crater of diamonds state park

It poured down rain during our trip to the Diamond Mine but it didn't stop us from searching for a diamond and having fun. It is a very interesting place and such a neat place to take the kids.

We had the place to ourselves and had a blast. Easy to park, great scenery, you can rent all your tools, and the guides are great. Plan for a half a day and bring twice as many clean clothes as you think you might need....

This park was absolutely beautiful. The bathrooms were immaculate! If it's not too far out of your way should definitely make this stop here.

This is the place to go!! On our first vacation, (Mom, my 2 adopted grandchildren, ages 5 and 6 yr olds, and Me) decided to go to Arkansas! Our first stop was the Carter of Diamonds! Pay the admission fee, rent supplies, Dig or surface hunt, use the wash area! Picnic and stay all day! We had a great time, the kids loved it! Found a few neat things, (and everything the 6 yr old boy found was a *DIAMOND*!! LOL, he thought!) It was a fun family day!

Crater of Diamonds State Park is probably not on the way to wherever you are going but it's worth the trip. The friendly and knowledgeable staff are there to help you have a memorable experience and they deliver. This is a great way to experience something completely different with your family. It could also be a great way to turn a vacation into a school project because there is so much interesting information about how diamonds are formed and brought to the surface.

Your day begins as early as you like and goes as long as you like. The days admission allows you to come and go all day long. Wash racks available to clean and sift dirt. When you get your fill of the digging you take your treasures to be examined by the experts. No luck for us that day but we had fun.

Having 3 boys who are all boy I thought a day in the dirt looking for treasure would be perfect for them. Boy was I wrong! It was the whole week of down pouring rain that had created a mud pit that made their trip "the best ever". After calmly reminding myself (over and over) that they are boys and it's vacation and the mud won't hurt anything (except my sanity) we really enjoyed ourselves! We were soaked and the only thing found was EVERY puddle in the place by my 2 1/2 year old but it's the memories that last forever. The employees were helpful with equipping us with our equipment. They pointed us to some good spots and helped us in the end. We have already talked about repeating this trip again soon, hopefully not during monsoon season!

We went prepared to dig and sift thru the freshly plowed fields of the Crater of Diamonds. The employees suggested walking the fields looking for shiny objects, since they had had 2 days of hard rain. So the first hour we spent doing just that. Found a few neat rocks, and lots of trash. Please people pick up your trash! We spent the next 4 hours digging and sifting thru dirt from different areas of the fields. There were not many searchers at the park and the temperatures were in the low sixties(perfect weather for digging). We found a few neat rocks, and enjoyed searching for a diamond. One of the employees suggested that we bring a cooler with water and food, so we wouldn't have to leave the fields to eat(there are picnic benches available). The only thing I didn't like was that there were lots of little black spiders floating around. We didn't have the expert check out what we found, as we didn't think we found any diamonds. Diamonds are not the only stone the Crater park has. They have some beautiful pieces of Jasper, etc.

We went here as a group of 4 in late September, 2014. Two of us, myself included, decided to check out the trails around the park. I highly recommend doing this if you are in the area - the river walk is half wheelchair accessible and half 'natural'. The other two in our group dug for diamonds for a few hours, they had no luck but it was a good activity to pass the afternoon, should you find yourself in the area.

Beautiful park, great gift shop and visitor center, small water park, and lots of picnic spots! And, of course, the Crater itself, which is literally... a crater... a plowed field way down in a valley accessible by a winding walkway from the visitor's center/gift shop. Since my hubby is not interested in grubbing in the mud, I haven't actually looked for diamonds yet, but I've seen people doing it and... they seem to be having a ball!!! The youngsters especially love it. What little kid doesn't love getting dirty??? And you should see them when it rains!!! But they are having such fun!!!

We went in December so it was a little cold and muddy but it was great fun. I highly recommend listening to the gemologist talk about all the rocks/gems are there, how they got there and how to dig and sift for them. If it is muddy you please get the rubber booties for your shoes or they will be ruined by the time you leave. You can bring drinks and snacks which we did. We didn't find anything but the thrill of the hunt and family bonding was fun!

probably the only attraction in Murfreesboro. Had to visit it just once.the smaller kids had a great time digging for rocks. Nominal entrance fees and inexpensive gift shop

I loved the concept, but it didn't keep my kids attention for long. They are ages 3 and 6. I could have spent more time myself, despite the sweltering heat. The water basins to sift your dirt were not accessible by kids, so that was the biggest disappointment. If I wanted them to help/participate in the fun, I had to hold the, up. I would have expected a more kid-friendly design. If I didn't hold them up, there was nothing for them to do if I wanted to keep an eye on them. The pool outside was great. The family headed there while I dug a little longer.

Went there on a day trip while in the area and it was a great experience. You will want to plan ahead of time and bring some tools & buckets with you, however the park does rent the equipment. If you decide to rent, keep in mind that there is a deposit for every item you rent. That can get expensive real quick, so I would recommend visiting their website and take a look at the rental fees. In our case it was cheaper to go by the hardware store and purchase digging tools.

We heard the staff was to come out and give lessons on how to mine diamonds, but we didn't see anyone do so on our day there.. The lady at the renter place, was all business, not very personable.. She was definitely there just to do a job. However, with all of that said, the price was good and it was an exciting time with the possibility that we could find a diamond.( we didn't..lol) but had our own good time trying to! They staff at the gift store were very friendly and always had a smile for us!