What makes the Green Mountain green?
posted in Roadside Attractions, Collecting Locations, Filming, Family & Friends |For our Maine & New Hampshire stints Tom (Tom Klinepeter, starkhillgem) was going to be our guide, however on our first day he was busy, and unable to take us out collecting. Tom lives in Fryeburg, Maine, only a short distance from the New Hampshire border. So our first order of business was to get some breakfast in neighboring Conway.
Afterward we headed over to North Conway to visit Dondero’s Rock Shop check it out.
We chatted with owner Mitch Dondero and browsed his selection of local minerals.
Through out journies, we have been to quite a few rockshops, and we were pleased to see many cases of actual mineral specimens for sale.
Before we left a group of kids came into the shop, and mitch gave them a little lesson rocks and minerals.
It was just about that time that our buddy Dylan Stolowitz (Green Mountain Minerals) called us. After speaking awhile he suggested that we call his brother Nick in Vermont about visiting Eden Mills in Vermont, only 3 hours away. We decided to meet at his house which was only a short drive away from the quarry.
The Eden Mills Mine was an asbestos mine that was shut down after the demand diminished. This local is famous for its super gemmy grossular garnets, but we were excited to collect all the chrysotile and serpentine asbestosform minerals. Nick showed us the best one that he had found there.
We parked along a wooded area, and then took the short hike through the woods to the quarry.
While we didn’t find any garnets as good as Nick’s, we did find some pretty nice small ones.
And plenty of asbestos samples.
Nick also found some green crystals that we figure are either Vesuvianite or Diopside.
After spending a couple hours putzing around, it was time to drive back to Tom’s house in Maine.
On the way home we passed an interesting bowling ball pyramid in front of someone’s house.
