Do your kids like to play in the mud?  How about hide and seek?  Got any little (or big) pirates that enjoy hunting for buried treasure?  Then you and your family may want to try gem mining in one of North Carolina's rich recreational mines.   Many mines focus on emeralds.   Emeralds are North Carolina's state stone for good reason - this state has more emeralds than any other, and has produced emeralds as large as 1500 carats.

If you'd like to try your luck, one of the closest gem mines to the Triangle area is in Pittsboro, a very short drive from anywhere in the Triangle.  The Rocks offers "dry" gemstone mining and gold panning for as little as $6.00 per person.   Pack a picnic lunch - The Rocks features a picnic area and a trading post.  Because this mine doesn't use water, doing a little digging for gold can be a great activity even on a cold day.  Even very young children enjoy digging in the dirt, so mining is a good family activity.  Check out their website at http://www.ncgems.com/ for more information.   Even very young children enjoy digging in the dirt, so mining is a good family activity.

There are many mines throughout North Carolina.  One great area for gem mining is the Blue Ridge Parkway, particularly in the Linville area.  Gem Mountain is a particularly well-known mine, just north of the Blue Ridge Parkway, off Hwy 226.  This mine offers more traditional flume mining, and touts emeralds, aquamarines, moonstones, rubies, amethysts, and sapphires.  The flume is covered, which means a rainy day is still a great mining day.   Gem Mountain has jewelers on site to evaluate your finds and possibly even mount them in rings, necklaces or earrings.  There is also a terrific gift shop here, and diehard fans can even order buckets of ore online and have them shipped to their home.   Find out more and see some pictures of gem mining at http://www.gemmountain.com/.    

If you've never gone mining, here's how it works:  you buy a bag or bucket of "ore", which may be "seeded" or natural.  Seeded ore contains extra minerals or gems (left over from real mining).  Either way, your purchase just looks like a big bucket of dirt with rocks in it.   There are usually long wooden benches on one or both sides of a plume, a long wooden trough with water running inside, like we've seen on the old Westerns featuring gold mining.  Pick up a couple handfuls of dirt, put them into a box consisting of wooden sides and a mesh bottom, and swish back and forth in the running water until the dirt washes off and the rocks remain. 

Then look carefully, very carefully, at the large and small rocks.  The larger ones may be very pretty minerals once they are cleaned.   The smaller ones can be emeralds, sapphires, or other precious gems.  It's unusual to find gems with the colors we see in the jewelry store - most are very pale, almost like translucent glass.   Any  gems and minerals you find go into a little plastic Ziploc to take home.  Anything you don't want is placed back in the water and washed into the stream or pond.   This is a great activity for kids, but expect everyone to get dirty!  You may want some extra changes of clothing and something to clean leftover mud with.  But kids aren't the only ones who enjoy searching for hidden treasure.   There are also many adult rock and gem enthusiasts who participate and sometimes even sell their finds on Ebay. 

Gem mining is just one of many activities available in North Carolina.  There are many mines within an easy drive from the Triangle area.   Next time you want to try something a little different, check out a gem mine!  

Stanton Homes builds extraordinary custom homes in the Triangle area.  Our featured community, Cattail Creek, is just northwest of Pittsboro, and offers homes on 1.4 or more heavily wooded acres.  Find out more at http://www.stantonhomes.com/Communities.aspx.