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What’s Here

WHAT’S HERE

Local Mining Heritage

More than 4,000 mineral specimens

View minerals from the Franklin and Sterling Hill mining district, including numerous specimens of the local zinc ore minerals (willemite, franklinite, and zincite).

Fluorescent Room

Hundreds of specimens

A 32-foot-long display showcasing local fluorescent minerals. Discover why the New Jersey State Legislature in 1968 declared Franklin the “Fluorescent Mineral Capital of the World.”

American Indian Room

Tools, baskets, pottery, and more

A main feature of this room is a large collection of Native American stone tools made by the Lenni Lenape Indians, the earliest inhabitants of what later became New Jersey.

Fossil Room

The best petrified wood displays in New Jersey

The fossil room offers a fine selection of fossil trilobites, dinosaur footprints, a mastodon tusk, and coprolites (fossil dung!) and more.

Welsh Hall

Visitors will marvel at the diverse collection of worldwide minerals, numbering more than 5,000 specimens in all.

Mine Replica and Artifacts

Life-size examples of mining methods used in the Franklin mines

See numerous mining-related items such as cap lamps, mill concentrates, pig iron, and artifacts from Thomas Edison’s iron-mining and milling operation on Sparta Mountain.

Gem Sluice & Fossil Dig

Hands-on activity for children of all ages

Much like panning for panning for gold, sluice away sand to reveal hidden “gems”. Or, dig for fossils like a paleontologist, but take them home.

Buckwheat Dump

3.5 acres of rock for collecting

Worldwide fame for some rare mineral finds

Wed ‒ Fri: 11:00am ‒ 4:00pm
Sat: 10:00am ‒ 5:00pm
Sun: 11:00am ‒ 5:00pm

Visit our Admissions Page

32 Evans Street, Franklin, NJ 07416
973-827-3481
info@franklinmineralmuseum.com