At both mines, you can try your hand at panning for gold and gain an appreciation for the grueling hours prospectors spent sifting silt in area riverbeds, hoping to strike it rich. Nearby, open-pit Crisson Mine, established in 1847, claims the only working stamp mill in Georgia, used to pulverize quartz rock to release the particles of gold within it. Begin with a 40-minute guided tour of Consolidated Gold Mine, where 200 feet below ground in the dark, damp mine, you’ll glean how miners blasted through the rock walls with dynamite to reveal veins of gold-laced quartz and hear harrowing tales about the countless hazards they faced. By 1838, so much gold was being mined in the area that the federal government established a branch of the US Mint in what now is Price Memorial Hall at the University of North Georgia in Dahlonega.Īlthough commercial gold mining ceased by the mid-20th century, visitors can still dig into the town’s gold heritage.
Gold was first spotted in this sleepy mountain town in 1828, and for twenty years afterwards-before the precious metal was discovered in California-tens of thousands of prospectors rushed to Lumpkin County, lured by the promise of gold that was 98% pure.ĭuring the region’s gold heyday, more than 250 mines pocked the hills and valleys of North Georgia. Many a city brags about its “rich” history, but in Dahlonega, Georgia, they take that term literally. Tucked into the Blue Ridge Mountains in Northeast Georgia, Dahlonega proudly mines its gold rush heritage
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