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Hiddenite, North Carolina

 

 
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Hiddenite, North Carolina
 
 
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Hiddenite is an unincorporated community in east-central Alexander County, North Carolina
Alexander County, North Carolina

Alexander County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of 2000, the population was 33,603. Its county seat is Taylorsville, North Carolina....
. It is part of the Hickory
Hickory, North Carolina

Hickory is a city in Catawba County, North Carolina. Hickory has the 162nd largest urban area in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a The Unifour population of 341,851, making it the 4th largest metropolitan area in North Carolina....
–Lenoir
Lenoir, North Carolina

Lenoir is a city in Caldwell County, North Carolina, North Carolina, United States. The population was 16,793 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Caldwell County, North Carolina....
–Morganton
Morganton, North Carolina

Morganton is a city in Burke County, North Carolina, North Carolina, United States. Reader's Digest included Morganton in its list of top ten places to raise a family....
 Metropolitan Statistical Area
The Unifour

The Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of four counties in the Catawba Valley region of Western North Carolina North Carolina....
. The town of Hiddenite was incorporated in 1913, but its charter
Charter

A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified....
 was repealed in 1919. Hiddenite was named for William Earl Hidden (1853-1918), a mineralogist
Mineralogy

Mineralogy is an Earth Science focused around the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical properties of minerals. Specific studies within mineralogy include the processes of mineral origin and formation, classification of minerals, their geographical distribution, as well as their utilization....
 sent to North Carolina by Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison

Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman who developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph and the long-lasting, practical electric light bulb....
 to look for platinum
Platinum

Platinum is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pt and an atomic number of 78. Its name is derived from the Spanish term platina del Pinto, which is literally translated into "little silver of the Pinto River." It is in Group 10 of the periodic table of elements....
. Hidden discovered the gem that came to be known as "hiddenite
Hiddenite

Hiddenite is a pale-to-emerald green variety of spodumene that is sometimes used as a gemstone.The first specimens of the hiddenite variety of spodumene were recovered about 1879 near the tiny settlement of White Plains, west of Stony Point, Alexander County, North Carolina....
" in 1879 in mines nearby. Hiddenite is a variety of spodumene
Spodumene

Spodumene is a pyroxene mineral consisting of lithium aluminium Silicate minerals - lithiumaluminum2 - and is a source of lithium. It occurs as colorless to yellowish, purplish or lilac kunzite , yellowish-green or emerald-green hiddenite, prismatic crystals, often of great size....
 and is the only precious gemstone
Gemstone

A gemstone or gem, also called a precious or semi-precious stone, is a piece of attractive mineral, which — when cut and polished — is used to make jewellery or other adornments....
 that cannot be synthesized.






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Hiddenite is an unincorporated community in east-central Alexander County, North Carolina
Alexander County, North Carolina

Alexander County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of 2000, the population was 33,603. Its county seat is Taylorsville, North Carolina....
. It is part of the Hickory
Hickory, North Carolina

Hickory is a city in Catawba County, North Carolina. Hickory has the 162nd largest urban area in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a The Unifour population of 341,851, making it the 4th largest metropolitan area in North Carolina....
–Lenoir
Lenoir, North Carolina

Lenoir is a city in Caldwell County, North Carolina, North Carolina, United States. The population was 16,793 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Caldwell County, North Carolina....
–Morganton
Morganton, North Carolina

Morganton is a city in Burke County, North Carolina, North Carolina, United States. Reader's Digest included Morganton in its list of top ten places to raise a family....
 Metropolitan Statistical Area
The Unifour

The Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of four counties in the Catawba Valley region of Western North Carolina North Carolina....
. The town of Hiddenite was incorporated in 1913, but its charter
Charter

A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified....
 was repealed in 1919. Hiddenite was named for William Earl Hidden (1853-1918), a mineralogist
Mineralogy

Mineralogy is an Earth Science focused around the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical properties of minerals. Specific studies within mineralogy include the processes of mineral origin and formation, classification of minerals, their geographical distribution, as well as their utilization....
 sent to North Carolina by Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison

Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman who developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph and the long-lasting, practical electric light bulb....
 to look for platinum
Platinum

Platinum is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pt and an atomic number of 78. Its name is derived from the Spanish term platina del Pinto, which is literally translated into "little silver of the Pinto River." It is in Group 10 of the periodic table of elements....
. Hidden discovered the gem that came to be known as "hiddenite
Hiddenite

Hiddenite is a pale-to-emerald green variety of spodumene that is sometimes used as a gemstone.The first specimens of the hiddenite variety of spodumene were recovered about 1879 near the tiny settlement of White Plains, west of Stony Point, Alexander County, North Carolina....
" in 1879 in mines nearby. Hiddenite is a variety of spodumene
Spodumene

Spodumene is a pyroxene mineral consisting of lithium aluminium Silicate minerals - lithiumaluminum2 - and is a source of lithium. It occurs as colorless to yellowish, purplish or lilac kunzite , yellowish-green or emerald-green hiddenite, prismatic crystals, often of great size....
 and is the only precious gemstone
Gemstone

A gemstone or gem, also called a precious or semi-precious stone, is a piece of attractive mineral, which — when cut and polished — is used to make jewellery or other adornments....
 that cannot be synthesized. Until recently it was found only in Alexander County, North Carolina, but in recent decades it has been subsequently found in Madagascar
Madagascar

Madagascar, or Republic of Madagascar , is an island nation in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa. The main island, also called Madagascar, is the List of islands by area, and is home to 5% of the world's plant and animal species, of which more than 80% are Endemism to Madagascar....
 and Brazil
Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the List of countries by population country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world....
 . The area around Hiddenite also yields emerald
Emerald

Emeralds are a variety of the mineral beryl colored green by trace amounts of chromium and sometimes vanadium. Beryl has a Hardness of 7.5 - 8 on the 10 point Mohs scale of mineral hardness....
s, sapphire
Sapphire

Sapphire refers to gem varieties of the mineral corundum, an aluminium oxide , when it is a color other than red, in which case the gem would instead be a ruby....
s, and many other precious stones.

Prior to the arrival of W.E. Hidden, the community was known as White Plains; this is how the area appears on a map of 1871. Hiddenite was once noted as a health resort
Spa town

A spa town, or simply spa, is a town frequented mainly for health reasons, to "take the waters". The word comes from the Belgium town Spa, Belgium....
 because of its sulfur
Sulfur

Sulfur or sulphur is the chemical element that has the atomic number 16. It is denoted with the symbol S. It is an abundant Valence non-metal....
 springs
Spring (hydrosphere)

A spring is a point where groundwater flows out from the ground, and is thus where the aquifer surface meets the ground surface.Dependent upon the constancy of the water source , a spring may be ephemeral or Perennial stream ....
.

Hiddenite's altitude is 1,140 feet (347 m) above sea level. The community is also a poultry
Poultry

Poultry is the category of domesticated birds which some people keep for the purpose of collecting their egg , or kill for their meat and/or feathers....
 producer.

External links

  • of Hiddenite's mining company
  • Original article by W.E. Hidden in the US. Geol. Survey in 1882.