Tag Archives: mica

Garnets in the Fairmount Park area of Philadelphia Pennsylvania

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We just love the city of brotherly love and you can discover a beautiful feature of this area, the mica schist deposits running through this area, outcropping all over the Fairmount Park area and beyond. There is Wissahickon formation schist all over the place, not all of it has garnets and they never get big, but having one as a reference sample and visiting this area are well worth the time spent.

ducks in fairmount park
Ducks lined up by the Wissahickon Creek

While we have visited many outcrops of rocks around the area, the one where we took these photos is by the wissahickon creek, just north of the free public parking area by the Vallery Green Inn.

View Fairmount Park Garnet Deposit in a larger map

This area is beautiful and you can see blocks of Wissahickon schist used for building stone, with garnets poking out of some of the blocks. There is a beautiful stone bridge there, along with all sorts of birds, small animals, providing a beautiful setting just outside the city. We went down to the wissahickon creek, descending on the west side of the bank. Trails form around the creek, revealing water worn mica chunks with garnets sticking out. The red color is interesting, but few if any are of any gem quality, they are simply a mineralogical interest item and a beautiful example of a mica schist. Philadelphia is a beautiful city and this deposit of Kyanite is just one more great reason to visit! Check out Hotels.com for great deals on hotel rooms in Philadephia!

down by the wissahickon creek
A view from the trails by the Wissahickon Creek
Friends of Wheretofindrocks.com collecting garnets
Looking through the rocks down by the creekside
a tiny gemmy red garnet in matrix
A tiny gem red garnet in matrix
typical size of mica and garnet specimen
A rockhammer to show you the typical size and color of the garnet baring mica schist
flipping over rocks at the wissahickon creek
Finding a good specimen takes luck
Having fun looking at rocks in philadelphia
A beautiful setting for a nature outing, the mica schist of the Wissahickon Creek is a great way to spend an afternoon!

Roxbury Connecticut Garnets at Green’s Farm – Now Closed to collecting!

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A must visit site to collect big crystals of Almandine Garnet embedded in a matrix of mica schist is the classic Green’s Farm location, in the rural beauty of Western Connecticut. The location is just a short drive from several metropolitan areas and has served as a fee collecting location for decades. For a VERY reasonable price of $5.00 per car, you can go to Green’s Farm, park over towards the trees and begin your short trek into the woods to the large deposit of mica schist in the woods.

Here is one of the cleaned specimens of garnet and staurolite in schist matrix from the creator of Mindat.org, Jolyon Ralph’s personal collection.

Cleaned Garnet Cluster from Connecticut with Staurolite

UPDATE EDIT NOV 11th 2012, just a couple weeks after this post was written: I have omitted the directions to this location, but leave the map up. The location has been sold and there have been no trespassing signs posted. The new land owners are not welcoming people to contact them and permission to collect at this location has been revoked. A sad fact, this is now a historical document. Who knows, it could always be resold to someone who appreciates keeping legacy going.

Far Away look at the garnet deposit in Roxbury
Satellite map of Green's Farm Garnet Deposit

From the parking area it is just a quick walk through the woods…
Walking through the woods to the garnet deposit

To the “mine” which is a large area of mica schist filled with garnets and staurolite.
A photo of the mine surface at Green Farm Garnet Deposit

All over the area, garnets are simply sticking out everywhere you look.
a photo of garnets in the schist at the mine, waiting to be mined.

In the tailings, there are tons of garnets, like the piece in the photo below.
Loose Garnet Matrix from the Greens Farm Garnet Deposit

Chunks of matrix like this one are all over the place. These little garnets are not as nice as the one below.
small garnet crystals in schist matrix

This sample shows that it has larger, solid garnets in the mixture of mica schist matrix. If you have a sand blaster, the mica schist comes off easily. If you do not have a sand blaster, you can simply try your luck splitting the matrix, sometimes you’ll get lucky and have a single crystal like the one below!
Garnets embedded in schist matrix

This specimen just popped out of the matrix. It is not cleaned, it still has a lot of mica attached to the surface.
Single Garnet Crystal

The Green’s Farm Garnet location is a must visit site for anyone who loves minerals and is in the area!
We are EXTREMELY grateful to the owners for keeping a classic site like this open and accessible for all these years!