We love to travel and find new places to go that are great for the whole family. We used to take an annual North Carolina trip because we have family there. Back in 2008, we added a new stop on our trip, and we have been wanting to go back ever since. We can’t believe we didn’t know about this place sooner! It’s called the Emerald Hollow Mine and is located in Hiddenite, N.C.
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When You Visit the Emerald Hollow Mine
If you are a person who likes being outside, Emerald Hollow Mine is a great place to visit.
You have 3 choices of what you can do at the mine—sluicing, creeking, and mining in the mine.
- Sluicing: basically this is when you take a bucket of ore and wash away the dirt to find the minerals. It is pretty easy because you just sit and use their sluice way to wash off the dirt.
- Creeking: this is when you go and get rocks right out of the creek. The creek is really shallow, so it is pretty easy to find some things on the creek bed.
- Mining in the mine: this is the hardest location to find rocks, but you get to dig through dirt! There is also some ground that you can find minerals on.
You can bring your own sifter and small plastic garden shovel or rent theirs.
You can stay all day or less—it’s one price for the whole day.
Our Experience
When our family went (prices were a little cheaper than they are now), we did both sluicing and creeking. We enjoyed creeking the best. We found it to be really relaxing.
When we did sluicing, we paid for a $10 bucket and it yielded enough rubies and emeralds to fill a spice jar. We found most of our bigger rocks in the creek. There really are a lot of nice rocks that you can find here.
Here are some of the rocks we found during our visit. The larger ones were found in the creek and the smaller ones were found when sluicing. The small ones are rubies and emeralds.
Emerald Hollow Mine Facts
Here are some facts about this awesome place!
- it is the only emerald mine in the world open to the public for prospecting
- has more than 60 different types of naturally occurring gems and minerals
- it is located in Hiddenite, North Carolina in the Brushy Mountains
- Hiddenite is about an hour drive from Charlotte N.C. (60.6 miles north of Charlotte or 76 miles west of High Point)
- many gems here are rare and include emerald, sapphire, aquamarine, garnet, topaz, amethyst, citrine, rutile, tourmaline, hiddenite, and smoky & clear quartz
Visiting Information
Hours & Days:
Emerald Hollow Mine is open 8:30 AM—sunset. It is only closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas. Note it will also close temporarily if it is storming out or the roads are unsafe.
Prices:
| Sluicing | $10-adult | Allows you to sort through dirt. |
| $5-child (ages 4-11) | ||
| Creeking | $10-adult | Allows you to dig in the creek. |
| $5-child (ages 4-11) | ||
| Sluicing & Creeking | $18-adult | Allows you to both sort through dirt |
| $8-child (ages 4-11) | and dig in the creek. | |
| Sluicing, Creeking, & | $25-adult | Allows you to do both the above |
| Mining | $8-child (ages 4-11) | items plus dig in the mine. |
Location:
484 Emerald Hollow Mine Drive
Hiddenite, NC 28636
Contact:
Sluiceway: (828) 632-3394
Office (info and educational programs): (828) 635-1126
Lapidary: (828) 635-7548
E-MAIL: info@emeraldhollowmine.com
You can also visit their website here.
Check out other places to see in North Carolina:
A Great North Carolina Vacation Spot at the Beach
Visit Battleship North Carolina in Wilmington, North Carolina
Check out Emerald Hollow Mine if you are ever in the area. Let us know if you visit! We would love to hear about your experiences.
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