Gold Gem Panning Gift Shop — Local services in Cornelia

Woah, this was a great activity for the kids and even us adults. The staff is very laid back and knowledgeable. Walking through the shop you can see your standard fare of gems, trinkets and even some fossils. With some other miscellaneous gem/mineral art pieces and what not.

The real fun is outside. We chose the #2 option for a large bucket with a chance to pan in the water some cool miscellaneous stones and such. The larger bucket was the perfect trick that our two kids were full of enjoyment and satisfied in the amount of time they got to discover the goodies!

We would absolutely come back again, the awesome dude hosting/managing the place was super helpful and even hooked the kiddos up with some bonus stickers!...

Disappointing experience. We bought the $35 two-gallon "family bucket" of gem sand the employee recommended for our 12- and 9-year-olds to sift, and quickly discovered that these buckets were designed for preschoolers. The rocks are huge. You're basically washing sand away from big chunks of rock. No sifting needed. We were done in a few minutes. The guy in charge was clearly busy with multiple camp groups of kids, and he was friendly, but, if I were to go again, I'd choose the gold panning option---which I didn't see there, actually. But this was way too easy and way...

We enjoyed ourselves with a couple gem bags. I showed up just before closing and missed out on the gold buckets. Completely my fault, though I still had a great time. Loved watching the kids sift through rocks looking for the pretty ones. The group up there are knowledgeable and very helpful. They can make jewelry with your treasures as well. Stop by the rock shop if you want some real beauties without the work or thwack a geode with a hammer, yourselves. Take a pic of the wall of rocks to identify the rocks at home. Good luck...