I have had people ask how the heck I can live in Arkansas after being born and raised a city girl. People tend to have some pre-conceived notions until they visit and see how beautiful it is here. Now, mind you we do have cities, malls, electricity, and indoor plumbing, besides all these country miles and “hills and hollers.” We also have something else, something unique to Arkansas. In fact, it is the only place of its kind in the world.
We have a park called the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro that is a diamond mine, where you can search for –and keep- diamonds. A man named Gary Dunlap found the fourth largest diamond discovered there in 2006, on New Year’s Eve, which he lovingly named it after his wife. The “Star of Thelma” is a 2.37-carat white diamond.
I have been telling my husband we need to visit the park, just for fun as a family outing. I never imagined really finding anything, but apparently, it’s not that uncommon. There were nearly 500 diamonds discovered there this year alone. You can check out the story at Fox News.
Doesn’t this sound like fun? Even if you don’t find anything, I think diamond mining would be an exciting family adventure. I can only imagine how my kids would react if they really did find a diamond. I know people who have gone for years with little or no luck, and I know some who have found tiny diamonds. No one is likely to walk away filthy rich, but you could make history much like a man visiting from Texas did in 1975 when he discovered a diamond that was nearly sixteen and a half carats. Thousands of other diamonds have been found there since the park opened.
How cool is that?
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