We didn't go panning for gold, but lots of people were there doing just that! We just checked out the history of the place. It's amazing how nothing was every thrown away. Everything is somewhat preserved creating a time capsule. And lovely gardens. It's a beautiful place in the summer. The flowers and water make it an easy way to spend some time here. read more

There's an interesting mining village, and the trail down to the creek is pretty. They give you a test bag of dirt too which is pretty much guaranteed to have some gold! They give you a demonstration, and then let you go and pan for as long as you'd like. The flowers around the campsite are very pretty and well kept as well. read more

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We had so much fun! This would be perfect for all ages. Wear boots if you have them. The views were also amazing. read more

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Meh. This is a neat place. There are many antiquated buildings to take a look at with some great pieces inside them. Otherwise, this is a place where you go to pan for gold. We did not do this. It cost $20 just to drive into the place and walk around. This was at least $10 too high in my estimation. It was neat to see, but entirely overpriced for what we got for our money. read more

Crow Creek Mine - Mess hall - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Girdwood, Alaska

Had a nice afternoon here walking through their property and doing a little gold panning at the river. Cute venue for an event. It was very pretty scenery and you can find a little bit of gold in their pay dirt and/or water holding areas. I'd say the real gold mine is the mercantile store. read more

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This review is for our wedding at Crow Creek Mine. When my husband and I were looking for wedding venues in Alaska many of our friends highly recommended Crow Creek Mine. When I emailed with Nathan the price seemed too good to be true. For a weekday wedding it was only $4,000 for the venue and that included a big clear tent, tables, chairs, dance floor, ceremony space, some sound equipment, and event staff. Crow Creek Mine is beautiful in the summer. It's incredibly green and lush and the venue has tons of potted plants and flowers scattered around that accent the historic buildings on the property. We were lucky that the weather held out (it sprinkled rain intermittently throughout the day) and we were able to have our ceremony outside on the lawn. The event staff set up the benches right before the ceremony started so they weren't wet for our guests. As I mentioned, it's so green and beautiful that we didn't need to put out any flowers for the ceremony. We just enjoyed the natural beauty that was already there. The reception area worked perfectly for our wedding. We only had about 80 people there so we had tons of space under the tent. The fact that it was clear allowed the natural light to come through and all the green scenery to compliment the flower arrangements our florist created. Most of our guests were from out of state and they couldn't get over how gorgeous the venue was. They loved walking around the grounds, checking out the buildings, and enjoying the view of the pond. A few things that are important to know about the venue is that it runs entirely on generators so you need to be clear with your vendors how much electricity they are planning on using. There is also no running water. The venue provides a trailer with toilets for guests, which was nice, but not fancy at all. This is a remote and rustic location. The ceremony takes place on grass and the reception takes place on gravel so we made it very clear to our guests not to wear stiletto heels. I wore a pair of wedge heels and they worked great. We worked with vendors who have done tons of events at the mine so they understood the limitations. I think this is especially important for anybody you would hire to do catering. Our caterer did a phenomenal job and the food was so good many of our guests went back for seconds and thirds. If you would like to copy our Crow Creek Mine wedding (which was phenomenal and everything we ever wanted) feel free to check out our list of vendors: Venue: Crow Creek Mine Caterer: Riza Brown Catering Band: Woodrow (Jared Woods) Florist: Bloomsbury Blooms Desserts: Alaska Sweet Treats by Melissa read more

Crow Creek Mine - Our final dance at Crow Creek Mine ended in a big group hug! - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Girdwood, Alaska

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Picturesque and beautiful - we really enjoyed our time here. Our entire family got to pan for gold while taking in the serene view of Alaskan landscape. We even met some wonderful pets who live at the Crow Creek Mine, including a dog called Kitty. What a great place! We can't wait to be back! read more

I'm always interested in 19 hundreds ghost towns, mines and old west stuff. However this site is an active residence and better suited to weddings than learning about the Alaska gold rush and crow creek history. On the one hand it's neat to see a photo of the owner as a baby in the same little changed kitchen. However, very little on mining life and techniques and the Ak gold rush. Price was also a tad high for the 1 hour visit. $13. 9 or 10 would be better. read more

Eh, it was ok. There's not much particularly exciting about this spot. And it's definitely a tourist trap. You have to pay even to just look around. And, of course, you have to pay to pan for gold. And it's real, serious panning down by a river. Even though we weren't very good at it, that was the definite highlight. It was a fun and unique experience. Looking at the little "town" or whatever was not a highlight or really even interesting at all. The staff were nice. They did a good job at trying to teach us how to pan. Friendly and knowledgeable. Cost was certainly too high for what you get, though. read more

Crow Creek Mine - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Girdwood, Alaska

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A bit off the beaten path but so worth the short drive! Beautiful surroundings and so much fun actually panning for gold in the river. An actual working mine since the '20's. A lot of history there! The owner took her time and explained the whole process. Highly recommend!! read more

Really nice staff. Gave a practice bag of material and it had 4 microscopic flakes...this was the only gold to be found. More flies that the middle of Guyana jungle and I am not kidding. Every rock had been dug around and you could tell they probably mined every last flake of gold there. Rented a sluice box for 20 and still not a flake. Fun, nice staff and gift shop selling things 200% over retail. You go there for the experience and not expecting to find any gold whatsoever. They were having a wedding and that is probably a moneymaker for them. Think I would try my on place and pan where there might be a chance to find something. Maybe they could refund sluice box price if you find no gold. read more

Price is relative to how much gold you find. I only found what was in my included practice bag. Beautiful site and the staff is very informative and friendly, all one big family. Panning for gold at the creek was great, wish I had found gold, but a neat experience to do some prospecting. Kids had a lot of fun as did the adults. Family fun for all. One of the employees said that if you find the right spot and the right time, one could find a half ounce of gold in an hour and of course one foot over you could find nothing read more

Please note that this is located in the middle of a rain forest so dress for on and off rain. We got lucky and it only rained for a bit in early August. We did not find any gold outside of the "paydirt" but the solid demonstration and the practice gave me the confidence that I could pan for gold and find it if it were there. It is hard work and the kids got bored after an hour or so. They have some picnic baskets by the stream so it was a nice place to spend the afternoon. read more

This place is a complete tourist trap. You will pay $20 to go gold panning which will get you a sample bag and instruction from an employee. You are then left to pan your sample bag on your own which will contain 4 to 5 flakes of gold. You are then told to go to the river and pan for as long as you like. You get a shovel as well. The river was fully mined years ago and there is almost nothing remaining in terms of gold. You could spend the entire day and never find gold. There is an area marked off as private property which I suspect is where the active mining is still occurring. So if you believe $20 is worth paying for 4 or 5 flakes of gold - go for it. Otherwise - stay away and find a more involved place that at least gives a tour to go along with the sample bags. read more

Crow Creek mine is it adventure for all ages. It is truly stepping back into history and seeing the way that gold mining started in Alaska. The price is $20 per person kids or less. You get to learn how to pan for gold then you get the unique opportunity to go down to Crow Creek and actually find gold on your own. You can also pay for a private tour which will teach you either to use a sluice box or a high banker. My husband and I are Close to 60 and we have thoroughly enjoyed our time at Crow Creek mine. It is not a typical touristy place it is for learning about mining as it historically happened read more

Crow Creek Mine - Small nugget from crow creek - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Girdwood, Alaska

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This family owned business is very friendly and intimate. Yes panning for gold can be a really touristy activity, but unless you live here you ARE a tourist, so why miss out on the fun?!?! It's true you will not fill a bucket with gold, but it is still a really fun activity. The scenery is just breath taking (I recommend packing a picnic) and we saw all sorts of curious little critters and beautiful flowers so bring a camera! There are some really cool antique artifacts along with the varied historic buildings on the property to check out too. If you have kids, they will absolutely love this! P.S. - We were very upset to see a bunch of garbage other guests had left behind. My son went into the gift shop in search of a garbage can to toss it in and the nice woman running the place thanked him for caring and gave him a little reward. Good people, good ethics, GREAT time! read more

This review is focused on Crow Creek Mine as a wedding venue. It is an absolutely lovely place, with an incredible staff and clever set-up and layout. The reception area is a clear sky tent set up before all the old-timey buildings and exhibits. There is an indoor and an outdoor ceremony area to accommodate the possibility of rain. The mine is just overflowing with gorgeous flower baskets, gardens, and displays. It is so lush and pretty, minimal extra decorations are needed. The reception area comes with all the tables, chairs (white resin folding chairs), white Christmas lights, dance floor and band area. We just decorated the tables and hung some chinese lanterns and it looked awesome. The various buildings are really interesting and cool to explore. Each building is like a tiny museum of the gold rush, and the Crow Creek homestead. Our guests enjoyed exploring the sprawling grounds throughout the day. Nate, Johnny and the rest of the crew where ridiculously helpful, friendly and competent both in the months leading up to the wedding and throughout the night. I cannot speak highly enough about how amazing they were. We had just the best experience with the Crow Creek Mine and couldn't imagine doing anything any different. As for anyone vising the mine while a wedding was going on; there were still many people going through exploring the mine and going gold panning while we were doing wedding things. Our group was setting up the reception and then taking pictures throughout much of the day. We only blocked off one of the many small cabins however, and it seemed like anyone visiting could still get pretty much the full experience. Our ceremony started at 4 pm, one hour before closing, and so the grassy field where the ceremony was held was closed to mine visitors. Its not an interesting field (unless you're watching people get married there) or a part of the mine experience, so I don't think this bummed anyone out at missing this part. Everyone walking through the mine while we were taking pictures around it were very respectful, and not at all intrusive. I think the mine did a great job having these two functions co-exist. We also hiked with large groups around the mine in the days leading up to the wedding (while other weddings were happening), and were not bothered by the events. In short, the Crow Creek Mine is a stunningly pretty place that really represents a piece of Alaskan history. It is a very professionally run wedding venue as well as being an interesting place to tour. The Mine's staff are friendly and helpful, and we had an amazing wedding thanks to the gorgeous venue and great people. read more

I went as a wedding guest this last weekend. Although the location had a lot of potential, all the guests as well as myself were shocked at the insane amount of biting flies they had. I've never seen a pest problem like that. There's a small pond on the property that I'm guessing is the reason for this. It's really gross and scummy and has an immense amount of flies congregating on the surface. Guests had a hard time eating or holding still during the ceremony due to constant biting. I've never seen anything like it and I'm covered in bites today. They need to do something about the flies. Either spray regularly or get rid of that pond. I'd reconsider if you're booking a spot for your wedding venue. read more

My family enjoyed the gold panning. We didn't really find anything and didn't expect to but it was fun. However, there were plenty of people around us finding gold. But they knew what they were doing and had all their own equipment. The history of the place is pretty neat too. Also, you will want water proof boots our waiters. read more

We went here the other day expecting a fun little side trip. When we arrived we paid our $20 and started walking. Almost immediately we got stopped by someone they were having a wedding, (which was obvious from the setup out front for the reception), and to take the lower trail, go down and then we could come back via the upper trail where the majority of the buildings were. When we got the that point at the lower trail we were shooed away again and told the wedding was delayed and we couldn't walk up there. We walked all the way back the way we had come. When we got back to the fork in the trails we noticed no one standing there GUARDING the upper trail so we started to walk up it. Kid came running from down below waving his arms at us and we got shooed away again. By this point I am ANGRY as we paid full price and only got to see less than half of what there was to see. Got even ANGRIER when I found out the have weddings every weekend. So you take people's money every weekend and then don't give them what you advertise? I asked for just half the money back and got refused. It's my opinion if you're going to refuse the majority of the tour to people because of a wedding, then put a sign out by the road, closed such and such hours. Don't take people's money and then not deliver. Don't bother. read more