A Roadside Shopping Center for Rockhounds

 ...a little west of Elberton, Georgia, on the Northside of GA Hwy. 72 is "Tiny Town".  It consists of a convenience store and a granite monument production company.  The approximately one-acre lot behind the store is a veritable shopping center for rockhounds, geologists, and Earth Science teachers.  

My wife and I visited there again last Saturday and I picked up a couple of nice Xenolith specimens.  A link to that post with photos is here.

  

Figure 1.

For those stopping there, for the sake of manners, please ask permission in the store and so as not to "mess things up" for everyone else that follows you, please be careful.  It is your responsibility to pay attention to the hazards of heavy slabs of waste granite.

 

Figure 2.

For those unfamiliar, Elberton, GA calls itself "The Granite Capital of the World" and the granite body itself covers about 200 square miles and hosts dozens of quarries.  This small monument-cutting operation predominately cuts Elberton Granite, but amidst the rockpiles, one can occasionally find pink granite, gabbro, and other dimension stone varieties.

  Figure 3.

Probably 99+% of the rock is Elberton Granite.  Among remaining <1%, the best treasures to find are xenoliths.  For dimension stone, xenoliths are probably considered blemishes at best and potential sites for breakage of the finished product.  In other words, in terms of a cemetery memorial, unless the dearly-departed was a geologist, a high-contrast xenolith wouldn't likely be appreciated by onlookers.

 Figure 4.

This xenolith/host rock combo probably weighs 50 - 60 lbs., so it took a bit of wrestling to get it in the car.

Figure 5.

Figure 6.