Spending Time at the Reed Gold Mine

I was driving not long ago to a customer site and just happened to notice a sign on the side of the road that read...

REED GOLD MINE

OK. Everyone who read's my blogs knows what that means...one of two things. Turn around now or make sure to hit the mine on the way back!

Yep, that's what happened. You know, I went to my customer site and on the way home my car just happened to turn right on the very same road where the Reed Gold Mine is located. Imagine that.

It's a pretty drive through the country to the mine past some old farms and fields. It looked like rain and it was pretty late in the afternoon so I was hoping that I would have some time to check things out and see what I could find.

Reed Gold Mine http://www.nchistoricsites.org/Reed/reed.htm is the site of the first documented gold find in the United States and in an earlier post on mine Gold Mine Creek, I cover a bit about it but I'd never had the opportunity to visit.

The mine is operated by the State of North Carolina and it's located in Midland, not far from Charlotte. No fee is charged for admission or tours of the mine. Gold panning is $2.00 per pan. A group rate of $1.50 per pan is available.

The tour of the mine was just starting and I really wanted to go on the mine tour but I had to choose. The park was closing in about two hours and I wanted to hunt for gold!

I paid the small admission fee for panning and took off in the misty rain toward to creek and panning area.

Daniel and Norman were waiting on me with dirt and a gold pan in hand. I'm still trying to learn the art of panning and while I was there they took the time to show me how to move the dirt out quickly and make sure that the gold didn't go with it. And yes, I did find gold! I had time to empty three pans before the park closed and did find two small nuggets!

There was a guy named Luke and he was telling me while we were panning that he could remember when he was a young child that some of his family members would tell stories about panning for gold in the creeks not far from his home.

Check out the site if you're in the area. I'm going back when I have time to take in the tour. Hope to see you there!