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    Mountain Gateway Museum

    5.0 (4 reviews)
    Closed 12:00 pm - 5:00 PM

    Mountain Gateway Museum Photos

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    4 years ago

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    8 years ago

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    5 years ago

    Had a fabulous time! Ms. Brittany was very helpful. We even participated in a riddle contest. Lots of fun for a quick history lesson.

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    6 years ago

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    Emerald Village

    Emerald Village

    3.6(19 reviews)
    15.5 mi

    Emerald Village is located in Spruce Pine, NC. It is a hidden gem that I highly recommend visiting…read more The campus is large so you can visit some attractions or all. I opted to tour the mine, visit the country store, visit the museum, and mine gems. Besides the mine, there were extra exhibits in the building. One was about the mine and the other on tobacco. At one point there were 12 mines. The tour is of the Bon Ami Mine. Some of this is accessible but to get down to the mine there are railroad ties used for stairs. The portion of the mine with the tour has everything labeled so you can read about it as you go. You just go to the top portion of the mine so it isn't claustrophobic. I was worried about that. Just watch your step as the railroad tracks are still there. They are easy enough to step over or go around but if you aren't paying attention could trip. You can enjoy the views and waterfall while learning about the mine and seeing the equipment. I liked that they had some storyboards and the small building to see the rocks with the black light. It was a unique museum to learn about mining. The country store was nice with the history of the medical office, post office and store replicas. The mill building had exhibits on twelve levels. A model railway exhibit, music room, black light room to see minerals. The only way to see this building was by stairs. This was the only part I didn't really care for but did enjoy parts of it. I did the gem bucket from McKinney Mine. It was a large bucket so after I got a feel for it, I gave the rest of the bucket to some kids nearby. A nice perk is they offer wifi to guests as I lost service in the remote location. So that helped me get to my next destination. I also liked ow well the attraction was marked and labeled so you knew where everything was.

    This mine was an actual working mine. It felt to me like the rock that you sorted was less seeded…read morewith gemstone. On the other hand, that gave it a more realistic feel. We purchased in Emerald bucket which had plenty of emerald pieces. We also purchased a native bucket. The native bucket had a lot of mica and, of course, quartz. There were a few other stones but that was the majority of it. Their native bucket was very reasonable price but also had a lot less finds. We had arrived close to closing time and although they didn't rush us, it would have been nice to arrive early enough to see some of their historical offerings. Getting down to the panning area was more difficult than expected as there was a set of steep stairs or a long, and steep, gravel ramp going to that area. That made a difference to my wife who has trouble with her knees and we almost didn't go because of it.

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    Emerald Village
    Emerald Village
    Emerald Village

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    Mystery Hill

    Mystery Hill

    3.9(66 reviews)
    47.7 mi

    We had such a great time and ended up picking up the base ticket that includes: Gravitational…read moreAnomaly, Hall of Mystery, Bubblerama, Native American Artifacts, 2903 Dougherty House & Farmyard, Rodeo Rampage Bull Ride Challenge. It is a really cool place to visit, walking in that gravitational anomaly room is the weirdest sensation I've ever felt, but it is something cool to experience. In the hall of mystery, we literally let our inner child just wander around. And sadly we weren't able to do the bull ride, because of timing. For sure it is a place where you can spend your day in there. They're very hospitable and our tour guide was very funny.

    A pretty fun straightforward diversion good for rounding out an afternoon in Blowing Rock. I ended…read moreup coming here on a day trip weekend getaway. I'm originally from Michigan and grew up pretty close to the Mystery Spot in the Upper Peninsula, so I was somewhat familiar with this sort of place. I ended up checking out the "gravitational anomaly" room along with the "Hall of Mysteries" but none of the other stuff. There was also Axe Throwing and some sort of Native American History Museum but didn't see those as I was somewhat pressed for time. There was also somewhat randomly a huge obscure soda collection which was kind of cool. And they also had Vernors which as a former Michigander I appreciated. The "gravitational anomaly " room was pretty cool and is obviously the main focus of this place. There were a few demonstrative tools like a water flow demonstration, a rubber ball on a track that apparently defies gravity and a swingset. The room itself isn't too large and those three things were the only "tools" in there but goofing around in the room on your own is plenty entertaining as you can see from the attached pictures. Beyond that the "Hall of Mysteries" was basically a small section of optical illusions and science demonstrations which was interesting enough but something probably more interesting to and suited to kids. Overall the place is cool but kind of feels like it doesn't know what it's trying to be beyond the "gravity room" and feels like it could use a little update and some more focused development/presentation. If you haven't been before it's probably worth experiencing at least once if you're going to be in the area and have time for it. They also have a Zoltar machine, which is always a plus in my book.

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    Mystery Hill - Tomahawk Hill (Axe Throwing)

    Tomahawk Hill (Axe Throwing)

    Mystery Hill
    Mystery Hill - Gem Mine

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    Gem Mine

    Mountain Gateway Museum - museums - Updated May 2026

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