Where to Find Quartz in New Jersey
New Jersey quartz concentrates around Franklin and Sterling Hill in Sussex County, where the famous zinc deposits carry secondary quartz in marble and pegmatite. The Buckwheat dump and the Sterling Hill museum collecting ground yield small quartz crystals on franklinite and willemite matrix. The Trotter shaft area produces clear and milky quartz alongside the fluorescent assemblage. Trap-rock quarries through Hudson and Bergen counties (Prospect Park, Paterson, Great Notch) carry small quartz crystals in basalt amygdules with prehnite and pectolite. Most New Jersey quartz is small and matrix-bound; specimen value lies in the rare associations.
Every quartz spot we track in New Jersey
Best spotCape MayCape May County, New JerseyPublic access · Quartz, Chalcedony
Best spotHigbee Beach Wildlife Management AreaCape May County, New JerseyPublic access · Quartz, Chalcedony
Best spotRiegelsvilleHunterdon County, New JerseyPublic access · Jasper, Quartz
Pompton LakesPassaic County, New JerseyPublic access · Banded Agate, Amethyst, Barite +12- Prospect Park QuarryPassaic County, New JerseyPublic access · Banded Agate, Amethyst, Barite +12
Bergen Hill by Hudson RiverHudson County, New JerseyPermission required · Banded Agate, Albite, Amethyst +11- General Area (Hudson/Passaic)Hudson County, New JerseyPublic access · Banded Agate, Albite, Amethyst +11
- Snake HillHudson County, New JerseyPublic access · Banded Agate, Albite, Amethyst +11
- The PalisadesBergen County, New JerseyPublic access · Banded Agate, Albite, Amethyst +11
- Mine Hill (bornite)Morris County, New JerseyPublic access · Bornite, Calcite, Chalcopyrite +9
- Bound BrookSomerset County, New JerseyPublic access · Agate, Bornite, Calcite +8
- Rock Hill QuarrySomerset County, New JerseyPublic access · Albite, Chalcocite, Chrysocolla +6
- Warren TownshipSomerset County, New JerseyPublic access · Banded Agate, Moss Agate, Chalcedony +6
- SomervilleSomerset County, New JerseyPublic access · Agate, Albite, Datolite +4
- 3M QuarrySomerset County, New JerseyPublic access · Quartz, Agate, Jasper
- BarnardsvilleSomerset County, New JerseyPublic access · Agate, Geode, Quartz
- KingstonSomerset County, New JerseyPublic access · Agate, Prehnite, Quartz
- ManasquanMonmouth County, New JerseyPublic access · Quartz, Fossil, Petrified Wood
- Atlantic CountyAtlantic County, New JerseyPublic access · Quartz
- Long BranchMonmouth County, New JerseyPublic access · Quartz
- Ocean CountyOcean County, New JerseyPublic access · Quartz
Standout quartz spots in New Jersey
Hand-picked from the full list above, with the reason each one earns a trip.
Cape May
Cape May County
Sunset Beach at the tip of Cape May is the classic place to hunt Cape May diamonds, rounded pure quartz pebbles that polish up like gemstones.
Higbee Beach Wildlife Management Area
Cape May County
Higbee Beach is a free, no-tag stretch of Delaware Bay shoreline where Cape May diamonds, wave-polished clear quartz pebbles, concentrate along the strand line.
Riegelsville
Hunterdon County
The Delaware River gravel bars near Riegelsville carry a rounded mix of jasper, quartz, and chalcedony pebbles washed down from Appalachian and Piedmont bedrock upstream.
Best counties for quartz in New Jersey
Ranked by the number of mapped quartz spots. County links open the full rockhounding page for that county.
- Somerset County7 spots
- Hudson County3 spots
- Cape May County2 spots
- Monmouth County2 spots
- Passaic County2 spots
- Atlantic County1 spot
- Bergen County1 spot
- Hunterdon County1 spot
- Morris County1 spot
- Ocean County1 spot
Before you go
Read the quartz identification guide so you know what a keeper looks like in the field: Quartz in the encyclopedia.
Quartz in New Jersey FAQ
Where can you find quartz in New Jersey?+
How many quartz spots are mapped in New Jersey?+
Is it legal to collect quartz in New Jersey?+
Where else to find quartz
More minerals to hunt in New Jersey
Hunt quartz in New Jersey 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.
