Diamonds are forever.

Diamonds are a girl's best friend.

Diamonds can be dug out of the ground in Arkansas.

Out of those three statements, you might not be as familiar with the last one, but it's true. Believe it or not, just a short two-and-a-half hour drive from Shreveport, tucked away in Murfreesboro, is a place where you can literally dig diamonds right out of the ground. It's called Crater Of Diamonds State Park, and diamonds have been found on this land since 1906!

Crater Of Diamonds State Park is located at 209 State Park Rd in Murfreesboro, AR. For a small fee, your entire family can spend a day (or even longer with the adjacent camping facilities) trying to find the next Hope Diamond nestled in the land surrounding an extinct volcanic chimney. Yes, I said "volcanic chimney."

Millions of years ago, there was volcanic activity everywhere, and it just so happened that there was a volcanic outlet right there in Murfreesboro on the outlying edges of the New Madrid Seismic Zone, a major area of intraplate earthquakes in the region.

Too sciency?

Thar be buried treasure there, arrrr!

Better? I digress.

So, I bet you're saying, "Well, the big diamonds like the Hope and the one my wife/girlfriend/fiance/standard poodle wants are all from Africa and those places...surely the only ones I can find in Arkansas are sup-par and not worth even digging for." Au contraire mon frere. Some of the world's most spectacular stones, and several of the biggest ever found in the Western Hemisphere were dug right out of that Arkansas soil. Don't believe me?

How about the "Uncle Sam," a 40.23-carat white diamond? It is the biggest diamond found in the United States.

Or maybe the Strawn-Wagner Diamond? It is one of a relatively few colorless, internally flawless diamonds found so far in the world, weighing in at 3.09 carats.

That's just two examples, but there are plenty more. Now, don't expect to dig out a golf-ball sized sparkler with your first shovel full of dirt. Some people go for years without ever finding a diamond. But, there are plenty more precious stones besides diamonds out there to find, and any rockhound worth his salt (get it?) would love the chance to sift through the dirt for that next gem.

Plus they have a huge recreation area with a museum, a water park, a cafe and much more to see and do.

So, if you want to take your family on a really unique excursion, and possibly bring back a bag of jewels so the Goondocks will be saved (Goonies? One-Eyed Willie? Anybody?), then gather up your shovels and screens, and head up to Crater of Diamonds State Park!

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