Reel Mine

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The Reel Mine was mined years ago for amethyst for abrasives. On November 4, 1972, Lewis Sigmon, in the Reel Mine in Iron Station, North Carolina, discovered the largest amethyst cluster ever found in North America which is two feet long, two feet wide and one foot high; it weighs a massive 165 pounds.
The intense purple pigment of the gem (which has been compared a glass of grape juice held up to sunlight) is as remarkable a feature as its size and is a result of manganese dust -- a characteristic of the mine from which the amethyst came. The cluster currently resides in the Grandfather Mountain Nature Museum in Linville, North Carolina.

The mine was recently opened up (2009) after many years of being closed (evidently caused by some rock hounds gone astray).