Early August\nof this year, the opportunity to leave New York temporarily presented itself. I\nhad been committed to supporting New York through the COVID crisis, and had\nadapted to a professional and personal life that mostly took place over Zoom,\nwhile praying for the safety of fellow New Yorkers and family. However, the\nchance to stay in a cabin in Georgia\u2019s Blue Ridge Mountains, with the Chattahoochee\nNational Forest outside the cabin door, was pretty compelling. So after taking\na detour north to Chester, Massachusetts, for a job, and the chance to\nrockhound near the abandoned emery mines of Chester (another story), my better\nhalf and I moved to a cabin outside of Cleveland, Georgia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the very first things I\ndid, after registering to vote, was to contact the nearest gem and mineral\nclub. I found the Northeast Georgia Mineral Society, https:\/\/www.negms.org\/<\/a>, and sent an email to the President\nannouncing my desire to find out what they were doing, and then I waited. I did\nnot have to wait long before Claudia Barton, President of the club reached out\nto me over the phone for introductions. She invited me to the next meeting,\nthat take place the first Thursdays of every month, reminded me to wear a mask\nand that the meeting, while in person, would be socially distanced, and to\nexpect a meeting that starts on time and includes announcements, a lecture, a\nraffle, social chit chat, Eastern Federation news, and a meeting that would end\non time. All of that proved accurate!<\/p>\n\n\n\n The club is very supportive of\neach other. Presently some members are in the hospital, and each meeting\nincludes an update on their progress, and a way to send a card or message. We\nare very lucky that Joe Cooper, the Eastern Federation Region 7 Vice President\nis one of our members, as well as our Field Trip Coordinator. Joe always share\nany news, updates, matters from the Eastern Federation, and as the club\u2019s Field\nTrip Coordinator, has arranged some field trips that are a rockhound\u2019s DREAM!<\/p>\n\n\n\n My real-life job is in antiques\nand fine art. In the 18th<\/sup> century, people of means would visit the\nfinest cities of Europe, seeing the sites and collecting souvenirs (now quite\nvaluable antiques and works of art) along the way. This trip to see the finest\ncities of Europe was known as the Grand Tour. Well, our Field Trip Coordinator\nJoe Cooper arranged a rockhound trip that I immediately started referring to as\nthe \u201cGrand Tour of Rockhounding!\u201d Joe, club members Robin and Jennifer Findley,\nand members of another Georgia club visited the finest mines of Arkansas, the 2\ndifferent Coleman Mines, and another near Mount Ida to collector minerals and\ncrystals, and what impressed me most was that They Took a U-HAUL! While I was\nnot able to attend this field trip, at the November meeting they showed off a\nfraction of their finds, and they were so good, personally, I would have\npreferred an armed guard to accompany them to and from their cars! So, the club\nlikes to arrange rockhound field trips, and as another member of the club\nshared with me, \u201cin this part of Georgia alone, you can find just about every\nNorth American mineral.\u201d I am personally indebted to Joe Cooper as well\nbecause, as (due to work projects) I could not attend the Grand Tour of the\nFinest Mines of Arkansas trip, I was eager and anxious to get out in the field\nand rockhound. Joe was kind enough to share a local site with me for quartz\ncrystals, and while it took me 3-4 phone calls to Joe , including Facetime\nvisuals of where I was so Joe could guide me, I found the unusual, small quartz\nvein exposure, and was able to accomplish some rockhounding on my own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another leader of the club is\nRichard Walter, who, in addition to giving great lectures (I have only heard\nRichard speak once, but I consider myself a tough critic of public speaking),\nis also the club\u2019s newsletter editor and Recorder and Secretary. Richard puts\ntogether monthly a newsletter that I really enjoy because he includes detailed\nnotes from the previous month\u2019s lecture. That is so valuable as we do not\nalways have pen and paper with us to take notes at a meeting, and there are\nalways nuggets of gem and mineral information one wants to research independently.\nAs well, like a paparazzi, Richard is able to catch some photographs of the\nmeetings that add great context to his descriptions. Not every member of the\nclub uses email on a regular enough basis to rely solely on an electronic\nnewsletter, so I find Richard\u2019s commitment to mailing the newsletter to those\nmembers very commendable. Richard was the speaker at the first meeting I\nattended. The topic was \u201cThe Lazurite Minerals,\u201d and from Richard\u2019s very\nwelcoming style of speaking, to the specimens he had to pass around, to the\ninteractive aspect of his talk, I was very impressed, and when I came home that\nnight I said to my better half, \u201cI just heard a lecture about lazurite and\nsodalite minerals that I would have paid $50 to see!\u201d It was just that good a\nlecture, and I don\u2019t think it was meant to just impress me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other leaders in the club I have\nmet include Robin and Jennifer Findlay, who have held various board roles. At\nthe last meeting I attended in November they shared a fraction of their finds from\nthe \u201cGrand Tour\u201d of Arkansas Mines that I can not stop talking about. They\nbrought back museum worthy specimens, admitted they will be cleaning crystals\nfor \u201cat least a decade,\u201d and shared stories comparing and contrasting one mine\nto the other. As someone new to the area, that was a very valuable part of\ntheir November talk. We all have limited time, and with the investment in time\nrequired by any rockhound trip, knowing where to go is invaluable. Robin and\nJennifer have also both been responsible for the club\u2019s messaging outside the\nmonthly newsletter, so I welcome all of their emails to my inbox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are many other members I\nhave not met yet, but I hear very good things about them, and look forward to\n2021 when we can all assemble together in fellowship and celebration. COVID has\nkept the meetings to a minimum, albeit responsible group, and, coming from New\nYork, the tragic epicenter of COVID, I was very comfortable, grateful, and\nthankful for the COVID safety measures I found at the Northeast Georgia Mineral\nSociety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In summary, the club President,\nClaudia Barton, leads a club that I have found educational, interesting,\nfriendly, and welcoming. Keep in mind I come with a very high bar of excellence\nhaving been a member for many years of the New York Mineralogical Club led by\nthe late Mitch Portnoy, a friend whom I miss, and also as a member of the\nIsland Rockhounds, led by Janice Kowalski, and by Cheryl Neary, both dear\nfriends of mine whom I love hanging out with and also miss. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I recommend a membership to the If\nany members of the Eastern Federation, or the AFMS, have plans in 2021 to visit\nGeorgia, whether that be a business trip to Atlanta, or for a holiday to North\nGeorgia for hiking or rockhounding, please get in touch with the North Georgia Mineral\nSociety. You will find you have friends there, as I discovered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Join the\nNortheast Georgia Mineral Society, and find fellowship, field trip\nopportunities, and gain gem and mineral knowledge at https:\/\/www.negms.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Charles\nSnider continues to post rockhound adventures through the rockhounding blog\nAmerican Geode, at http:\/\/www.americangeode.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Early August of this year, the opportunity to leave New York temporarily presented itself. I had been committed to supporting New York through the COVID crisis, and had adapted to a professional and personal life that mostly took place over Zoom, while praying for the safety of fellow New Yorkers and family. However, the chance … <\/p>\n