Emerald Village Tour

I had thought about taking the kids to Emerald Village earlier this year, but kept putting it off.  Then Living Social offered a great deal in July on the tour, so I purchased it.  We decided to go at the end of September and check it out.  I'm so glad we did!

Emerald Village is located outside of Little Switzerland, NC.  The views of the mountains were gorgeous as we wound our way up NC 226.  I can't wait for the leaves to change!

Our first stop was the mine tour.  The lady working the counter was very friendly and informative.  She gave each of us our own tour book and told us about the other things to do on the property.  Oh, don't forget to buy some fish food before you head out on your tour.  It was a bargain at fifty cents and I guarantee you will enjoy feeding the fish.

We entered a room that had all sorts of old mining equipment and items made from the rocks and minerals in the area.  A video played in this room and there were benches to sit on.  We perused the displays and listened to the video.

Next, you go outside and learn about the types of rock/minerals found and equipment used.  Everything was well marked and the tour book provided all the information.


Little Man (LM) was intrigued but the waterfall and fish caught his eye.  Of course, we all were amazed at how large the trout were and had an equally good time watching them.

We made our way into the Bon Ami Mine and learned more about how the mine operated.  We noticed the mica on the feldspar walls of the mine.  We noted the drill marks on the walls, as well.

The displays of pictures from the mines are not to be overlooked.

After we finished with the mine tour, we went across the parking area to the Mine Village building.  The building recreated several buildings a mine town would possess.

We saw inside a 1920's era general store.

There was a replica post office.

The mine boss's office was nicely recreated.

The mine store where mining equipment was issued.

The assayer's building contained various scientific equipment used to test mined material.

A 1950's general store showed the changes in products over the years.

Once we finished with the Mine Village building, we drove down the road slightly to the Gem Museum and Mining building.

This building offered several rooms to explore.  We went into a model train room, music room, nature room, farm equipment room, etc.  This building requires much climbing of stairs, so beware!

We did not do the gem mining at Emerald Village.  However, there were many families that did.

We enjoyed our visit and learned much about the Bon Ami Mines. 

Cowpens Battlefield

We took a field trip to Cowpens National Battlefield with our home school group.  We are so fortunate to live in an area with tons of history.  We are studying American History this year and just finished watching The Patriot.  We had discussed that although The Patriot is historic fiction, the battle scenes merged many of the local battles together to help tell its story.  We watched the Battle of Cowpens at the national park.  The 'first person' telling of the battle related to the kids and what they had seen previously.  The video held their attention and created a deeper understanding of what happened on the ground they were about to trek upon.

After the video, we looked around the room and noted the period pieces.  Uniforms, rifles, cannon, etc.were displayed.

Next, we headed outside to walk the battlefield.  We stopped at the various markers and read them.

We walked down to the Scruggs House to look inside.

It was a nice little outing and we enjoyed learning more about the battle that helped turn the American Revolution.

Engineering with Mr. Jack

It was time to use a bit of brain power and imagination with Mr. Jack!  The task was to design an object to pick up marbles and place them into a cup.  The device was not allowed to scoop the marbles and body parts must stay behind the tape line to operate the device.

Mr. Jack provided every group the following materials:  1 cup, 7 sheets of paper, aluminum foil, 3 rubber bands, 7 straws, 5 paper clips, string, and a roll of masking tape.

It was interesting to see what each group came up with in forty minutes.

Everyone did a great job and all the devices worked!

Oconee Station and Falls

We enjoyed the beauty of Oconee County by visiting Oconee Station and Falls.  It was a perfect place for a picnic and lovely nature hike to a waterfall.

The nature trail portion of the hike is definitely a moderate hike.  It goes down the mountain and then back up to the road.  Once you cross the road, you begin the Oconee Falls portion of the hike.  We didn't realize that we could walk down the road to access this point.  Lesson is learned for our next hiking excursion!

The falls portion of the hike is easy.  The trail is fairly wide and well marked.  The falls are beautiful and easy to access.

This will definitely be another hiking destination to keep on our list!