While you could head just about anywhere and grab a quick memento from a local gift shop, there’s nothing quite like the satisfaction of earning your own souvenir on your travels. Whether you’re making your own jam or learning a local craft, the keepsake you have to work for will always hold a special place in your heart — and your suitcase.
And in Arkansas, you can dig for a souvenir that just might pay for the trip itself.
At Crater of Diamonds State Park, visitors are invited to get dirty in a 37.5-acre diamond-producing volcanic field, the only such site in the world that’s open to the public. With a little bit of luck, you might just walk away with a brilliant token of your vacation.
Diamonds found at the park range in colors, including brown, yellow and white. No matter what size diamond you unearth, the park adheres to a “finders, keepers” policy, meaning that if you find it, it’s yours to keep, regardless of the diamond’s value.
Before you go thinking that no one ever finds diamonds of value here, keep in mind the largest diamond ever to be found in the U.S. came from the fields of Crater of Diamonds. The 40-carat Uncle Sam Diamond was discovered here in 1924, and over the decades, diamonds weighing in at several carats have continued to be found throughout the park. The park even keeps a list of visitors’ latest finds (including a nearly one-carat find in May), so you can see how lucky fellow visitors have been.
After you’ve found your buried treasure, you can explore the rest of the state park, which features hundreds of acres of forests, hiking trails and a water park. Fishing and wildlife watching are just a couple of the other activities you can enjoy at this state park.
Have you ever tried digging at Crater of Diamonds State Park?
(Main image: Kim Alaniz)
