This story was originally produced by the Concord Monitor. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
Ruggles Mine has re-opened as of June 21, the first time the public has been invited to this unusual tourist attraction in five years.
Ruggles Mine is part of a 235-acre parcel atop Isinglass Mountain in Grafton. It sits on a massive deposit of an igneous rock known as pegmatite that includes a variety of minerals, most notably mica, which is valuable because it can be cut so thin that it acts as a heat-resistant translucent shield.
Boston businessman Sam Ruggles began mining mica in commercial amounts in 1803, making it the oldest such mine in the country, and it was a working mine for a century and a half. In 1961, Geraldine and Arvid Wahlstrom purchased Ruggles Mine for $20,000 and transformed it into a tourist attraction. They let rockhounds chip at the walls to collect their own samples, including amethyst, feldspar, quartz, garnet and uraninite.
Efforts to have the state buy the mine and operate it as a park fell through and the family sold the mine in 2019 to two men from New York City. Those owners never managed to open the mine, however, and they sold it in 2023 to two men with mining experience.
Mineral collecting will be allowed for a $30 per person fee. Camping is also available at $10 per person per night, with a porta-potty on site but no hookups for RVs.
These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.
