Jae’s Gem Mine

A fun adventure for the whole family!

After visiting a cave, Ryan and I decided it would be fun to find a place that has not just crystals and polished stones, but something else. We wanted to find a place that is kid-friendly, family fun, and something new.

While doing my search on google maps, I found this place called Jae’s Gem Mine. I looked at the pictures and read that they have kid-friendly activities. Two really fun activities to be exact. One is where you pick out a geode and with their help, you get to crack them open.

The second activity that our girls, Kierra and Cara, were the most excited about, was shifting through sand and finding gems or fossils or precious gems, or collectible specimens, depending on which bucket you want to buy. Mining at its finest where there is a controlled setting with the help from two amazing owners.

The girls decided to do the fossil bucket. So, the woman in charge got the bags full of sand that are mixed with gems, fossils, and shark teeth and dumped them into two kid’s sand buckets. She set everything up where my girls can sit or stand, especially since our oldest is having issues with her knee sadly. She turned on the water in their own rock mining wooden system, and the girls jumped right in. They shoveled a shovel full of sand mix into their small, wired container and shift in in the water to find their treasures.

After they found everything in their buckets, they took their bags to the table behind us and sat down. Then the nice woman sat down with our daughters and explained what they had found. And she explained it in a way that our 4-year-old could understand.

We spent a good hour, maybe longer, at the mining store. We looked at everything, admiring all of their raw and polished pieces, their jewelry, and their large pieces. Then we let the girls do their mining. After the mining, we decided to let the girls choose geodes for themselves and for us to crack open.

Cara’s Geode

My Geode (Cara picked mine.)

Kierra’s Geode

Ryan’s Geode (Kierra picked his.)

They have buckets on the ground full of geodes and then a table above with more expensive geodes to crack as well. We were pleasantly surprised what we saw in our geodes and so were the owners. Cracking a geode is always a pleasant surprise.

So, if you’re looking for a place to go in Nashville, TN that is fun, has something different, and kid-friendly, then I highly recommend Jae’s Gem Mine. Great staff/owners, fun activities, and beautiful pieces to admire and buy to add to your collection. 10/10 for sure. And we already plan on going back later this month once their grandparents come to visit as well as go back in December for our eldest’s birthday. We might have found a tradition for their birthdays. Dinner, mining and/or cracking open geodes.

Here are fossils, shark teeth, and gems that our girls found in their mining experience. Enjoy and go have some fun of your own. Well worth the time and money.