LINCOLNTON, GA. (WJBF) – Graves Mountain is a famous rock collecting site located in Lincolnton, Georgia. The site is open by appointment only and twice a year it’s opened to the public.
“Rockhounds,” are people who have taken up the rock collecting hobby, and they love going to Graves Mountain to find rutile crystals, and more.
For this episode of Your Hometown Road Trip we stopped by Graves Mountain to speak with the caretaker about the area and what it takes to be a full fledged rock hound.
What is Graves Mountain?
It’s a unique place, it has forty or so minerals that people collect, it’s well known all over the world for the rutile.
So are people looking for rock formations?
They’re looking for rock formations, veins, people can come up here with kids during the show and sift to find stuff or you can take a hammer and chisel and work hard for it.
What makes these rock formations so special?
It’s one of the few places that’s got the finest rutile crystals in the world and there’s not many places like that.
How did all of this come to be?
There’s a lot of people who think it came about in different ways but most people believe it was an underwater volcano at one point. So whenever you have that perfect temperature of everything mixing together and they’re perfect chemicals, it starts making these really cool rock formations whenever they dried.
What would you say to get people to come out here and check this place out?
It’s the only place in the world that’s going to look like this , it’s free, it’s all donation, literally all you have to do is come down and get a room somewhere, and then you can come up on the day of the show.
How often are you doing this show?
We do it twice a year for the public and it’s once in April and once in October.
The folks at Graves Mountain encourage people to keep up with their upcoming events.
