had several stones cut here, and when you get them in the mail a couple of weeks later, it's like Christmas oping them up to see how they turned out. I've put some pictures of this place and our finds in the Gallery.
Kid fact: Aquamarine, Emeralds, Golden Beryl, Morganite and Goshenite are all found here, and are all actually the same rock, Beryl, just different colors.