Franklin Mineral Museum

The zinc ore mined at Franklin held an unusual mix of minerals that glow, or fluoresce, under ultraviolet light, and in a remarkable range of colors. The reason lies in trace elements locked in the crystals: when ultraviolet light strikes them, they absorb the invisible energy and give it back as visible, glowing color, so a drab rock can suddenly shine bright red or green.

Franklin and nearby Ogdensburg produced more different kinds of minerals than almost any place of comparable size on Earth, including a number found nowhere else in the world. That richness made the district legendary among mineralogists and collectors, and the glowing displays at the museum are the reason it earns its famous nickname.

These hills were long part of the homeland of the Lenape people, whose descendants today include the Ramapough Lenape Nation of northern New Jersey. As the region was settled, the extraordinary ore deposits at Franklin were discovered and mined, and zinc mining became the engine of the local economy for generations.

The mines drew miners and their families and built the town around them, and they ran for many decades before the ore finally played out and the mines closed in the mid-1900s. The museum keeps that history alive, and it is complemented by a second museum in neighboring Ogdensburg built around an actual old mine that visitors can go into.

The museum's collection ranges from the famous local minerals to specimens and fossils gathered from around the world, laid out in well-organized galleries. A replica mine tunnel recreates the look and feel of the underground workings, complete with mining equipment, giving a sense of the hard labor that pulled the ore from the ground.

The undisputed highlight is the fluorescent room, where visitors step into the dark and watch the staff switch on ultraviolet lamps to make the wall of rocks explode into color. Many visitors describe it as one of the most surprising and delightful museum exhibits they have seen, especially children encountering it for the first time.

Out behind the museum sits a collecting area, a pile of mine rock where visitors are welcome to hunt for their own fluorescent specimens and keep what they find. Armed with gloves and a bucket, and sometimes a portable ultraviolet lamp to test their finds, rock hounds sift through the pile for stones that will glow at home.

The museum and its collecting pile run on a seasonal schedule, generally through the warmer months, so a check ahead avoids disappointment. Between the galleries, the glowing room, and the dig, it makes a full and unusual outing, a favorite of families and serious collectors alike.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.