Where to Find Calcite in West Virginia
West Virginia has 10 mapped collecting spots that report calcite, spread across 7 counties. The largest share sits in Grant County with 2 spots. 10 of the spots are on land mapped as publicly accessible.
Map of 10 calcite collecting spots in West Virginia
Standout calcite spots in West Virginia
Hand-picked from the full list below, with the reason each one earns a trip.
Petersburg
Grant County
Petersburg sits on the South Branch Potomac River just downstream of Smoke Hole Canyon, where the river drops onto a broad valley and drops its bed load of quartz, calcite, and dolomite eroded from the Silurian and Devonian ridges upstream.
Fort Spring
Greenbrier County
Fort Spring lies on the Greenbrier River in southern Greenbrier County, in the Mississippian carbonate belt that gives the county its celestite, calcite, and dolomite.
Knobly Mountain
Mineral County
Knobly Mountain is a classic 19th-century West Virginia mineral locality, a railroad cut on the mountain's west flank that exposed limestone yielding exceptional celestite crystals before 1890.
Berkeley Springs
Morgan County
Berkeley Springs anchors the eastern panhandle, where the Devonian Oriskany (Ridgeley) Sandstone is worked for exceptionally pure glass sand and its vuggy zones produce clear and smoky quartz crystals, some in large clusters.
Harman
Randolph County
Harman lies in the high country of eastern Randolph County near the Dry Fork of the Cheat River and the edge of the Monongahela National Forest, where folded Devonian and Mississippian carbonates weather out quartz, calcite, and dolomite.
Best counties for calcite in West Virginia
Ranked by the number of mapped calcite spots. County links open the full rockhounding page for that county.
Every calcite spot we track in West Virginia
Sorted by county. Coordinates open in Google Maps.
| Spot | County | Minerals | Coordinates | Access |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berkeley County | Berkeley County | 39.4727, -77.9076 | Public | |
| North Fork GapWV 28;WV 55 | Grant County | 38.9892, -79.2406 | Public | |
| PetersburgUS 220;WV 28;WV 55 | Grant County | 38.9972, -79.0756 | Public | |
| Fort SpringJohn Foeren Way | Greenbrier County | 37.7428, -80.5533 | Public | |
| RenickGreenbrier River Trail | Greenbrier County | 37.9939, -80.3358 | Public | |
| Knobly Mountain | Mineral County | 39.3459, -79.0029 | Public | |
| New CreekUS 50 | Mineral County | 39.3634, -79.0073 | Public | |
| Berkeley SpringsHancock Road | Morgan County | 39.6490, -78.2176 | Public | |
| Judy GapMount Freedom Drive | Pendleton County | 38.7063, -79.4659 | Public | |
| HarmanUS 33;WV 55 | Randolph County | 38.9154, -79.5131 | Public |
Before you go
Read the calcite identification guide so you know what a keeper looks like in the field: Calcite in the encyclopedia.
Calcite in West Virginia FAQ
Where can you find calcite in West Virginia?+
How many calcite spots are mapped in West Virginia?+
Is it legal to collect calcite in West Virginia?+
Where else to find calcite
More minerals to hunt in West Virginia
Hunt calcite in West Virginia with the map in your pocket
RockHoundR puts these spots on an offline map with BLM and Forest Service overlays, geology layers, and a log for your finds.
