Emerald Hollow Gem Mine
You know what’s fun? Taking your kids (or visiting out-of-towners) to do some gem mining! You know what’s not fun? Driving 3 hours to spend a couple hours mining before driving 3 hours back home. Emerald Hollow Mine is a gem of a solution, and not just because it’s just 45 minutes away from Mooresville, NC.
First off, Emerald Hollow Mine is a real mine and the only mine IN THE WORLD that’s open to the public for prospecting. It’s tucked away in the foothills of the Brushy Mountains in the appropriately named town of Hiddenite. Since it’s an active mine, they’re required to operate within environmental regulations that are more educationally interesting than onerous (more on that near the end). And even though it’s an active mine, nowhere on the property is it an industrial excavation mood-killing nightmare. You’ll take a dirt road into the forest to find a ramshackle prospecting camp full of rustic charm. The only mining that’s ever happened there is by the public using wood-handled shovels and 5 gal. plastic buckets. Which gets us to the experiences available. Yes, experiences. Plural.
Get Instant Gratification: Don’t have a lot of time? You can have the same experience you’d get up in the Smokies by buying an enriched bucket of dirt and sift away in their shaded, fan-cooled sluicing station. The staff can help you poke through your finds and explain in detail all the different minerals you uncovered. Make an appointment to visit their lapidary cabin to purchase souvenirs or have some of your rocky treasures professionally cut for jewelry. They even have a snack shack if you get a little
Get Dirty: You can actually dig for gems here. In the moist red clay. Yes, you will leave nice and orange. And tired. You’ll be digging hole after hole hoping to hit a rich vein of quartz sandwiched between more exotic minerals. It’s hit and miss. Your admission includes everything you’ll need, but feel free to bring your hand-powered tools (picks, shovels, trowels, and buckets). Either way, it’s a good idea to bring a utility wagon to haul your dirt from the dig sites to the sluicing station. That mud gets HEAVY.
Get Wet: Hot day? Poke around in their tree-lined natural creek to find gems that wash down from the mountains. Just don’t dive in. The water’s only ankle deep.
Get Educated: On your way in you’ll see overflow parking. It’ll probably be empty unless it’s full of school buses. Because Emerald Hollow loves to host educational events for the kiddles. If you’ve got a group of junior adventurers, you couldn’t ask for a more memorable outing.
One thing to note, and it has to do with the fact that it’s a real active mine. Everyone who comes needs a permit to mine. Even if you’re just there to watch your kids get filthy. It has to do with those environmental regulations. Think of it like theme park admission, because it’s good for the whole day. Go early, leave for lunch, come back later, whatever. You’re good. Oh, and speaking of lunch, just before you get to the mine, you’ll see The Yellow Deli in the crazy cute cluster of Trio Square. There’s a country restaurant, legit bakery, and rural country store full of locally made goods. It’s both quaint and tourist trappy, but at least it’s on strategy for your fun day of old-timely prospecting.
Emerald Hollow Mine
484 Emerald Hollow Mine Dr.
Hiddenite, NC 28636
Visit the Emerald Hollow website for info, hours, admission, what to wear and what to bring.
