ELLERBE — Dozens of children sifted for stones Saturday at one of Richmond County’s hidden gems.
The Rankin Museum of American Heritage hosted its semi-annual panning event at the flume, an interactive exhibit that opened in 2017.
Each participant was given a bag of minerals and Rankin board member Karen Brewer showed them how to sift out the silt to get to the gems and other rocks. Board members Terry Lewis and Lisa Cloninger also assisted.
The children also received a card to help identify the stones they found, including quartz and “fool’s gold.”
“We had a great turnout with a lot of new faces today,” said Board Chairman Brett Webb, who was also at the flume watching as the kids and their parents picked through the stones and placed them in bags to take home.
Earlier this month, the Rankin Museum received a combined $20,000 in grant funding from Pee Dee Electric and CoBank to “get the ball rolling” on planned renovations.
Click here to read about the grant.
See more photos below.
