Saturday, June 5, 2010

Gold Museum and Gem Grubbing

Many of you may not know that before the 49er's went to California for gold there was the 29er's in the North Georgia area. The first real gold rush happened right in our neck of the woods. A small town named Dahlonega was at the core of the gold rush in Georgia. Today the Gold Museum was hosting "A Day in a Miner's Life". In the above picture is a man blacksmithing many items that miner's might need. Horse shoes, shovels, axes, etc.


The picture above is a man demonstrating some of the old wood working tools that might be used to make tables and chairs.

Of course this guy was the highlight of the event. Panning for gold. He actually found gold flakes in just about every pan and gave each child a small flake in a tube of water to take home with them. He was from a local mine that is a tourist attraction where you can go panning for gold or gem grubbing. At the time of the Georgia Gold Rush there were many mines in this area that are all gone now. We also went into the Gold Museum today and watched a short film about The Georgia Gold Rush and saw many interesting relics from that period. This event couldn't of come at a better time - we started two books on The California Gold Rush this past week. Now Grace and Scott are hankering to go out in the local streams and do some panning themselves. They will probably go tonight after dinner. One of the blessings of living in the area that is rich in nature and history.









3 comments:

Aknecht said...

Sounds like it was a lot of fun. Wish we were closer. We would have enjoyed it too!

angelina said...

awesome, gem grubbing!!

Tanya Murray said...

What a great event. Good learning experience for Grace.