Explore the historic Bon Ami Mine with authentic mining equipment, mine for gemstones in our fresh water flume, watch artisans cut and mount jewelry, and then picnic in our indoor or outdoor picnic areas. While here take in the many free displays such as the Antique Music Museum, the Homestead (our farm display), Gallery of Minerals and Crossings of the Blue Ridge Railroad to name only a few.
Emerald Digging was great! We found many Emeralds.The Staff at Emerald Village were wonderful
One of the local owned businesses I saw yesterday that has been run by two generations of the family. I got to follow along with a class of school kids on a tour and truly I was one of them. What a blast! A museum and view of a true mine with a place to “sift for gems”, if you want. Their was another bus load of kids at the gem sifting place have a great time. You don’t have to be a kid to enjoy this place beautifully set in the mountains with a number of locally owned places to stop for food near by. I was told there is a whole other area I did not have time to see. Will have to check it out next time. I would love to camp near here some day. The weather was perfect!
My review is regarding the gem buckets you can order from them online.I ordered the “Stake your Claim” and “Mine Boss Bucket” and I received it pretty fast in the mail. I got the concentrated bags to conserve on weight and shipping cost.Lots of good variety of gems/rocks. My only issue, and why I didn’t give it a 5 star rating, is the fact that they shipped the gems/rocks with a lot of white gravel too (about 3/4 of the volume). I have no problem with them doing this, since some of the stuff is naturally found in the gravel. But I was disappointed that they didn’t mention it in the listing and let me know I was only going to receive about 1/4 of what I was expecting. Especially, since it was my understanding this was concentrated.I probably will not order again, but I may visit the actual location if I am down there in the area.
Great place! A lot to explore, learn, and enjoy!
This was fun and worth the drive from Asheville. The drive was scenic and in Oct when the leaves were changing, the scenery was spectacular. This would be especially fun for kids, but I had fun with the hubby mining for rocks. We got a small bag full of cool rocks for a $30 bucket, to mine ourselves. Go when it’s warm–it’s outside and your hands are in water. But this places was worth the trip and the money. #FUN