Once upon a time,(
, yep, it's one of those folks),
in the land called Wake Forest there was a sandy capped knoll
that rose along the southeast side of Austin Creek just above
its confluence with Smith Creek, a tributary of the Neuse River.
Geologically, this an area where, while forming, the younger
Rolesville granite pluton pushed into the older dome under
Wake Fores, altering the older granite with heat and pressure
and creating hydro-thermal veins that eventually filled with
these wonderful quartz crystals.
The top 30 acres were plowed and farmed for years, mostly
tobacco, but only spotty little plots were cultivated from
the mid-1990's on. There was an old small stick built house
that had long been vacant and was being allowed to fall
down as the weeds grew up. Then, one day in 2006, it was
cleared, and that was the beginning of one of the best
rock collecting sites there's ever been in Wake Forest,...
Bowling Green.
Actually, for the first couple of years of development, long
before the sign with the name Bowling Green went up, we
called the area "Austin Creek". They first had to lay water
and sewer lines in along the creek, sometimes having to
blast 25 feet down through rock to get the depth needed.
From there, slowly over the next couple of years, they just
blasted their way to the top and moved the knoll around
wherever they wanted it, exposing veins and plates of
crystals everywhere. A real rockhounds dream site!
But Bowling Green was more than a great site for me and
a lot of other local rockhounds. It was our "first" really
good opportunity to find and see the veins in situ
somewhere close enough to home to go back to often. In
our own backyard. I was a surface collector when I first
started hunting Bowling Green, mostly looking for artifacts.
But we had a good three years to hunt, scratch , and poke
around through each newly exposed vein or pile of rubble,
and the opportunity was a great education.
There are still a few lots and small areas we are keeping
hopeful will provide us with a few more generous finds before
all is under roads, houses, or swimming pools and Bowling
Green is completely complete, and another great site
is gone forever.
So this thread is a memorial tribute, so to speak,
to Bowling Green. A place for any pics you may have of the
rare fare. And may there be many new finds in the future
to keep this thread going.
Here's a pic of a Bowling Green yard rock to get us started.
I had to roll this all the way home.
I set the cup on the rock for size, but then Mabel, and
then Carmen, had to come see what I was doing.
Pic 1
Pic 2
These veins go all the way thru this rock. The granite has
been altered to the green color, or "epidotized".
Pic 3
Pic 4
Thanks for looking,
Joe