The Hendersonville Mineral and Lapidary Museum was the project and dream of Mr. Larry Hauser. The museum was opened on November 6th, 1997. This museum contains one of the best mineral collections in North Carolina, many of the minerals on display were donated and loaned by locals in the area and members of the Henderson County Gem and Mineral Society.
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Cabinet with cut stones and craft pieces created by members of the Henderson County club.

One attraction of the museum is this excellent display of dinosaur eggs from China.

 

Another of the attractions is cracking geodes mined in Mexico, although the museum and the mineral club are two seperate entities, many of the Henderson County club members volunteer to work at the museum and have become experts at cracking the geodes !

One of the best amethyst specimens from the Reel Mine in Lincoln County, N.C., top picture, below is one of the largest corundum/ruby specimens ever found at the Propst Farm in Lincoln County, N.C.

This case holds excellent specimens from North Carolina.

The museum recently decided to upgrade one of the North Carolina cases with quality specimens and asked me if I could provide some material for the case, I provided over 30 specimens for the display, 25 of these were self collected and I decided to add some specimens that my friends had given me:

Selected Carolina minerals by Richard Jacquot.

Notice the three pieces on the top center shelf, all large Ray mine beryl crystals from the flood of 04.

Below are a few of the specimens we have in the case.

The case holds a total of 35 specimens

My 77 lb. emerald plate from the Crabtree Mine earned it's own display case.

Ruby and sapphire display, almost all the specimens were donated by local rockhounds, including eight of my corundum specimens.

Please stop by and visit, one of the knowledgable volunteers will show you around the museum and answer all your questions !

 

10/31/03