Pine Mountain Gold Museum

Stockmar Gold Mine

Useful Information

Location:	Villa Rica, south of Stockmar airfield.
Open:	All year Mon-Sat 10-16. [2009]
Fee:	Adults USD 5, Children (5-12) USD 4, Children (0-4) free, Seniors (55+) USD 4. [2009]
Classification:	Gold Mine
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:
Guided tours:
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:	Pine Mountain Gold Museum, 1881 Stockmar Road, Villa Rica, Georgia 30180, Tel: +1-770-459-8455. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1826	first gold rush, mine opened.
2008	Pine Mountain Gold Museum opened.

Geology

Description

Pine Mountain Gold Museum is located at the Stockmar Gold Mine, right south of Stockmar airfield in Villa Rica. The mine was actually the earliest gold mine in Georgia opened in 1826, and as such the place of the earliest gold rush in Georgia, is the official statement of the museum. This statement caused some disturbance in 2009 when a reporter of the Atlanta-Journal Constitution asked nearby Dahlonega officials about their claim. Mine Dahlonega Courthouse Gold Museum and Mine Consolidated Gold Mines are the basment of a flourish tourist industry based on the claim to be the place of the first gold rush in the U.S.A. in 1828. So the main problem is: the 1826 claim of Pine Mountain invalidates their main line of argumentation and as such the base of their economic welldoing. As a result the article soon became a sort of war zone. Dahlonega officials refuted Villa Rica's claim, actually saying Villa Rica officials have lied. They hav documents, which were recently used for the inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.

We on showcaves.com do not know who is right. We find this situation weird and somehow funny, actually a sort of high level penis length comparison going on. Both sites seem to be interesting, and as a matter of fact they differ extremely. While Dahlonega is well developed and of some interest, definitely a good show but not cheap, is the Stockmar Gold Mine somewhat unimposing, the museum friendly but small, and the whole visit much cheaper. We can not say whats more interesting to visit, and guess it may give a better understanding of the early gold rush era in Georgia if you visit both. They are just 150 kilometers apart.