As a self-proclaimed rock hound, Rose Creek Mine met all expectations and more. Our family of 6 went on Sunday, most of us choosing the "DIY Dig" buckets for $20 per person. The experience consisted of digging up two buckets of dirt from the pile that was recently hauled from their Smokey Mountain mine, and using the provided equipment to sift through little by little. The DIY dig touts "non-salted" buckets, which was important to me, giving us as close to a real boots on the ground mining experience that a family of all ages can expect. The pictured peach moonstone was my favorite find of the day, and I also took home some really unique and reasonably priced pieces from the gift shop. I've done a few "dig & sifts" across the states and I was especially impressed with the staff helping to identify the material found and packaging up and labeling for later. The extra few minutes spent was so appreciated. Special shout out to Miss. Nancy for making my family's visit extra special! read more

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This place was amazing. The staff is incredibly helpful, it's a great value and the setup is comfortable and well shaded. My wife, myself and two girls found a ton of garnets, lots of quarts, a little bit of amethyst, moonstone, ruby and sapphires. Most of the gems were significantly included but they tell you ahead of time that it's pretty rare to find near perfect gems. It's still a great value and a lot of fun. If you want an extra bucket to shift through it's only an additional $5. As far as value the only place around here that might be better offers unlimited buckets for twice the price. That pretty much means you would have to sift through six buckets just to break even. If you only plan to go through 1-3 buckets this is a much better value and the people are nicer as well. read more

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Great time! This is an amazing little place. We spent probably 2+ hrs here going thru our buckets. It was well worth the money. Took our 2 daughters ages 7 and 17 and they both loved it! read more

I can't recommend this place enough. We had so much fun picking out geodes and shopping around the great selection in their gift shop. Unfortunately we were on a time crunch so we weren't able to do our buckets there but they offer them Togo! The staff was so friendly and knowledgeable! read more

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We are on vacation & decided to go gem mining. There were plenty of other options but Rose Creek was the perfect choice. The owner was super friendly & knowledgeable of what stones you find. After you clean your finds, he identified them & labeled what each was. This definitely was a core memory for my kids. Each kid found so many different gems they are super excited. Thank you Rose Creek Mines for being amazing. 10/10 will be back. read more

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Sean the owner was terrific helping us sort and identify our "loot". We tried out the local buckets and seeded ones and made good finds in both types, but the seeded ones were exceptional. Most important that the staff is friendly and helpful and Sean and his staff were exceptional. Highly recommended! read more

Excellent place to spend 2 hours! For $10 you get two buckets. You fill the buckets yourself from dirt brought over from a nearby mine. Then you bring it to the flume, where the water is running. They give you tools ( small shovel, container, and a mining tray) and explain what to look for. They pretty much guarantee that your bucket will have something in it. They were right. We found all kinds of stuff. When you are done, you take your findings to the owners and they sift through them and tell you what you found. A lot of the stuff was actually nothing but they were quite a few different types of gems that we found. They separate them and put them in bags that are marked for you. They explain what you can do with them. The owners were very helpful and very friendly. Two buckets took us the better part of two hours. I highly recommend. read more

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We got a kids bucket for a 4 and 8 yo. They loved every minute of finding the stones. The people running the place was very kind and especially good with the kids. At the end they took the stones and separated them and put them in a bag with the stone name. Of course they interacted with the kids and made a big deal of what they found. It was raining. We were under shelter. Expect to get your clothes dirty. Dirt has a lot of clay in it. read more

This place was awesome. They had everything you need to do salted or unsalted mining. They explained to you what to do and when you are done they go thru everything for you and tell you what you have found and individual bag it and label it for you. read more

We went there twice on our recent vacation. The kids (ages 7, 5, and 1.5) all loved it so much they kept asking to go back, and we as parents really enjoyed it as well. This place is the real deal, with a true operational mine on the property. They allow you to dig your own bucket and look for the real local treasure! This was a much better experience than one of the other local gem mining places we went to during our last stay that just had some dirt with purchased gems (not actual locally mined gems) thrown in. I highly recommend this spot. The staff was very knowledgeable and patient as they helped the kids and taught them about the mining process and the treasure (gemstones) we found. Don't fall for the tourist trap of fake mining store bought gems - this is the true gem mining!! read more

Sean runs a really excellent mine, the material is great, and the whole place is a total vibe. Expect to come out and pay a very reasonable price to find some stellar garnets and corundum. I would recommend this place to anyone trying to experience finding the gems of Franklin. read more

Awesome place to mine gems. The husband and wife that own it are very knowledgeable, and will identify all the gems that you find. We found 10 different gems in our buckets. Their gift shop is also awesome and very reasonably priced! Highly recommend! read more

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Dig your own bucket - the dirt hauled from their licensed property. Family friendly with great prices. We even found ancient Indian pottery pieces! Don't over think it, just go and have some fun! read more

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What a spot to spend a few hours and hang with great people that run the place...family owned multi generational crew running it...definitely recommend going over and checking this out...t read more

Tom is so excited about geology that it gets you and your kids just as excited. He is a great teacher and does great with large groups. Good luck finding the place as there are signs but you feel like your in a neighborhood as you pull down into the property. But don't worry just keep going and you'll get there. This is a great place to go with kids of any age as they will go home with something they discovered themselves. The gift shop is a nice place to find some great pieces too. There's even a small playground for when the kids get tired of mining. read more

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I highly recommend this establishment. The staff were super friendly and helpful. We got two buckets each with the dig your own option and spent a nice bit of time sifting our treasures. They came and checked on us and made sure to identify anything we had questions about. And to my surprise at the end they sifted through everything , identifying and bagging them up individually. Which I thought was super helpful and nice. All around nice and relaxing way to spend a few hours. read more

I met Tom today as part of my visit to the Franklin area fee mines. We chatted for close to an hour and his passion for geology and children was clearly evident. I got to tour the facilities which were immaculate and very well maintained. Rose Creek does not cut stones or even broker the process. Tom indicated the practice is a conflict of interest. I love his ethics and honest approach to running his business. I'm going to set aside some cash (it's the gem festival so I have to budget carefully) and get one of his high-end salted buckets. I'll share the experience in my next review. read more

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If you spend any amount of time vacationing in Macon County, you'll come across a dizzying array of various tourist mining operations. I expect that Rose Creek is one of the best. Found this place right here on Yelp. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that this is the best kid-friendly activity in Franklin. The cost is totally reasonable: $5 for a bucket that you scoop out if the ground yourself. Each bucket I'd bound to have "something" in it. The fun is not knowing just what. We found all manner of garnets, rubies and amethyst quartz and other things. Bear in mind, they are mostly very rough and in need of at least polishing and maybe cutting before they begin to approach jewelry. I think what sets this place apart is the service. It's a family run operation. In the middle of our mining on a hot August day we were all offered a frozen Otter Pop...what a thoughtful touch! When you're done, the staff is especially helpful in sorting, identifying, and bagging your haul. It's all for fun. No one's going to get rich here. Half of what you save is bound to be rocks, but the other half are semi (semi) precious stones! read more

This is our fourth trip to North Carolina, visiting Rose Creek Mine. This is hands down our favorite mine to visit in the area and we never leave empty handed. Great set up, wonderful owners. read more

We thoroughly enjoyed our first time gem mining. The owners were great! Very welcoming, plenty of social distancing and appropriate mask wearing! Very reasonable pricing. The native dirt was entertaining for all 4 of us. Everyone came away with a find. Ruby, sapphire, Smokey quartz, siliminite, moonstone & amethyst read more

Rose Creek Mine - The flumes. - Gift Shops Near Me - Franklin, North Carolina

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Friendly knowledgeable staff, identified and sorted the rocks you found and individually bagged them for you. Covered flume, native and enriched dirt. Reasonable prices. Ability to dig your own native dirt from mine cast off makes it a must visit mine. read more

Rose Creek Mine - Gift Shops Near Me - Franklin, North Carolina

Our son really enjoyed this place as did we! They gave him a kids bucket which had lots of goodies in it. We also found rubies, sapphires and garnets. Prices were excellent, the staff was friendly and checked on us. The owner has a ton of knowledge about gems and was so pleasant to converse with as our gems were sorted for us. Definitely worth it and returning! read more

We had a great time here!! Kids 8 and under are $4 a bucket. Kids over 8 are $6 each. We got 4 buckets. You have to dig up your own bucket. They have a State license & bring the dirt from their mine. We found a ruby & an emerald! Score! The group next to us bought 5 mega buckets ($75 each) & found some really huge rocks!! So now we have to get one too because our rocks were small compared to their gems. The place is family owned & worth every penny for a day of family fun! read more

So glad we discovered this place! Family owned and run. We took the grandkids to find some gems! And they did! Their Dad got involved too! The price was right too! 2 buckets for $10 if you dig your own! My 6-year old granddaughter got the "enhanced" bucket for $10. She was thrilled! They bag and label all the gems when you are through! Very nice people! So friendly! Great experience! We will be back! read more

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We have been to Rose Creek Mine twice over a couple trips to Franklin, NC. Rose Creek is great. The dig your own bucket price is great. Or you can purchase pre-dug "enhanced" buckets if you prefer. The staff is very helpful and ready to let you know if you have missed anything in your tray. Standard service is to go through your findings and ID what are plain rocks and what are actually worth keeping. There are picnic tables you can eat on and the entire flume is covered against the sun. It was warm when we were there and the staff offered popsicles to everyone. They even brought a blanket for our dog to sit on and a bowl of water. Again service is top notch. Make sure you allow a couple hours so you can take your time and enjoy. read more

Such a great place to bring kids and enjoy outdoor activities! will be returning

Up in Franklin for the weekend with husband and our four & five year olds. So glad we chose to come here one morning. The owners are super nice and great with the kids. We split one kids bucket and the little ones walked away with a bunch of treasures. They went through and told our kids what they had found and split them all into labeled baggies for them. Our kids can't wait to show their classmates! read more

Such a great find! We took our young kids here and it was a great experience. It was raining when we went but that didn't take away any from the fun! Mr. Tom was wonderful and so kind and patient with our kids. They can't stop talking about their treasure rocks. Definitely worth a visit. Such a fun little adventure! read more

I just took my two great nephews agrs 11 and 12 to Rose Creek mine for their second trip. The boys love being able to dig their own bucket of dirt from the mines shed, and were able to find many different gems. The pricing was extremely reasonable, and one of the staff members even came by and offered the boys a free frozen treat to cool them off. The staff is very friendly, taking time with all of there guests to explain how to mine and help them distinguish between the different rocks and gem stones. read more

Off the beaten path, but worth the trip. My kids (2 and 4yrs) loved it. Its a nice setting away from the highway. You can buy a bag pre-loaded with gems or dig a bucket for yourself. Very friendly. Family owned. You can spend $5 or a lot more. read more

We took the kids and their cousins for an afternoon of fun. The kids had a blast and management was great to work with. In addition, they sorted the gems for us when we were finished. We started out by digging our own bucket and then went for a "fun" bucket as well. Everyone enjoyed the afternoon. They have restrooms, picnic tables, playground and covered flume. read more

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A great way to spend the afternoon! We bought 6 buckets and spent close to 2 hours working through it with 2 adults, one 12 year old and an 8 year old. The staff was incredibly friendly and knowledgable. We found loads of garnets, some amethyst, ruby and sapphire. It has definitely got us hooked. read more

Generously salted buckets at great prices. Excellent customer service to boot. After I mined my bucket, they identified all my pieces, labeled them and packaged them up. Much appreciated. Will be back! read more

We have mined at Rose Creek Mine on two previous trips and we are heading back for another go at it. This is our favorite mine in Franklin! We've found many good gems, including a large ruby, a very clear topaz (which was gem cut into two beautiful stones! Couldn't be happier. We are headed to Franklin for the eclipse. Staying at a cabin at the Rose Creek Campground. This is an exciting time for us! Happy days read more

Very nice family operated business, very friendly, very knowledgeable. The whole family enjoyed every minute we were there. Definitely would recommend for all ages. read more

This was the best gem mine my fiance and I have been to. The staff was very kind and helpful, they even helped us identify each stone, even the tiny ones, then bagged them up and labeled them! Also the price was awesome, best price in the area! We will totally make that trip again! read more

I have been to this mine several times over the past 10 years. I really enjoy the people who own it they are fun and knowledgeable in their gems. I have bought both the buckets you dig and the salted bigger buckets. It is always a good time and I look forward to going again this year. read more

Absolutely fantastic! Exciting and relaxing. We spent three hours here sifting through two buckets of "dig your own". We thought the price was very fair, only $10 for two full buckets with the option to add another bucket for $5. The owners are very welcoming and friendly. The scenery is beautiful with a meticulously staged wildflower garden. We found amythist, several kinds of quarts, garnet and a 6k ruby. The staff is knowledgable and trust worthy. DO NOT spend your money on the other touristy places, well worth the drive from Cherokee. Per and kid friendly.Our only regret was that we couldn't stay longer. We will definately visit again. read more