When you think of diamond mines, what do you think of? Personally, I think of Africa. My grandfather was a certified diamond salesman so he has filled my head with a lot of random knowledge about diamonds throughout my life. It's the one thing that I consider myself to be legitimately snobby about. I'm picky about my diamonds.
I was always under the impression that most of the world's diamonds came from Africa. This is somewhat true. The continent of Africa does have several countries known to be some of the largest suppliers of diamonds. It turns out though, that other countries such as Brazil, Canada and Australia are also in the top 10 countries with the most diamonds. That surprised me.
What if I told you that the state of Arkansas also had a diamond mine? That really surprised me.
What if I told you that not only is there a diamond mine in Arkansas, but you can go there, dig for diamonds and keep whatever you find?
Now, what if I told you that a 40.23 carat diamond was found in this park, along with a diamond that is so perfect that it is the most perfect diamond ever certified by the American Gem Society?
Considering the fact that I never gave much thought to the state of Arkansas, this information definitely surprised me.
I have made several cross country road trips along with other road trips that didn't take me across the entire country. I have a goal to visit all 50 states before I turn 40, so I try to plan my trips around places that I have never seen, or states that I have never visited. Yet somehow, I could never find a way to fit Arkansas into my plans until recently. I have a blank map of the United States that I color in every time I visit a new state. Arkansas has been sitting there, uncolored, surrounded by a lot of color, for years.
When a good friend of mine moved from South Texas to Maryland recently, she planned her trip to pass through Arkansas. Since I wasn't sure when I would be seeing her again, AND since I had never found a reason to visit Arkansas, I decided to go and meet her there!
She is the one who found the diamond mine. She has three young boys and needed to find fun things for them to do as they traveled. She decided that digging in the dirt for an entire day would be a perfect excursion for them.
I gathered up myself and my boyfriend (who happens to be from Arkansas) and we headed out to Crater of Diamonds State Park in the small town of Murfreesboro, Arkansas.
I've already said that I have never given much thought to the state of Arkansas. It's another state in a whole list of states (more on that in another post to come), that I always assumed was really boring without much to do. I was proven wrong on this trip. It turns out that Arkansas is a really beautiful state, with a lot of interesting history and a lot of things to see and do!
The diamond mine was actually one of two places that we visited on this trip. (Stay tuned for another post to come about Hot Springs, Arkansas.)
We rolled into Murfreesboro on a Sunday night, which meant that most businesses were closed when we got there. Arkansas is a very typical southern state when it comes to things closing on Sundays, so you should be aware of this if you are going to be traveling there. Murfreesboro is also a dry city, so no alcohol can be purchased there.
One place was open though. A cozy little restaurant called Em's Cafe was where the entire town seemed to be! (They don't appear to have a website of their own, but if you click on the name in the prior sentence it will take you to the TripAdvisor review page for it.) It was definitely a place where the locals went to eat. That being said though, everyone was very friendly and didn't seem to mind any of the obvious tourists. The waitresses all appeared to be high school aged girls and they were fast, efficient and very friendly. Expect typical southern cooking if you eat there. Even after all of my travels, I still can't wrap my head around the fact that southerners like to deep fry EVERYTHING! Em's menu was proof of this. I enjoyed a decent chicken fried chicken, with fried okra, fried green tomatoes and mashed potatoes and gravy. Heart attack on a plate? Maybe. But it was yummy!
Our next stop was to check in with my friend - the person who was the reason for this trip in the first place. She was staying with her sister and her three sons at a COOL hotel! Diamond's Old West Cabins. If you have young kids, and visit Murfreesboro, this is the place you want to stay! They were staying in the jail cabin, which came complete with a jail cell with a bunk bed in it for the boys. The boyfriend and I didn't stay here with them, so I can't review it from my own experience, but I can tell you that they have nightly activities scheduled and lots of fun things for kids to do. When we arrived, the kids were having fun at a foam party and when we left, they were getting ready to make s'mores in the giant tee-pees that are on the property. If I end up with kids of my own one day, I would love to take them to this place. My friend definitely recommends this place. (As a side note, a quick look on their website shows that they have at least one room dedicated to couples, not kids, so it appears to be a place that anyone can enjoy staying at.)
Then we headed off to our own accommodations. I had read every single review on TripAdvisor for the hotels in Murfreesboro and I wasn't satisfied with the reviews in conjunction with the prices. It's a small town, but the diamond mine draws a lot of people, so I suspect that is why the prices seemed on the higher end. After reading reviews, analyzing reviews and realizing that not only were prices high, but most places were completely booked anyway (Diamond's Old West Cabins was completely full), I turned to other options.
If you have never used VRBO before, then I highly recommend you do. It may not be ideal for every town out there, but for Murfreesboro it was perfect. This is the site I will use again if I am ever back in the area. VRBO lists privately owned homes for vacation rentals. Owners set their own terms and prices, and for most rentals, you deal directly with the home owner. We choose to stay at a place called the Finder's Cottage. It was a small and cozy cabin almost exactly one mile away from the diamond mine and maybe two miles into the main part of town. As fun as my friend's hotel was, we definitely had the better location. She was 10-15 minutes away from the mine (via car), whereas we could walk there if we had wanted to. I saw several other houses near the cabin we stayed in, that I recognized from the VRBO website. It appears that several of the private rentals in Murfreesboro are in a prime location for getting to and from the diamond mine. The cabin that we stayed at was on the same property as two other cabins owned by the same owner. Click here for my review of the Finder's Cottage.
On to the diamond mine! The morning after we arrived in town, we were off to hunt for diamonds. It was hot. And when I say hot, I mean HOT. Arkansas summers are apparently ridiculously humid and hot. I think the temperature was 90 degrees the day we went to the mine, but it felt like it was 100 degrees and there was at least 80% humidity. Be prepared for that if you visit in the summer! My advice? Invest in some quality sunscreen and a LOT of water! There's no need to end up dehydrated with heat stroke just for the slim chance of possibly finding a diamond.
Once we arrived at the mine, we paid a park entrance fee of $8 per person and then rented mining equipment. I don't remember the exact amount we paid for the rentals, but you get a large percentage of it back once you return everything. Armed with a shovel, bucket and a screen, we set out to get rich quick! Though, it is important to point out that if you DO expect to get rich quick, you will likely be very disappointed when they day is over. While some large diamonds have been found here, it is still rare to find them, especially when you consider the number of people that visit each day and the amount of time the park has been open for public digging. (That being said though - a week after we left, a lady found an 8 carat diamond! I have never felt jealousy quite like the jealousy I felt knowing that that diamond was well within my reach when I was there, yet I missed it!)
At the end of the day, we went back to our cabin covered in dirt, drenched in sweat, sunburned....and with no diamonds. We did find a lot of pretty rocks though! We took home mostly quartz and jasper, both of which are very prominent in the park. There are people there who will look at the rocks you found and help you identify everything. Alas, none of my "this looks like a shiny diamond" finds were actually diamonds.
Prior to visiting Crater of Diamonds State Park, I had read numerous TripAdvisor reviews on the place. Most people gave the park 4 or 5 stars, regardless of the fact that they didn't find any diamonds. I couldn't imagine how this place could be so much fun and why on earth people would want to spend an entire day digging in the dirt (or in this case, hard clay). It turns out that I agree with all of those reviews now. I don't fully understand why, but it WAS fun! Once you get into the mindset of "Must. Find. A. Diamond. JUST KEEP DIGGING!" the day just flies by! My boyfriend and I had so much fun, that we plan to go back in the near future to try again. I didn't come home with any diamonds, but I now have a jar of pretty rocks that I will always keep as a treasured souvenir of the trip.
On our last night in town, we ate dinner at the Rattler's Den. It is another small town restaurant with no website, so again, that link will take you to their TripAdvisor review page. I have to say that I enjoyed my meal at this place, better than at Em's Cafe. It was another "Let's fry everything!" restaurant, and I once again had chicken fried chicken (with mashed potatoes only, as a side this time), but if I had to choose between the two, this chicken fried chicken was the better one. I enjoy small town restaurants much more than large chain restaurants, and I am happy to have had a great meal at one place and a good meal at another. Click here for my personal review of Rattler's Den.
In conclusion, if you are someone like me and the thought of Arkansas makes you think "What the heck is in Arkansas?" then I urge you to put that thought aside and go answer the question for yourself. I can now say that I was mistaken in thinking that it wasn't an interesting place, and I am looking forward to the next time I have a chance to visit Murfreesboro!
