Find Gold at Reed's Gold Mine in North Carolina

Reed's Gold Mine located in Midland, North Carolina about twenty-miles from Charlotte, North Carolina has a lot of rich tradition of being the first location where gold was discovered in the United States. The gold mine site is now registered as a historic site landmark.

According to North Carolina's Historic Site, Mr. John Reed a former British military member deserted the army in Savannah, Georgia and made his way up to North Carolina. Mr. Reed's son around 1799 at the age of 12 named Conrad found an enormous 17 pound gold nugget in Little Meadow Creek. Not knowing the value of gold the family apparently used the gold nugget as a doorstop for years. The gold nugget was then sold to a jeweler for $3.50 without the Reed family knowing it was worth thousands of dollars.

With the discovery of gold on Mr. Reed's property he become a wealthy landowner in the area expanding the gold mining operations and taking on partners as well. He lived modestly even though he was wealthy.

The Reed Gold Mine is now a historic site that is visited by thousands and thousands of people every year exploring the history of gold mining and taking an opportunity to search the land themselves for gold. Admission to the site is free and offers a vast amount of memorabilia of the once booming gold mine. You can even pan for gold and the cost is only $2.00 per pan filled with ore. Most pans will not contain gold, but it's the hands-on learning experience that makes the trip fun. Little Meadow Creek can not be panned for gold due to the location being a historic landmark. A few of the tunnels once used for mining gold is now open for tours and offers an unique opportunity to see the gold mine operations of the past. The museum has lots of old gold mining equipment and pictures for viewing.

Reed's Gold Mine is a great historic place to visit and to try your hand at finding gold. Children will love panning for gold to see if they can find any treasures. Kids will just enjoy the opportunity to play with rocks and water in search of finding gold.

Reed' Gold Mine is located at 9621 Reed Mine Road. There's plenty of parking and open Tuesday-Saturday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. The Gold Mine is closed on Sunday's and Monday's as well as most major holidays. You can call 704-721-4653 to plan your trip or to find out information.

Sources:

http://www.reedmine.com/

http://www.nchistoricsites.org/Reed/reed.htm