Updated July 2026
33 mapped spots for rock hunting and rock collecting across 21 counties. Indiana rockhounding is geodes: the creeks of Lawrence, Monroe, Brown, and Owen counties around Bedford, Harrodsburg, Bean Blossom, and Spencer shed quartz-lined geodes by the thousand. Around them, Salem limestone crinoids, Ordovician fossils near Weisburg, Devonian fossils in the Maumee River, Lake Michigan beach stones, and quarry calcite, marcasite, and fluorite round out the state.
The best rockhounding in Indiana is at Maumee River in Allen County (agate, jasper), Beanblossom in Brown County (geode), and Harrodsburg in Monroe County (calcite, dolomite). In total, 33 mapped collecting spots across 21 counties produce marcasite, calcite, and geode, each listed below with its land access.
Best spotBig Pine CreekWarren County, IndianaPublic access · Sphalerite, Barite, Fossilized Wood +3
Best spotWashington Park BeachLaPorte County, IndianaPublic access · Agate, Beach Glass, Leland Blue +2
Best spotCorydonHarrison County, IndianaPublic access · Calcite, Fluorite, Dolomite +1
Best spotMaumee RiverAllen County, IndianaPublic access · Agate, Jasper, Fossilized Coral +1
Best spotHarrodsburgMonroe County, IndianaPublic access · Calcite, Dolomite, Aragonite
Best spotSpencerOwen County, IndianaPublic access · Barite, Celestite, Siderite
Best spotBeanblossomBrown County, IndianaPublic access · Geode
Best spotBedfordLawrence County, IndianaPublic access · Geode
Best spotSalt CreekLawrence County, IndianaPublic access · Geode
Best spotWeisburgDearborn County, IndianaPublic access · Trilobite
Lawrence CountyLawrence County, IndianaPublic access · Geode, Calcite, Sphalerite +3BuddhaLawrence County, IndianaPublic access · Barite, Calcite, Celestite +2HuntingtonHuntington County, IndianaPublic access · Calcite, Marcasite, Pyrite +2Parke CountyParke County, IndianaPublic access · Goethite, Marcasite, Pyrite +2BloomingtonMonroe County, IndianaPublic access · Fluorite, Aragonite, Calcite +1
Brown CountyBrown County, IndianaPermission required · Corundum, Quartz, Topaz +1Brown County State ParkBrown County, IndianaPublic access · Geode, Marcasite, Aragonite +1LogansportCass County, IndianaPublic access · Apatite, Calcite, Pyrite +1Morgan CountyMorgan County, IndianaPublic access · Quartz, Corundum, Topaz +1BlufftonWells County, IndianaPublic access · Dolomite, Marcasite, PyriteElizabethtownBartholomew County, IndianaPublic access · Fluorescent Calcite, Fluorite, MarcasiteGeorgiaLawrence County, IndianaPublic access · Barite, Dolomite, StrontianiteNorristownShelby County, IndianaPublic access · Fluorescent Calcite, Fluorite, MarcasiteBicknellKnox County, IndianaPublic access · Marcasite, PyriteFort WayneAllen County, IndianaPublic access · Agate, JasperWilliams CreekMarion County, IndianaPublic access · Amethyst, QuartzCoal HollowMartin County, IndianaPublic access · SideriteErieWabash County, IndianaPublic access · GeodeGreenhorn CreekBrown County, IndianaPermission required · GoldHighland CreekMorgan County, IndianaPublic access · Brown SapphireIndianapolisMarion County, IndianaPublic access · MoonstoneNew PointDecatur County, IndianaPublic access · ChalcopyriteOoliticLawrence County, IndianaPublic access · Oolitic LimestoneRepresentative spot and material photos from locations in this state, shown where verified public image records are available.
Counts reflect how many spots in this list mention each mineral.
Notable areas: Harrodsburg and Salt Creek geodes, Bean Blossom geodes, Bedford crinoids, Weisburg Ordovician fossils, and Maumee River Devonian fossils are the Indiana targets collectors travel for.
Southern Indiana's Mississippian rocks make the geode belt. The Harrodsburg and Ramp Creek limestones and the Borden Group weather out quartz geodes, some with calcite, dolomite, or sphalerite inside, into Salt Creek, Bean Blossom Creek, and the White River drainages of Lawrence, Monroe, Brown, and Owen counties. The Salem limestone quarried around Bedford and Bloomington is packed with crinoid and bryozoan debris. Southeastern Indiana on the Cincinnati Arch exposes Ordovician limestone and shale with brachiopods, bryozoans, and trilobites around Weisburg and the Ohio River. Northern Indiana is glacial till over Silurian and Devonian rock: the Maumee River near Fort Wayne cuts Devonian limestone with corals and brachiopods, quarries in the north produce calcite, marcasite, pyrite, and fluorite in vugs, and the Lake Michigan shore at Washington Park collects glacial pebbles. Indiana's gravel pits statewide turn up Lake Superior agate and jasper.
Salt Creek and Bean Blossom Creek, the creeks around Harrodsburg and Bedford, and the White River near Spencer. Private creek frontage needs permission; Hoosier National Forest ground in the belt allows hand collecting.
Crinoid-rich limestone in the working quarries around Bedford and Bloomington, open only on club days, and in road cuts and spoil around Corydon.
Brachiopods, bryozoans, and trilobite pieces in creek beds and road cuts around Weisburg and along the Ohio River bluffs.
Devonian fossils in the Maumee River bed at low water, beach stones at Washington Park in Michigan City, and gravel-pit agate and jasper around Indianapolis with the operator's permission.
Late summer and fall low water, August through October, exposes the most creek gravel and geodes; spring floods rebuild the bars and wash out fresh ones from the banks. Quarry club days cluster in summer. Winter ice and spring high water close the creeks.
Knee boots, a garden rake, a small screen, a bucket, and rags for whole geodes; a rock hammer and safety glasses for road cuts; a putty knife and newspaper for shale fossils. Copperheads live in the geode belt creeks; watch your hands under ledges.
Salem limestone has been quarried around Bedford since 1827 and built the Empire State Building and the Pentagon; it became the state stone in 1971. Indiana's geodes have been collected from the Harrodsburg creeks for as long as the road cuts along Highway 37 have exposed them.
Day-trip range. Each section lists the closest mapped rockhounding spots within about 150 miles of the city. Most are inside a 2 to 3 hour drive.
6 closest spots to Indianapolis, IN.
6 closest spots to Fort Wayne, IN.
6 closest spots to Evansville, IN.
Geology rarely respects state borders. These states share mapped rockhounding country with Indiana, useful when Indiana is the start, not the whole trip. Each card links to the closest county across the line.
County pages are linked once we have at least 3 mapped spots for a focused guide with coordinates, mineral notes, and nearby spots.
Hand-picked standouts from the Indiana list, chosen for unusual mineralogy, documented public access, or both. Each card links to coordinates, access notes, and what to look for.
Top pickAllen County
The Maumee River corridor at Fort Wayne carries Pleistocene glacial float across northeastern Indiana, mixing agate, jasper, and chert erratics with Devonian fossil coral and petrified wood transported from the north.
Agate, Jasper, Fossilized Coral, Petrified Wood
Top pickBrown County
Beanblossom Creek cuts through the Harrodsburg and Salem limestones in Brown County, freeing quartz- and calcite-lined geodes that collect in the stream gravel.
Geode
Top pickMonroe County
Harrodsburg is the type area of the Harrodsburg Limestone, the Mississippian unit that lends its name to some of Indiana's best-documented geodes: quartz, calcite, and barite fillings that have also yielded rare millerite needles.
Calcite, Dolomite, Aragonite
Top pickOwen County
Spencer sits on the West Fork of the White River at the northwestern edge of the geode belt, where river gravels carry geodes weathered from the Sanders Group limestones along with barite, celestite, and siderite reported from local exposures.
Barite, Celestite, Siderite
Top pickWarren County
Big Pine Creek carves a wooded bluff-and-ravine landscape in west-central Warren County, where glaciated stream gravels mix quartz, chert, and jasper with sulfide and sulfate minerals such as sphalerite, barite, and marcasite.
Sphalerite, Barite, Fossilized Wood, Siderite
Top pickDearborn County
Weisburg lies in the State Route 1 corridor of southeastern Indiana, part of the Cincinnatian (Upper Ordovician) outcrop belt that is world-renowned for abundant marine fossils.
Trilobite
Top pickHarrison County
Corydon, Indiana's first state capital, sits in the karst country of Harrison County at the southern end of the geode belt, where cave-and-spring geology produces calcite, fluorite, dolomite, and quartz along with geodes in the local limestones.
Calcite, Fluorite, Dolomite, Quartz
Top pickLawrence County
Bedford is the "Limestone Capital of the World," center of the Salem Limestone (Indiana Limestone) district that supplied the Empire State Building and the Pentagon and became the official state stone in 1971.
Geode
Top pickLawrence County
Salt Creek drains the heart of Indiana's Mississippian geode belt, where quartz- and calcite-lined geodes weather out of the Harrodsburg and Salem limestones into the streambed gravel.
Geode
Top pickLaPorte County
Michigan City's Washington Park Beach opens Indiana's short Lake Michigan shoreline to beachcombing, where wave-sorted gravels yield Lake Superior agates, "Leland blue" slag glass, beach glass, and reworked Devonian coral and crinoid fossils.
Agate, Beach Glass, Leland Blue, Fossilized Coral
8 clubs in Indiana. Clubs run field trips, shows and workshops, and many trips go to private claims you can't reach alone.
Open the RockHoundR app to see Indiana on a real map with public land overlays, weather, geology, and your saved finds.
