About 10 years ago I went on a field trip with the Cotton Indian Gem & Minerals Society (Stockbridge, GA) to a site near the small Georgia town of Girard, about 30 miles south of Augusta. I was very impressed with this site and have been back there several times, some with groups and a few times alone.

In the August, 1999 issue of ROCK & GEM Magazine there appeared an excellent article written on this great collecting site by YATES DONNAN. I've read and re-read this article several times and it's been very helpful to me in learning more about this site and the material found there.

If you haven't read that article you might want to do so. (And by the way, if you don't subscribe to ROCK & GEM Magazine, shame on you! The subscription rate for USA is $24.00 per year. Send subscription to: Rock & Gem, C/O Miller Magazines, Inc., 4880 Market Street, Ventura, CA 93003... And tell them Ray sent you!)

Here's a picture of the collecting site.

To get there from Augusta, GA... go south on Bobby Jones Freeway - I-520 to State Hwy 56. From here go south 13.8 miles and turn left onto State Hwy 23. From here go 19.4 miles to the "Girard Mall", a BP convenience store on the right. There is a nondescript sign at this store which reads "Girard Mall".

When you find this point, you're in the center of the city. Not a big place. Kinda small in fact. But, from appearances to the outsider, it looks like a quiet, peaceful farm community. Kinda looks like it got left behind in the race to modernization. The area has gentle, rolling hills; large cotton and peanut farms; old home places; quaint, small church houses and a aire of being country.

From the BP store, "Girard Mall", continue on for another three-tenths mile and turn left onto Stoney Bluff Road. Go eight miles and bare left onto the dirt road, Stoney Bluff Landing. From here, go two-tenths mile and turn left onto River Road. Go about two-tenths mile and stop. You can start collecting here.

When I visited this site in August, 2000, I noticed that on one side of this dirt road there are "Posted" signs on one side, and Hunting Club "Keep Out" signs on the other. So I know you will respect these signs and stay in the road and ditches on either side of the road. But don't worry, you'll find more material than you can say grace over. And, for goodness sake, if you pry chunks out of the dirt road, take the time to fill the holes. The local folks will raise cane about pot-holes in their road if you don't and the County may put a stop to collecting at this site!

This material is a microscopically grained quartz, or chert, and can rightly be called a fossiliferous chert. This material is excellent for cabbing, tumbling, and other lapidary work and takes a nice polish. However, this material is full of vugs, or small cavities, and that can be a problem but it usually can be worked around.

YATES DONNAN, in his ROCK & GEM article, pointed out that this material is commonly, especially in Georgia and surrounding areas, referred to as "Savannah River Agate". And, I'm guilty of calling it that myself. But this is incorrect. It's a chert. I stand corrected. Thanks, Yates.

The material here will vary from brown, red, green, blue, yellow, white, etc. in various shades.

You will find fossils at this site also. Corals, shells, bryozoans, barnacles, turritellas and other marine critters may be found in this chert. So, when you pick up the chunks of chert laying about, inspect them closely for fossils. They're there.

On one of my trips to this excellent collecting site I picked up two pre-formed spear heads and an expertly knapped scrapper. So be on the look out for any artifacts that may be laying around when you go.

Here's a shot of River Road looking back toward Stoney Bluff Landing from the collecting site.
	And here's a picture of an old majestic oak laden with Spanish moss at the intersection of River Road and Stoney Bluff Landing. Beautiful!
If you were to go back up River Road to Stoney Bluff Landing, turn left, and follow it for 1.9 miles you'd come to the Landing itself at the Savannah River.

So, when visiting this site, plan on taking your camera. You'll want to take some pictures here. And take your lunch... go on down to the Landing and have a picnic. You'll enjoy it. I saw one picnic table at the landing. Lots of beautiful old oaks with lots of shade. There's swimming, fishing, boating available at the Landing. So go on down to the Landing when you go and include it in your trip.

Take your safety glasses, scratching tools, crack hammer, your rock pick, and a pry bar or long crowbar. Be sure and wear your safety glasses when hammering on rocks. It's too late to put them on after you have that thing in your eye and it has ruined your trip! Take your lunch, something to drink and bug spray.

And, hey, if you want to come down, or over, or up, as the case may be, and take me rock hunting at this site give me a call. I'll go with you! Ray Hill 770-474-8290

Copyright: Ray Hill, Great South Gems and Minerals

Rock clubs have permission to use the photos and article published in this article but must give credit to the author, Ray Hill, and GREAT SOUTH GEMS & MINERALS, INC.

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