Travel plan idea blog

US vacation plan: sluicing for gems with a few other diversions

Here's a US vacation plan for treasure hunters. It's been a while since I've written a vacation plan for you and I may not have time to do another one for a while with final exams and then my European vacation coming up. So here goes:

Hiddenite, NC

Go to the gift shop to buy our sluicing permits for Emerald Hallow mines. Expect a crowd and bring a book to identify the minerals you find. They don't have that information there so you should have an idea of what to look for. There are people there, but most visitors don't find them very knowledgeable or helpful.

At Hiddenite you get a mine and creeking permit. The mine at Hiddenite is an open pit. You will get very dirty on your first day, so many people think of Hiddenite as "authentic sluicing". Dishwashing gloves and wearing old clothes is a minimum.

The Red Roof Inn in Statesville is supposed to be well-kept.

Spruce Pine

You could stop at the Blue Ridge Mining Museum on the way here. Gem Mountain is very touristy. You won't get dirty unless you have an accident or something. You get someone who explains the prices of their buckets, starting at $15. Some more expensive buckets come with a free cut (people report finding gems worth cutting in these more expensive buckets).

Here there are displays with samples of minerals that you could use to identify your rocks. There was a very nice gift shop and the place is especially well suited for kids who will have fun finding gems but not get too dirty.

Little Switzerland

About 7 miles from Spruce Pine, in Little Switzerland, is Emerald Village museum, shops, and a mine. I've heard reports from people who have sluiced at this mine as well. One person found a "huge emerald" at the mine here. You won't get too dirty but there is a bit more dirt than Spruce Pine.

Biltmore Estates

Entry is $39 online or $45 at the estate. The Biltmore House can take 2 hours or even longer if you shell out another $8 for the audio tour. The Winery tour takes about 15 minutes, but you might want to take a little longer trying the 8 different wines included in the admission. To try the better wines it's $3 for a half glass or $7 for 3 half glasses.

The Days Inn Biltmore on the outskirts of Asheville is supposed to be nice and clean.

Franklin, NC

The Sheffield Mine outside of Franklin is $10 per person to sluice and you get 2 buckets of ore with that fee. Additional buckets are $2 or 2 for $3.

You have to pay attention to these buckets because there may not be anything in there. Well everyone finds something, but you could spend about 1 hour per bucket of native ore and not find anything good.

This place has a good reputation because the employees teach you what to look for and how to properly scrub and separate the stone.

Days Inn in Franklin is an older motel that gets decent reviews.

Pigeon Forge, TN

When you drive from Franklin to Pigeon Forge you pass Cherokee where there are all kinds of Native American shops. You may want to stop there. The Gem Stone Mine in Pigeon Forge is very touristy. You wont get dirty and you will get some nice stones. The cutting shop tells you what everything is but they are expensive.

The end.

Want more? You could then go to Nashville, on to Memphis, then Little Rock, then Crater of Diamonds State Park. Or do Chatanooga, Huntsville, Memphis, Little Rock, Crater of Diamonds.

Posted by James Trotta at November 25, 2007 10:00 AM | TrackBack