Gem Hunting and Rock Collecting in NC
 

For anyone who has a bit of a "treasure hunter" in their personality, and is visiting the Asheville, North Carolina area sometime in the future, here's some information that might be helpful.

There is a rockhounding club called M.A.G.M.A. (Mountain Area Gem and Mineral Association) located just outside of Asheville in the tiny town of Leicester, North Carolina. Their motto is "99% digging, 1% talk". Members of the club go on gem hunting trips almost every weekend, and visitors to the area are welcome to join them. There is no fee for membership in their organization and no required meetings.

You can find out more about this unique group of individuals by visiting their website, www.wncrocks.com and clicking on the "M.A.G.M.A." link and viewing past fieldtrip reports, or going to their discussion board at www.dirtyrockhounds.com and introducing yourself.

M.A.G.M.A. has also recently taken over caretaking responsibilities at the historic Crabtree Emerald Mine near Spruce Pine and Little Switzerland, and visitors to the area can go there to try to unearth those infamous emeralds from North Carolina. You can get more information about that by following this link: http://www.wncrocks.com/resources/Co...btreemine1.htm

The folks in this group are some of the finest I have ever met, and take great pleasure in helping anyone new to the hobby find nice specimens of rocks and gems to take home as souvenirs of their visit to the mountains. Most trips require no money, except for gas, although some property owners do charge small fees for diggers to gain access to their land. If you don't mind a little hard work and getting dirty, you could add a very unique experience to your list of "things to do" in North Carolina.

Hello My husband and I are looking for the name of the farmer that lets you hunt gems in his fields for a certain amount you get a large bucket filled with the dirt or you can go into the fields and search for yourself if you can could you write us back at this email. [email protected] I will be waiting for a reply thank you.

Thanks! We're going to be in Ashville, anyway. We were looking for a place to do "real" gem hunting instead of being handed a seeded bucket of dirt. This is where we're going anyway, so we don't have to make an additional trip off somewhere. The website looks great.

Around Hiddenite there are gem mines also. East of Asheville.