Greater Foscoe Mining Company — Attraction in Blowing Rock

We stopped at this gem mining spot during a trip to Banner Elk, and it was a charming little place to visit with kids. I chose this location because reviews mentioned the staff do a great job identifying and explaining the gems you find, which is something we haven't experienced at other mining places before.

We visited on a Sunday morning in June with our two kids (ages 8 and 5) who love gem mining. We were the only ones there, and the staff was friendly and welcoming. You get to choose from a variety of bucket sizes. We picked the third-largest option, which was around $58 after tax. At first, we were excited by how much material was in the bucket (see my photo for reference).

Unfortunately, once we started sifting, we realized a lot of it was just dirt. The kids were a little disappointed because they’ve found much larger gems in smaller bags at other places, so expectations were a bit higher. They split the bucket between them, and I’ve included photos of what they ended up finding.

I did appreciate that the staff took the time to clean and organize the gems. They taped everything to a sheet of paper with labels so we knew what each stone was, although there was definitely a lot of tape involved. That said, we didn’t get much in terms of explanation—just a quick “you guys did well today,” which left us wanting a bit more detail considering what brought us there in the first place. Keep in mind they do accept cash tips at this point.

There is also a jewelry shop next door where they offer to cut your gems and turn them into custom jewelry. We decided not to go that route on this visit.

Overall, it was a fun experience and a nice stop for families. I would be interested in coming back and trying one of the larger $100 or $200 buckets to see if the quality and size of the gems improve with...

I did not enjoy our experience with here. The employee was dismissed to our questions and did mot explain anything about the gems to our family, instead, he asked me “Did you get anything I told the family before you?”. I said “Not really” because we were maintaining our distance from their group as he explained but he didn’t care to explain to us. He charged us and never looked up, my daughter asked him questions and he just ignored it. I should just have left and kept on the road to go to Foggy where we had an amazing experience last time.

I decided to pick this place because it was a nice open space and I thought it looked cool.

We decided to stay in a station where there was sun but he asked us to move without any further explanation. Second sign I should just have left.

At the end, he didn’t mention anything about the gems to my 5 years old, she was so eager to learned. She told him things but it was like he wasn’t there.

I think he was working alone, so I understand if he had to go up and down helping folks but he could have been a little more welcoming.

Also, for the same $ we found way more stuff at foggy. And, their stations has samples of gems so you can compare.

We were flying blind here trying to guess what was what since we have had zero explanation about the more difficult...

We did not have a pleasant experience here. We visited during the week of 3/4, the staff was not wearing masks inside, the water was stagnate and muddy in the flumes. When we tried to get a very small amount of water from the spigots and hoses the staff told us they weren’t for customers and angrily placed buckets over the taps they couldn’t turn off.

The website says: “We pride ourselves on taking the very best care of each customer that visits the mine and that everyone has a memorable experience.”

We did NOT experience this and urge the owner to do the following to make the experience more enjoyable for future customers:

1. Install a water recirculation system through all flumes so water can be running constantly, at least while panning for gems.

2. Clean out the flumes more regularly. The flumes were silted full of 2-3” of mud when we were there.

3. Advise customers of any spigots that shouldn’t be used by them with clear labels and/or lockout devices.

4. Provide proper hand washing stations for cleanliness, there was only one spigot at the end of the building we could use and no soap at all, the water also spilled onto the wooden walkway and steps due to...