Pine Mountain Gold Mine

Pine Mountain Gold Mine is a 28.77-acre mining complex on a small wooded mountain northeast of Villa Rica, Georgia. Gold mining here is said to have begun in 1826 and continued until 1936. The earliest remains are hand-dug trenches for panning gold, followed by large pits including the Old Glory Hole and a miner's tunnel through the mountain. In 1915 the operation adopted cyanide leaching, and the site retains reinforced-concrete tanks, a reservoir, a sump tank, and ore stacking bins from that process. The nomination describes it as the only known Georgia gold mine to use cyanide leaching. It also notes a dispute over whether gold was found here in 1826, which would make it the site of an earlier gold rush than the 1829 rush near Dahlonega. The property was donated to the city in 2001 and now operates as a park with a museum. Later ruins from a dude ranch and a block works are not counted as historic features of the mine.