Franklin Mineral Museum facts for kids

The Franklin Mineral Museum is a super cool place in Franklin, New Jersey. It's a museum all about minerals, rocks (that's geology!), and how people used to dig for them (that's mining). You can find it in Sussex County, New Jersey, right where the old Franklin Mine used to be.

A Look Back: The Museum's History

The mine where the museum now stands was very busy for many years. It operated from 1898 until the middle of the 1950s. That's over 50 years of mining!

In 1964, this old mine area was turned into a museum. It became an open-air museum, which means some parts are outside for you to explore.

What Can You Explore at the Museum?

The Franklin Mineral Museum is packed with amazing things to see and do! It has a huge collection of minerals. You can also walk through a pretend mine tunnel. Plus, there are cool items made by Native Americans.

A special part of the museum lets you become a mineral collector! Visitors can look for and keep their own mineral pieces. This happens in certain areas of the old mine's leftover rock piles.

Discovering Local Minerals

The Local Minerals Room is home to a massive collection. You can see more than 5,000 different mineral pieces here. It's one of the biggest and most varied mineral collections in the entire world!

This collection includes important ore minerals. These are rocks that contain valuable metals. You'll also find pegmatite and volcanic rocks, along with many other types of minerals.

The Glow of Fluorescent Minerals

Step into the Fluorescent Minerals Room for a truly amazing sight. Here, minerals glow with bright, unreal colors under special lights. The main display is 32 feet long. It's known worldwide for its incredible variety of glowing colors.

Exploring Native American History

The Indian Room shows off many items made by Native Americans. This includes a collection of stone tools. These tools were made by the Lenni Lenape Indians. They were some of the first people to live in what is now New Jersey.

The collection has items from all over the United States and Mexico. You can see tools like axes, spear heads, and knives. There are also some examples of pottery and baskets.

Journey Through the Fossil Room

In the Fossil Room, you'll find a wide range of fossils. These include fossils from huge dinosaurs. You can also see fossils from many different kinds of animals that lived long ago.

Inside a Real Mine: The Replica

The Life-Size Mine Replica lets you experience what it was like to be a miner. It has underground mine passages that you can walk through. You can see firsthand the methods miners used to dig for minerals.