Sheffield Mine

Really great place! The workers are very knowledgable, and they want you to find gems and have a good time. Prices are very reasonable. There is a very friendly worker at the flume helping everyone determine what is worth keeping, my 10 year old found a pretty good size ruby, the workers made a real big deal about it, they made an announcement and gave here a certificate. Down home place, not a tourist trap. The right place to go.

Awesome experience for adults and kids a like. The workers were extremely helpful and entertaining. Believe them when it says it takes about 2 hours or more to get through the native soil buckets but man the fun. Our kids 11 & 9 actually enjoyed doing the native buckets more than the Rainbow buckets. The 2.5 hours we spent there flew by and we’d definitely go back if in the area again.

As soon as I saw this place on the Travel Channel I knew on our first opportunity in the area we just had to go.
This region of NC has several gem mines for rubies and sapphires, some of which star. Most of the gem mines charge no admission, but charge more for buckets. This place you pay $ 15 up front admission, but get two buckets. This is one of the few places that give you «virgin» buckets meaning they have not been tampered with or added to. If you’re with kids you should get at least one enriched «rainbow» bucket which has a bunch of gemstones thrown in it.
The people running the place were very helpful and nice. Clearly used to tourists like us who have never done this before. Wear clothes you don’t mind getting wet or dirty. What you do is take your bucket dump part of it in a sieve like box and work the mud/​dirt out in a water shoot all the way down to the rocks and gravel. You clean that and then look for the stones. Plan on each bucket taking you an hour. Additional buckets may be purchased for only $ 5 if you have more time.
Franklin seemed rather back country to me — not much else around besides the mining attractions, but the people were very nice and I felt like we got an authentic NC experience. If you’re nearby or within reasonable driving distance — go!

This was so much fun… we aren’t kids but enjoyed it as much as any kid… got muddy and even excited when we found a few nautural rubies.
The people are very helpful and friendly. well run and totally enjoyable.
Great fun for any size family. Bring your kids!