Fredericksburg Rockhounds Home Page

The Fredericksburg Rockhounds, a non-profit organization for the study and enjoyment of gems, minerals, and fossils, was founded in 1968. We are affiliated with the American Federation of Mineralogical Societies (AFMS) and the South Central Federation of Mineral Societies (SCFMS).

In addition to informative and fun meetings with door prizes and guest speakers every month, we have—

Frequent Field trips for rock hunting, museum visits, etc.
Rock Swaps
Annual gem, mineral, & fossil show (in mid-January, inside)
Annual Picnic (June)
Christmas Party (December)

We hold our meetings at 7:00 P.M. on the first Monday of each month at the Golden Hub Senior Center, 1009 N Lincoln, Fredericksburg, Texas (except in June, when we have our annual picnic). SEE MAP

For a printable membership application (PDF format), click HERE.

Our next gem, mineral, & fossil show will be presented January 16-17, 2010

Click HERE for details (a 200K PDF file).

<-- back to menu

Our newsletters:

Our newsletters are published just before the first of each month, in PDF format. Most computers use Adobe Reader (formerly Adobe Acrobat) for viewing PDF files; if you need Adobe Reader, click here to download it for free.
To read a newsletter, just click on the month (make sure you select the desired year). Be patient, most of these files are rather large (600 to 1000 K).

March 1971 (For nostalgia)

2008: | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |

2009: | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul |

<-- back to menu

Some good links:

These three links are for MINERAL IDENTIFICATION, as referred to by our November 2007 speaker:
Mohs Hardness Scale
Crystalline Structures
Mineral Physical Properties and Identification

MAKE YOUR OWN DISPLAY BOXES The first two links are PDF files with printable patterns for making various sizes of cardboard display boxes;
The third link is to another website with other patterns and more detailed instructions:
Boxes 1 (These use separate labels)
Boxes 2 (These have built-in label supports)
Boxes 3 (The other website)

AFMS American Federation of Mineralogical Societies
SCFMS South Central Federation of Mineral Societies

<-- back to menu

OTHER TEXAS CLUBS:
Arlington G&M Club
Austin G&M Society
Central Texas G&M Society in Abilene
Chihuahuan Desert G&M Club in the Fort Davis/Alpine area
Clear Lake G&M Society in Houston
Dallas G&M Society
Fort Worth G&M Club
Houston G&M Society
The NEW date of the HGMS 2009 Annual Show is November 13-15 (not in September). They will still be at the Humble Civic Center.
Llano GPAA the Llano, Texas chapter of the Gold Prospectors Association of America
Lubbock G&M Society
Midland G&M Society
Paleontological Society of Austin For rockhounds interested in fossils.
Piney Woods G&M Society in Huntsville
Pleasant Oaks G&M Club in Dallas
Southwest G&M Society in San Antonio
Victoria G&M Society

Fredericksburg Nature Center a few miles south of Fredericksburg
Riverside Nature Center in Kerrville

<-- back to menu

MISC (the first two are paid advertisers in our newsletter):

Alamo Rocks'n Jewelry Formerly Alamo Rock Shop in Boerne; they moved to Abilene, Texas in June 2009. They have a large selection of lapidary tools and supplies, and various lapidary-related classes. They provide online shopping.
Enchanted Rocks and Jewelry A friendly shop in Llano, Texas, with everything from rough material and slabs to handmade jewelry, gold prospecting equipment, fancy rugs, and more.

Llanogold Metal Detectors An informative website related to gold prospecting and treasure hunting, created by Todd Pickens, of the Llano GPAA.
Beads & More A shop in Kerrville, Texas, with beads, findings, tools, and classes.
Bob's Rock Shop Not really a shop—it's a free online magazine and reference source, with tons of info and links for rockhounds.
Rock Net The forum area of Bob's Rock Shop, with a wide variety of topics.
Show dates at Rock & Gem magazine's web site. We put mostly Texas shows in our newsletters, but their list is nationwide and even includes some foriegn shows.
The Corunduminium If you're interested in corundum (ruby, sapphire, etc) then Will Heierman's site is the place to visit!
Fluorescents.com An awesome website with fluorescent images and info about the Purple Passion mine and other sites in Arizona. Includes a catalog of high quality affordable UV lamps.
mindat.org "The largest mineral database and mineralogical reference website on the internet."
Mineralogy Database contains over 4400 individual mineral species descriptions with links and a comprehensive image library.
The Mineralogical Record "The mineral collectors knowledge base— a wealth of knowledge at your fingertips."
Mineral Collectors Page The starting point for exploring mineralogy on the internet. You will find information relevant to mineral collectors and lots of links to other mineralogy or earth science related sites.
Cleaning Tips —and info on peserving, labeling, and cataloguing minerals
The RockPicks Project This website is dedicated to enhancing the hobby of rockhounding by offering maps of various collecting locations around the United States and Canada. The maps are zoomable and scrollable showing cities, towns, roads and aerial photography. [It's still in its infancy, and many states have no info yet. Select Utah for a good map example.]
Free gemology course Presented by Barbara Smigel. A no-cost, no credit version of the internet course that she teaches at Community College of Southern Nevada (CCSN), where she’s an Emeritus Professor.
Discovering Fossils An interesting fossil website in England, which we stumbled upon while Googling for Echinoid info.
Hill Country Outdoor Guide A searchable database that provides information for over 500 outdoor recreational sites in the Texas Hill Country.

<-- back to menu

Photos

We've finally added a photo album, thanks to Google's free "Picasa" photo sharing service.
To view our album in a new window, click HERE
And while you're there, you can view the KCCSS (cactus club) and other albums if you wish.

Contact Us

Mailing address:

110 N Milam PMB 197

Fredericksburg, Texas 78624

—or send us an email
Your suggestions for improving this website are welcome!
Webmaster: Bill Wildfong, with help from Frank Rowell

<-- back to menu

Made on a Mac with Nvu and hosted by Go Daddy