Staurolite/Fairy Crosses

[TeAra]

From a dig out of NC that I was unable to attend but a fellow member was sweet enough to bring me a bucket of unsifted dirt.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

There have been found since early settlement. Thomas Jefferson treasure them. In Virginia they were found in abundance at Fairystone State Park near Bassett, Virginia. Went last Summer looking and only found a couple of maybe partials. According to research, to date they've only been found at Fairystone Park, and a location in Belgium. And now, North Carolina too ?

 

[Brian T. Booth]

From a dig out of NC that I was unable to attend but a fellow member was sweet enough to bring me a bucket of unsifted dirt.

I love staurolite crosses. The twinning that occurs in these minerals are amazing. Awesome specimens.

 

[TeAra]

There have been found since early settlement. Thomas Jefferson treasure them. In Virginia they were found in abundance at Fairystone State Park near Bassett, Virginia. Went last Summer looking and only found a couple of maybe partials. According to research, to date they've only been found at Fairystone Park, and a location in Belgium. And now, North Carolina too ?

A gentleman owns property in NC that these are found in. I saw the place in VA you are speaking of but have not been there.

 

[TeAra]

I love staurolite crosses. The twinning that occurs in these minerals are amazing. Awesome specimens.

I only wish I had made it to the dig. But after finding the first one while screening was exciting too.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

On VA Rt. 57 on the East edge of Fairystone Park - the Bassett side, there is a little service station that's been there since I was a child in the early 1950's. The store sells fairystones.

Right at the store is a trail that leads into the forest - open for fairystone hunting

The last time I went into the store, they had large rocks incrusted with the stones, but then I wandered back into the depths of the store, they also have grinding wheels and other tools.

So, my impression is that since the area has been searched more times than I can imagine, the store is fabricating the stones for sale

This puts the whole lust and sparkle of buying the stones into a serious dark shade of doubt

And, that is a real bummer....

 

[TeAra]

I don't tend to buy any kind of stone unless I know the person and trust them. I would much rather find my own so I know where they came from and are not replicas you could say. We have digs coming up that I plan on attending.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

When I was born, my father was a ranger at Fairystone Park. We lived in a quonset hut at the park. I remember remembering living there kinda - born in '49 and Dad left the park in '52.

Those posted pictures in this thread are what I remember as the stones. Very few are actually cross shaped.

The local legend said that when Christ died, the angels cried and their tears turned into the fairystones. Of course the local Indian legend was quite different, but I can't remember what that said - I'd been away for most of my life. The stones are actually found through quite an area there - on the top of Bull Mountain which is 8 miles from the park - actually more if you count going up that mountain. From my grandmother's house I tried going up there, but half a day and slope after slope it still looked just as far away as it did when I started out. And there are feral hogs, bear, coyote, and mountain lions up there too. The bear come right in my (grandmother's) yard, and a couple years ago a lion did as well - I didn't think they were THAT big. And last Summer I was sitting out on the porch at around midnight and I do believe I heard a very large hog running through the woods above me - a grunt/squeal each time it's front feet hit the ground. I went inside! Them things think humans are a delicacy.

Sounds like Bull Mountain would be the perfect place to find stones!

 

[TeAra]

I wouldn't mind going there but I'll be waiting till winter comes back around after my trip yesterday. My husband and I went surface collecting and after I had just set some rocks down I planned on bringing home I went to look at more and when I came back there was a copperhead around the rocks. We have hogs up here that have been wild for years but I will fear that snake more than bacon.

 

[nomad1]

A good example of penetration twins. Nice find.

 

[TeAra]

thank you but credit goes to a fellow rockhounder

 

[Tigger]

Those are some nice crosses!
BTW, the guys at the service station are "cleaning them up" - scraping away the matrix which is softer. You can't hunt in Fairystone Park, but they give you directions to the place mentioned above - free, and you can find them, just go further in. (If you want to support the Park, you can stop at their gift shop without paying the park fee.) Also have heard of some in Georgia, but haven't been able to pinpoint a spot yet. I didn't know NC had them - cool!!!
Tigger

 

[urbantreasure]

Found in Georgia too and Washington and W.Va. Not uncommon.

 

[Tigger]

I haven't been able to find a spot to collect in Ga. If you know of one, could you PM me? Also WV, my husband's family is from there.
Thanks
Tigger

 

[StoneWhisper]

Teara, So glad to see your still searching and as we've named it "Rock Hording"

One thing about thsi topic.. while living in NC for more that 9 years, we to have bene caught venturing to the Fairy Stone Park with the hopes of find some nice ones.. However once at the actuall park.. they told us we can't/couldn't dig at the park but we could venture down the road to a service station designated at the official dig site, sort of speak.

Once we arrived at the so called dig site.. the service station owners had allwed "cornered the market" sort of speak and they said we couldn't dig for any fariy stones.. Because they had allready digged the night before.. and it just seem that they where attempting to sell their finds to those wanting to find these stones themselves. I can't say that it was a bad experance.. but it seem sort of a wasted trip.

So I guess the best thing anyone can do if they attempt to take a trip like this.. best know what your gettign into.. and look out for those "price gougers"

Link?.. Fairy Stone State Park

 

[hvacker]

They are also found in New Mexico. A place called Hondo Canyon, Taos County. Difficult access. And tales of the stones in the upper Rio Grande Gorge. Some rare ones have garnets as part of the cross. I've read they are 21 world wide locations only.

 

[puckhunter84]

I have a aunt that lives near blue ridge, Georgia that has a stream running through her property that has fairy crosses in it!

 

[TeAra]

Have not been able to be online for some time now. Had a very bad luck streak for about 2 months but I am back now. I was not able to attend any of the current digs we had around but hoping to attend some in the near future to share some local finds.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

For an update on that store at Fairystone State Park which sells (?) the stones, the store has changed hands, been several months now. Auto repairs, gas, used tires, etc. I haven't been in, so I don't know if they're still selling the stones.

 

[Indian Steve]

Howdy All, I live about 5 miles from the Fairystone site in Virginia. You can still buy Fairystones in the store and you can find them in the woods behind the store if you are willing to look. Follow the trail up the hollow past where most people have hunted and branch out off to the sides. You can pull back leaves and find fairystones where other people don't look. If anybody wants a cheap{free} tour guide, send me a private message and let me know when you will be by. I can show you a nice magnetite site a few miles away too. steve