Elijah Mountain Gem Mine And Crystal Store — Attraction in North Carolina

Because my husband, Mike, and I enjoy rock hunting and roaming through North Carolina's countryside, we decided to go gem mining up at the Elijah Mountain Gem Mine in Hendersonville, NC.

All those great reviews about this place are true! We had the best time ever! And I loved the huge Gift Shop...so many items for sale and such good prices, too! Really surprised me. Lol. Also, there's some cute goats and well as two chickens. Forgot the black and white chicken's name but the brown chicken is named "Crispy". Lol.

We met Heather, Danielle, Joe, Kyle, and Elijah. But more on them later. :)

Heather hooked us up with The Big Honkin' Tub that we figured would keep us busy for a while. But I guess our dirt-shaking skills have improved because our 'panning' went faster than we thought and we were done in about two hours or so. Lol.

And what a haul we got! LOTS of beautiful 'Jewelry-quality' stones that I can tumble or 'Dremel' and turn into pendants, necklaces, pins, rings, etc.

We also found 2 large geodes full of white quartz crystals, a large multi-faceted white/clear quartz crystal that barely fit in my husband's hand (and which we'll display at home!), rubies, garnets, amethysts, rose quartz, smoky quartz, fossils, sapphires, all kinds of Jasper, and so many others that I'm still learning the names of. (Including some gorgeous blue stones of various shades and sizes that I already forgot the name of! Lol.)

We had so much fun and found so many great 'finds' in that tub that we scrapped our initial plans to visit another part of NC the next day and instead WENT BACK THE NEXT DAY...BOUGHT ANOTHER TUB...AND FOUND MORE GREAT 'FINDS' including a large amethyst that will be displayed at home along with a pure white Snowball Geode that is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

BUT while my husband and I had a lot of fun 'treasure hunting', we can honestly say that we wouldn't have had half as much fun if it wasn't for Heather and Kyle.

Heather and Kyle would check on us at times and let us know what we had found up to that point. Also, Heather brought us soda to drink while we dug in the tub's sandy dirt, talked about Megalodon teeth with my husband afterwards, and showed me how to use a panning-for-gold pan. :) THANK YOU, HEATHER! :)

Joe was usually busy with outside chores but still managed to come over several times to see what we and others there had found, and he was very knowledgeable about those 'finds'. He's just a little more 'laid back' than Kyle who is a Goof Ball just like my husband.

Danielle...she is quiet and more laid back than Joe but she will stop whatever she is doing in order to make sure your questions get answered or your requests met.

Elijah...we met him the second day at the cash register. Lol. Didn't have much time to really get to know him but he seems like a good guy whom my husband overheard explaining to another customer how geodes are formed.

Kyle...what can I say? He's a Goof Ball. Lol. He jokes around, knows his information well, and gets along with kids because he acts like one of them...Lol. And, in general, he helps make up the ambiance of this place. It certainly wouldn't be as much fun without him.

All in all, Mike and I had a great time BOTH days...made some friends...and have found our "Treasure Hunting Grounds". WE'LL BE BACK SOON! :)

Hope everyone who reads this will give Elijah Mountain Gem Mine a visit...well worth going there and very easy to get...

Buyer beware: their advertised prices might not be accurate on the stones you pick out, especially the more expensive or bigger ones. I always have loved stopping in here, I come from Florida every so often and it used to be a must stop. Been doing it for years, but after their shady business practice today, I will be reconsidering. They had a “sale” going on with stones out by front door. Signs said $6/pound for Quartz+Citrine and $10/lb for Amethyst. They also had them separated by shelf to clearly identify each, but I also am familiar with stones so knew too. I said awesome! I grabbed this nice citrine, weighed it, and thought it was reasonable. Went to purchase it and the guy said it’s $10 a pound not $6. I had to go to the back of the store to get something from my necklace and I told him I want to weigh it again knowing the new price. I mentioned to him when I came back in, “it’s crazy yall just had a sign there that said $6/lb now it’s gone, yall must of took it down”. It seems While I went to the back of the store one of the clerks ran to the front to take the sign down, which is so very dishonorable. Didn’t mention a WORD to me after, just ignored me and said have a good day after he cashed me out. What’s not said, says a lot. I told him I won’t buy it anymore because that’s a difference of $50. I believe they did this because they were busy and thought they could get more for it but it is truly dishonorable for whatever the reason is and it’s sad the owner hires people like this, or maybe worse, is a policy or was the owner him self. Didn’t seem like the owner though and was always on his phone. I mean, causally mentioning we have the wrong price listed or something other than that experience would have been much better.

Theres plenty of other gems in the world and local to here, like Tribal Trends just a few minutes down the road, that’s just so shady and can’t believe...

The 3 small bags on the right are what I paid $119 The large bag bags on the left are I paid $100 for at Pisgah gem mine. +3 huge clusters, And three geodes which I paid a lot less for.l plus 3 more bags of gems. Sometimes the trip matters when you have more invested employees that are willing to teach and show people instead of just taking their money …I went to Mount Elijah thinking it would be a good experience as per trip advisor and left and drove 20 minutes up the road don’t waste your money on Mt Elijah… it’s a tourist trap. As an avid gem collector, you can buy everything in their gift shop online for cheaper… The two young men working at Pisagh gem and mine were very interested and eager in teaching young children and anybody about The gems that they were finding …. And that made all the difference in the world. Compared to Mt Elijah, where they were only worried about your credit card… They took time with my granddaughter… taught her about gems , wrapped her finds that she wanted and cracked her geodes for her …. Kudos to great customer service and to the 2 young men working there today!!! We willl be back at Pisagh...