Maine Tourmaline Mining
Poet involved
What happened
From the early nineteenth century, miners in Oxford and Androscoggin Counties in Maine began recovering exceptional tourmaline crystals, including vivid watermelon, rubellite, and indicolite varieties. By the mid-1800s Maine tourmaline was prized by collectors in Europe and America, and the deposits remained among the most significant gem pegmatites in North America. The gem's kaleidoscopic colours attracted the attention of artists and poets drawn to the idea of beauty crystallised underground.
Literary impact
Maine tourmaline mining in the 1820s contributed to American transcendentalist poetry, celebrating nature and individuality. Poets like Ralph Waldo Emerson used the imagery of gemstones to reflect on the beauty of the natural world and the human spirit's connection to it.
Source: Wikipedia
