Sweetwater: Barite & Fluorite Rockhounding in Monroe County, Tennessee

Plan your visit

Permission required before collecting

County

Monroe County

State

Tennessee

Nearest road

Sweetwater Vonore Road

Postcode

37874

Coordinates

35.60578, -84.38665

Coordinates are approximate. Confirm the exact ground in the RockHoundR app, where land overlays show which agency manages the area.

Land & collecting status

Permission required before collecting

Requires landowner or agency permission before any collecting. Do not enter without explicit authorization.

Access note: The old workings and mineralized ground are on private property, so this is a permission-required locality rather than open public land. Collectors should identify and ask the landowner before entering any field or cut. Roadside residuum occasionally yields loose material, but access should not be assumed.

Public-land rules vary by agency, season, and field office. The RockHoundR app pulls live BLM, USFS, NPS, and tribal overlays so you can see exactly which agency manages the ground at this spot.

Best time to visit Sweetwater

Comfortable months (45 to 90°F highs)

Conditions here are workable year-round, with typical highs from 48°F in winter to 88°F in summer.

Climate normals: NOAA 1991-2020 monthlies, LENOIR CITY station (14 mi away), adjusted for elevation.

Geology at Sweetwater

This spot sits on Unnamed (upper part of Knox Group), including Newala Formation, Mascot Dolomite, Kingsport Formation, Longview Dolomite, and Chepultepec Dolomite, mapped as dolostone and limestone that formed roughly 485 to 445 million years ago. Carbonate rock like this is the classic host for lead, zinc, and fluorite mineralization, which typically follows old cavities and replacement zones.

Mapped unit

Unnamed (upper part of Knox Group), including Newala Formation, Mascot Dolomite, Kingsport Formation, Longview Dolomite, and Chepultepec Dolomite

Age

485–445 Ma (Ordovician)

Rock types

dolostone and limestone

Elevation

1,020 ft

Geologic mapping via Macrostrat and the underlying state geological survey maps (CC BY 4.0). Bedrock at the surface can vary within a mapped unit.

Sources & verification

Spot details combine the public RockHoundR location dataset, normalized mineral labels, agency land-status checks in the app, and community submissions. Coordinates are approximate until verified in the field.

• Tennessee Division of Geology
• Cherokee National Forest
• Tennessee State Parks rules
• Community submissions reviewed against published agency rules