Hey Gang,

I would like to share with you what seems to be one of western North Carolina's best kept secrets.

Chrissy and I spent a couple hours last Saturday visiting our friends at the Mineral & Lapidary Museum of Henderson County, North Carolina. The museum, located in downtown Hendersonville, is free although donations are gladly accepted but not sought.

On display in the museum are dozens of beautifully-made wood cabinets filled with a wide assortment of fantastic fossils, rocks, minerals, cabachons, faceted gems and more from all over the world.

View from the entrance


More display cases

It seems to many that no museum is omplete without a gift shop and the Hendersonville Museum is no exception.


Gift shop

One of the fun activities at the museum is the cracking of geodes from the Carillo Mine, Mexico. A soil pipe cutter attached to a table is used to perfectly split each geode purchased at the museum.


Bill Farrell oversees Alan Borg and Lorraine Wright splitting a geode

The museum guarantees that each person will receive a hollow geode to their liking. The Mexican geodes are well known to contain an assortment of different minerals so you never know what you will get, adding to to the anticipation and delight of all those who gather to watch. One of the display cases contains some of the more fantastic geodes that have been cracked at the museum.


Geode display case

Also on display at the museum are a few North Carolina minerals on loan from yours truly in their very own case.


Selected western North Carolina Minerals by Mike Streeter

I highly recommend that you stop by the Mineral & Lapiday Museum of Henderson County the next time you find yourself in Hendersonville, North Carolina. A map and more information can be found on their website by clicking on the picture below:


Click above picture for more information

Say hello to our buddies, Larry, Alan, Bill and Lorraine for us.

KOR

Mike

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