July 9, 2003
By Tom Kuzia
(tcknkk@adelphia.net)
Hi Gang,
This past Wednesday I took two of my grandsons, Joe 9 years old and Nick who is 7 to the Roxbury Garnet Mine which is located in Roxbury CT. The mine is only about 30 miles from home and a great place to take kids. The mine is located on private land but it only costs $2.00 to park,(you put the money between the doors of the house) and you can take all the garnets you can carry. I have been to the mine several times before with other collectors but this was the first time with the kids and they had NO idea what to look for. It's a very short walk from the parking area to the mine and while walking on the path the boys were just full of questions which were all answered in just a few minuets when we got there.
"Holy Cow Nick,look at this one." "Come over here Joe I already found 5 of them."
"WOW Dziadzi,(grandfather in Polish and pronounced jha-gee), Look at the size of this one." "This is like a treasure hunt Joe."
These comments went on for the entire time we were there and when we were ready to leave I had to carry the boy's buckets,as well as my own, because they were to heavy for them to carry!! I'd like to note here that we did not break a single rock to collect these garnets. We picked them off of the ground with out even digging and some of the loose were the size of a big grape!! We also took home quite a few pieces of the host rock containing garnets for the boys to break up at their home.
You don't "have" to pick the garnets off of the ground.If you would like to swing away with a sledge hammer and feathers or just pick away with hammer and chisel you can do that as well. In fact the last time I was there with 2 of my buddies we had a generator, impact drill with a 1-1/4" bit, several chisels and feathers along with a 12 lb and 25 lb sledge hammer. We took home some "serious" pieces of garnets and schist that day one of which was about 24"L x 12"W x 6"thick and was LOADED with garnets!!! Another thing I have done is to scoop up the dirt off of the ground with a 5 gal bucket and taken it home to sift through and also send it to some of my collecting buddies like Everett Harrington and Brandon Richards (Virgil's son). Brandon just e mailed me today saying he had a blast sifting through the dirt and finding all the garnets. I'll let Everett tell you his experience with the dirt himself!!
Me and the boys had a fantastic day together and it's great to see and hear two kids so happy and enjoying them selves in the great out-doors that God gave us.
Tom
The following picture was furnished in October 2009 by Larry Rush who wrote the following in an email to Mike Streeter:
"Mike: Just read your collecting page on your site.....I thought the Conn. [report] deserves a photo....one attached of the Roxbury Garnet Mine [specimens].
I have been there almost 50 times in the past 50 years...never came home disappointed yet!
Good work!!"
Larry Rush
Retired Geologist
October 14, 2009
Roxbury Garnets in Schist
