Minerals.net

Bear Mountain is the most famous mountain in the New York City vicinity. Jutting up from sea level at the Hudson River with a myriad of hiking trails, this location has been an important scenic destination for over a hundred years. Bear Mountain State Park encompasses Bear Mountain and the surrounding highlands and contains many tourist-friendly attractions including a scenic lake, observation tower, skating rink, carousel, pool, and an historic inn. It also hosts seasonal events such as the weekly antique car show throughout the summer and Oktoberfest in the fall.

One of Bear Mountain's main attractions is the zoo. While very small when compared to most zoos, its collection is exclusively limited to local animals of the region. The zoo is also unique for its natural and woodsy feel, as well as pretty scenery and good views. Located within the zoo are several museum rooms containing historical artifacts and natural history items. One of these museums is the geology museum. The geology museum is located directly behind the Bear Mountain Bridge, and is housed in a musty one room stone structure that is easily missed.

This geology museum contains a small representation of local minerals from the Hudson Highland / Ramapo Mountains region of New York. The local rock in the vicinity of the Museum is Precambrian metamorphic rock, with gneiss, granites, and some localized skarns and marbles. The mineralogy of the region is somewhat similar to the St. Lawrence County region of upstate New York and the Grenville Province of Canada.

This region was also home to a booming iron mining industry, with a large number of abandoned iron mines dating back to the 1700 and 1800's. Some of the better-known mines include the Forest of Dean, Hasenclever, Hogencamp, Pine Swamp, Greenwood, O'neal, and Sterling Mines. All these mines are long abandoned and overgrown, though many are still accessible within state parks along hiking trails.

Not much in terms of mineral specimens was ever recovered from these mines. The iron ore was mostly Magnetite, but in massive or crudely crystallized form. These mines only occasionally produced collector specimens, though other locations such as road cuts and dams produced several more specimen findings. Aside from Magnetite, other minerals include Diopside, Scapolite, Hornblende (including the rare Potassic-fluoro-hastingsite which is not found anywhere else in the world), Graphite, Biotite (including very large books), and Pyrhottite.

While the museum's collection of local minerals is fairly small, it is an interesting collection whose likes are rarely represented in collections. The exhibits are definitely old and dated, but they are nevertheless worthwhile for a visit. If you are visiting New York, definitely make a visit to Bear Mountain to enjoy the scenery and the zoo, and don't miss this little museum within the zoo.

Here are some of the individual minerals in the exhibit. Click the pictures below for a larger version pop-up.