Rockhounding Blog
For the most up to date events, check out our Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Newswire.
Garnets from Green’s Garnet Farm in Roxbury, Connecticut.
Joe and I were very lucky to experience this site, successfully I might add, as it is NOW CLOSED. Alas, it is closed to the public, but here is how it used to work out in 2012…
Continue reading “Garnets from Green’s Garnet Farm”
For the most up to date events, check out our Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Newswire.
So hunting for orange garnets we were following the varied instructions from the web about an outcrop, located about half-mile from the West Redding, Connecticut train station. Easy enough to set your GPS to “West Redding Train Station.” First thing we noticed was a cop car idling in the train station parking lot. We had not even begun excavating and they were after us already.
Continue reading “Orange Garnets in West Redding, Connecticut”
For the most up to date events, check out our Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Newswire.
Joe and I had a great drive to the park that contains this quartz and pyrite abandoned mine, which is open to the public even though it is on park lands. We got really lucky because a woman and 3 kids were coming down the path as we started and had come to a fork in the path. So we asked them if they knew of the quartz and pyrite, and they pointed to take the path to the right, climb up of you adventurous on to the rocks, and see what you find.
Continue reading “Quartz and Pyrite Abandoned Mine Site in Ellenville, New York”
For the most up to date events, check out our Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Newswire.
A benefit of membership with the Nassau Mineral Club is that you have access to the Herkimer Diamonds claim in Fonda, NY. This means that you can go to a private plot and dig for the rare, and remarkable Herkimer diamonds.
Continue reading “Herkimer Diamonds in Fonda, New York”
For the most up to date events, check out our Gem, Mineral, and Fossil Newswire.
Now this rockhounding excursion is actually the site of the Southwest Chester and Brookdale mines, but sometime in the 20th century they were occupied by the present day golf course. We had read that if you bring an offering, some unique mineral or gem to the owners, you are granted access to rockhound the remains of the mines. Joe and I spent two weeks emailing back and forth about what gem would best represent @AmericanGeode, and what would impress the owners. We chose a very large rough garnet from rockhounding excursion in Roxbury and a kyanite specimen that Joe had recovered from another PA site. We went on a weekday, and also during the late winter/early spring as we expected fewer golfers would mean few inconvenience, and more access.
Continue reading “Rockhounding an abandoned mine on a golf course”