The exhibition of minerals from Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania includes both specimens from mines that have not operated in decades and others discovered more recently, such as the celestine from Meckley’s Quarry, Mandata, Pennsylvania, collected in 2012. The diversity of the geological environments is reflected in the diversity of the minerals themselves: green pyromorphite from long abandoned lead mines; pyrite from nearby iron mines; and botryoidal apple green wavellite from an operating limestone quarry in Mount Pleasant Mills, Pennsylvania.
Wavellite, Lime Ridge, Mount Pleasant Mills, Snyder County, Pennsylvania (3 inch x 4 inch). Photo courtesy Michael J. Bainbridge.
Celestine: Meckley’s Quarry, Mandata, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania (5 inch x 7 inch). Photo courtesy Michael J. Bainbridge.
Malachite, Jones Mine, Fritz Island, Morgantown, Berks County, Pennsylvania (1 ¾ inch x 2 inch). Photo courtesy Michael J. Bainbridge.
Quartz (smoky), Smoky Mountain Crystal Mine, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania (4 ¼ inch x 6 inch).
Stellerite, Dyer Quarry, Birdsboro, Berks County, Pennsylvania (4 inch x 5 ½ inch).
Diaspore, Corundum Hill, Unionville, West Marlborough Township, Chester County (2 inch x 2
½ inch). Photo courtesy Michael J. Bainbridge.
Schorl (Tourmaline) and spessartine (Garnet), Appleton, Elkton, Maryland (1 ¾ inch x 2 ½ inch). Photo courtesy Michael J. Bainbridge.
Schorl (Tourmaline), West Branch, Newark, New Castle County, Delaware (4 inch x 6 inch).
Calcite, York Building Supply Company, York, York County, Pennsylvania (6 inch x 7 ½ inch).