- Title
- Our state
-
-
- Date
- May 1998
-
-
- Place
- ["North Carolina, United States"]
-
Our state
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tar heel towns
bv I-eigli Pressley
Hiddenite
With the only gem-quality emeralds in the nation, Hiddenite boasts a rich history,
including precious gems, the folk culture of the Brushy Mountains, and possibly a Smithsonian
exploration on the genesis of continental drift.
With some of the world's top quality
emeralds, healing springs, and a com¬
plex geological makeup that has pro¬
duced 65 major identified gemstones
and 2.000 microscopically identified min¬
erals. Hiddenite is a treasure chest of
nature. Yet today, the tiny, unincorporat¬
ed town of 250 in Alexander
County seems simply hidden.
Many rockhounds and tourists
come to I liddenite to dig and
mine at I liddenite Gems, and
many return to gamble in
nature's casino. But most leave
and return without ever knowing
the region’s rich history or its
modern-day offerings in art,
crafts, fine dining, and luxurious
— yet rural — accommodations.
An hour from Charlotte, Win¬
ston-Salem. and Boone. 1 lidden¬
ite sits on N'.C. I lighwav 90
between Taylorsville and
Statesville. Leave die interstate,
and the quiet, two-lane roads
wind through country farmland
still free from billboards, traffic
jams, and industry. I liddenite
residents like their town small
and plan to keep it that way.
This Ls a town that is happy
with who it is," says Dvvaine Coley,
executive director of I liddenite
Center Inc., the area’s arts hub.
"Young people can hardly wait to
get out of what they consider a
tiny, one-horse hick town, but
once they get away and have chil¬
dren, they can't wait to get back.
Being a small town is a source of
pride for the people who live
here."
Nowhere else on earth
I liddenite may lx* often overlooked
now, but in its heyday around the turn of
the century, it was a crowning jewel of
the Carolines.
In the 1880s. farmers in this foothill
area of the Brushy Mountains found
The cramming jewel of a trip lo Hiddenite is sluicing and
digging at Emerald Hollow Mine. Various precious gems
and stones are available for sale near the sluicing ana.
"green bolts” while plowing their fields.
Reports of the strange discoveries attract¬
ed the attention of inventor Thomas Edi¬
son. who promptly sent scientist and pro¬
fessor William E. 1 lidden and renowned
Tiffany’s gemologist George Frederick
Kunt/. to explore.
Edison hoped the scientists
would find platinum for use in
the first lighthulh filaments,
but instead, the two discovered
stunning gem-quality emeralds.
Together, they documented
more than 63 different types of
gemstones and minerals. Emer¬
alds and sapphires were found
lying within three feet of each
other — a phenomenon seen
nowhere else on earth.
Professor I lidden also stum¬
bled across a neon green gem¬
stone never before recorded.
The gem and village were later
named in his honor. Nature's
treasure chest soon led to an
“emerald rush" that brought
prospectors seeking fortunes and
sporadic attempts at commercial
mining occurred during the next
50 years. As good ;ls the minerals
were for the wallet, the rich soil
they came from was soon
thought to have healing
properties.
At the time, residents of I lid¬
denite went to the town mill to
have their flour and cornmeal
ground. They filled a gallon jar
with water from the sulphur
springs for drinking. Ixithing,
and healing wounds.
As the fame of the healing
12 Our State May 1998