Rockhounding in Rutherford County, TN: 7 USGS Mineral Sites (2026)

Check access before you go. Most sites listed here are old mines, quarries or prospects, and many are on private land or active mining claims. Get the landowner's permission, check the rules of the agency that manages any public land, and never enter mine workings. Locations are approximate.

Sketch map

Past ProducerProducerProspectOccurrenceStatus unknown

4 paw pins; nearby sites are grouped into one pin. Hover or tap a pin for the site name. 1 site(s) with USGS coordinates outside the outline are not pinned. County outline: US Census Bureau cartographic boundary file (2023). Locations approximate.

Woof’s favorite find

Arthur Hudson Prospect

We picked it because its USGS record mentions 1 gem or collectible mineral (Fluorite) and 2 of our card minerals overall. That ties with 1 other site(s), so we broke the tie by mine status (past producers first), then USGS record quality, then name. USGS lists it as occurrence. Minerals mentioned: Galena, Fluorite. Approx. location 35.734, -86.502. USGS record.

Ask first: a USGS record doesn’t mean you can visit. Find out who owns the land and get permission before collecting.

Field cards: what kind of sites?

Occurrence

The mineral was noted here, without development.

Past Producer

Produced ore or material at some point in the past.

Prospect

Explored or test-dug, with no recorded production.

Producer

Was producing when the record was made.

Status terms come from USGS MRDS records.

Mineral cards

Fluorite
Mohs 4. Cubes in purple, green or yellow; many glow under UV. Mindat
4 sites
Galena
Mohs 2.5–2.75. Heavy, silvery lead ore that breaks into cubes. Mindat
2 sites

Counts are sites whose USGS record mentions the mineral or commodity. Hardness from Mindat.

Minerals recorded here

Barite 2Fluorite 2Galena 2Sphalerite 2

Commodities

Fluorine-Fluorite 1Zinc 1Phosphorus-Phosphates 1

Sites

Site	Commodity	Minerals recorded	Status	Approx. location
Arthur Hudson Prospect	—	Barite, Fluorite, Galena	Occurrence	35.734, -86.502
Bell-Orren Prospect	—	Barite, Fluorite, Galena, Sphalerite	Occurrence	35.928, -86.317
Deep Well-Sphalerite Occurrence	—	Sphalerite	Occurrence	35.865, -86.387
Arthur Hudson Prospect	Fluorine-Fluorite	—	Past Producer	35.734, -86.502
Bell-Orren	—	—	Prospect	35.930, -86.282
Deep Well-Sphalerite Occurrence	Zinc	—	Occurrence	35.865, -86.387
Brown-Rock Phosphate District	Phosphorus-Phosphates	—	Producer	36.167, -87.000

Fossil collections

The Paleobiology Database lists 3 fossil collection records in Rutherford County. These are research records, not public dig sites.

Nearby counties

Cannon County · Bedford County · Wilson County · Coffee County · Williamson County

Tennessee mineral guides

Back to all Tennessee counties.

Is It Legal to Collect Rocks on Public Land? BLM, Forest Service and National Park Rules

How we built this page: we counted named sites in the USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) for this area, left out sand, gravel, crushed stone, clay pits and unnamed sites, grouped them by Census county, and linked every site to its USGS record. We did not visit these sites, and MRDS does not tell you who owns the land or whether collecting is allowed.

Source: USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS). USGS ceased systematic updates to MRDS around 2011, so status and details may be out of date. Each site links to its USGS record.

Updated October 2026

Rockhounding in Rutherford County, Tennessee