#New Participant
6 messages in this thread
Greetings!
I hope that everyone is enjoying the holidays. I recently joined this forum
and thought that I had been lurking long enough. Time to let you know that I
was out here.
I call Baltimore home, at least for now. My seven year old daughter has
developed an interest in rock and mineral collecting. Her enthusiasm has
rekindled my long dormant interest in the subject. I am glad to find that this
forum is up and running.
A great number of years ago I was active in the Delaware Mineralogical Society.
Does anyone know if it is still in existence? Also, are that any clubs that
are closer to the Baltimore area?
When the weather improves I would like to get the family out on some field
trips. Any suggestions for likely sites to do some collecting within, say, two
hours drive? I remember doing some collecting in SE Pennsylvania when I was a
kid but have no idea where I was or where to go now.
To fan the fires of my daughter's interest we are making the trip to the
Smithsonian tomorrow. I have been there many times and find their collection
to be amazing.
I look forward to hearing from others in the forum. Best wishes for a safe and
happy new year.
Harry
Hi, Harry–
Welcome to the forum/section!
I can relate to your story. As a teen, I collected minerals; I more or less
packed up the hobby with my collection when moving to college. Then a few
years ago, looking for a birthday present for a friend's 6-year-old, I stepped
into a rockhound shop and caught the bug again, much worse this time.
My particular variety of the bug is focused on fluorescent minerals. Thus, I
suggest a visit to Franklin at the northern tip of New Jersey; it is the
"fluorescent mineral capital of the world". There is a museum with a large
display of fluorescent minerals, and a mine dump (the mines are long since
closed) where one can collect them. Next door in Ogdensburg is the Sterling
Hill Mine Museum, offering a chance to enter the upper levels of a related mine
more recently closed, and see the walls glow under UV. UV lamps need not be
expensive these days; there are small hand-held battery shortwave UV lamps
listing for $40 (cheaper if you gang up for an order of 3+), and longwave units
for even less.
There are others here who will surely have some more local suggestions for you.
–Doug
Doug:
Thanks for the reply. I got a big laugh reading about how you lost and then
reacquired the "bug". College caused me to concentrate on physical sciences
other than rockhounding too.
Despite growing up in Wilmington, DE, I never made it to northern NJ to the
Franklin/Sterling Hill sites. Will make an effort to follow your advice and
get there when the weather improves. Thanks.
I am sure that the forum/section will keep us in contact. Happy New Year!
Harry
Hi Harry,
Welcome to the forum. I was going to check my April issue of Lap. Journal for
the clubs in your area but it has mysteriously disappeared (it was here a
couple weeks ago when I answered a similar inquiry for someone on AOL) so it
can't be too far.
You and Doug took the wrong route when you went to college. My mother told me
that I acquired my interest in rocks and minerals as soon as I started to crawl
and continually brought "pretty rocks" from the yard (not everyone had a lawn
with grass) into the house. A few years later my uncle gave me a piece of
natrolite from Montana, and I never lost that interest so went to college to
get a couple degrees in geology. Of course that is probably why I have fun
instead of being gainfully employed!
Lanny
Hi Harry…
To locate clubs in your area, you might begin with the Lapidary Journal
calendar of events, see if anything is happening near enough to visit and pick
up club info. The April LJ "dealer" issue lists, among other things, all the
clubs in the US.
I'll be interested to hear your opinion of the Smithsonian's gem displays. The
president of the American Opal Society was there a few weeks ago and she came
away disappointed…she commented that items have apparently been removed
(and/or put into temporary storage) in preperation for a move to a new building
sometime in the not too distant future.
-Russ
Russ,
Thanks for the reply to my posting. I will re-subscribe to LJ and get more up
to date with what's going on.
About the Smithsonian…both good news and bad news. As you heard, the
collection is in the process of being moved to storage pending the construction
of a new exhibition hall. About a third of the specimens were gone from the
cases. Having been to the exhibit many times, I found this somewhat
disappointing. Many of my favorite pieces were missing. However, my daughter
was impressed nonetheless and that was the main point for the trip. The Gem &
Mineral Hall will close on 1/3/95 for about two years (so they say). I
understand that the Hope diamond will remain on permanent display but the rest
of the collection will be in storage. The folks at the Museum say that when
the new hall reopens it will be the cat's meow. Considering that there has been
no significant renovation to the hall for the thirty or so years that I have
been going there, anything will be an improvement. All in all, any trip to the
Smithsonian is worthwhile. We had a great time. Ps. parking is a mess…the
train to Union Station works well for us.
Happy New Year!
Harry