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You are on Fairy Stone Crosses  Page 1

Contents:  Fairy stone cross pendants, plain crosses & matrix; Andalusite Chiastolite stone crosses; Legend of fairy stones

FAIRY STONE CROSSES

from the Area outside Fairy Stone Park, Virginia.

Natural staurolite crystals that normally form just a bar shaped crystal, sometimes two fuse together into crosses, as you see in the natural "bloom rock" matrix below:

Fairy stone matrix.JPG (38694 bytes) 

The crosses formed are these three styles:

3_fairystone_crosses.JPG (39679 bytes)

Here is a sampling in our own collection, we have 2200 available at any given time for sale, all sizes:

fairycollection.JPG (37740 bytes)

Fairy stones are brown staurolite, a combination of SILICA, IRON and ALUMINUM (and dots of real garnet). Together, these minerals crystallize in twin form, accounting for the cross-like structure.  

Found only in rocks that have been subjected to great heat and pressure, the stones are most commonly shaped like the St. Andrew's and Roman crosses, though others are in the shape of the Maltese cross.  

The rare staurolite stones are found elsewhere (such as in Russia or France), but not in such abundance and not shaped so nearly like crosses as those in the vicinity of Fairy Stone State Park.

See "the Legend of the Fairy stone" below.

Individually photographed below, you get exactly what you see in each photo.

 

LEGEND OF THE FAIRY STONE

Found in the area of Fairy Stone State Park, Stuart, Virginia.  

Many hundreds of years before Chief Powhatan's reign, fairies were dancing around a spring of water, playing with naiads and wood nymphs, when an elfin messenger arrived from a city far away.  He brought news of the death of Christ.  When these creatures of the forest heard the story of the crucifixion, they wept.  

As their tears fell upon the earth, they crystallized to form beautiful crosses.  When the fairies disappeared from the enchanted place, ground about the spring and the adjacent valley was strewn with these mementos of the event.

For many years people held these little crosses in superstitious awe, firm in the belief that they protected the wearer against witchcraft, sickness, accidents and disaster.
 

A CHEROKEE INDIAN LEGEND

A Cherokee Indian legend of the staurolite is an ancient story, and has been passed down through many generations.  It was told to us by an old man of Cherokee descent, who said that he believed the crosses are better than gold.

    The legend speaks of a ceremony that would be held once a year, at the time of the Spring Equinox.  The festival, centered on the staurolite “cross” brought many different Indigenous tribes together for food and trade during the special event.  People brought their personal “crosses” to the ceremony; and special “crosses” that were kept in a vault made of soap rock would be unearthed.  All were put into a fire that was built at sunset.  There the “crosses” would be heated until glowing hot, and they would be carried with green sticks to a special mound or rock.  The staurolite would glow for hours; and would be kept continuously hot by reheating until the rising of the sun.  This legendary ceremony was to assure the people safe passage, rain during the growing season and an abundance of food in the fall.  Thus, the staurolite has been a symbol of good luck and faith for centuries with many Cherokee people.

 

PENDANTS

Drilled through from top to bottom with a pin insertion, made into loop at the top

 

LARGE FAIRY STONE PENDANTS 

(average 7/8") 

Individually photographed below, you get exactly what you see in each photo.
GOLD WIRED $22 ea.


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 SILVER WIRED  $22 ea.
 

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MEDIUM SIZE FAIRY STONE CROSS PENDANTS, average 3/4"

Individually photographed below, you get exactly what you see in each photo.
GOLD WIRED  $18 ea.
 

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SILVER  WIRED  $18 ea.
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SMALL FAIRY STONE CROSS PENDANTS  

(average 5/8")

Individually photographed below, you get exactly what you see in each photo.
GOLD WIRED  $16 ea.


#CR504-15

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SILVER WIRED  $16 ea.


#CR505-27

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JUST THE CROSSES, NOT MADE INTO JEWELRY

 

FAIRY STONE CROSSES  

(PETITE, 1/2")  $10 ea.

Individually photographed below, you get exactly what you see in each photo.


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FAIRY STONE CROSSES  

(SMALL, 5/8")  $12 ea.

Individually photographed below, you get exactly what you see in each photo.


#CR-593-30

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FAIRY STONE CROSSES  

(MEDIUM, 3/4")  $14 ea.

Individually photographed below, you get exactly what you see in each photo.


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FAIRY STONE MATRIX

NATURAL STONE STILL IN THE ROCK

$14 each
cr597-4.JPG (174631 bytes)

#CR597-4

5/8" tall

 

CHIASTOLITE ANDALUSITE CROSS IN STONE

Chiastolite is a brown variety of andalusite which contains a black cross. The name chiastolite derives from the Greek chiastos meaning "cross marked". It is named for Andalusia, Spain where it was once found. The mineral chiastolite is a variety of andalusite with the chemical composition Al2SiO5. It is noted for distinctive cross-shaped black inclusions of graphite. In areas around Georgetown, California, metamorphosed sediments contained andalusite and chiastolite in a graphite rich metasediment. Andalusite is called Lapis Crucifer in ancient texts.

$14 each

Individually photographed below, you get exactly what you see in each photo.
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ANDALUSITE CROSS IN STONE PENDANT

Cross made into pendant (loop glued on back)

$16 each

Individually photographed below, you get exactly what you see in each photo.
GOLD PENDANT

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#AND-P-599-38
SILVER PENDANT

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VIRTUAL TOUR TO FAIRY STONE STATE PARK AREA to find FAIRY STONE CROSSES

We met with our good friends Dale & Renee (left-hand photo), who introduced us to the Fairy Stone Man's family:

fairydalereneeoscar.jpg (56379 bytes) fairyfam.JPG (37400 bytes)

Pete, the Fairy Stone Man:

fairystoneman.jpg (75181 bytes)

Glenn, Heidi, and Dale with Pete:

fairyglenndaleman.jpg (96624 bytes) fairyglennheidiman.jpg (105248 bytes) fairymananddale.JPG (40297 bytes)

Searching for our own fairy stone crosses, only Pete has a permit to dig:

fairysign1.jpg (84227 bytes) fairysign2.jpg (53868 bytes) fairytrip1.jpg (167301 bytes) fairytrip2.jpg (180732 bytes) fairytrip3.jpg (156251 bytes) fairysearch1.JPG (38432 bytes) fairysearch2.jpg (87825 bytes) fairysearch3.JPG (38457 bytes) fairysearch4.JPG (38652 bytes) fairysearch5.JPG (38453 bytes) fairysearch6.JPG (38403 bytes) fairysearch7.JPG (38739 bytes) fairysearch8.JPG (40487 bytes) fairysearch9.JPG (38537 bytes) fairysearch10.JPG (40679 bytes)

The day's finds were not too bad!

 fairyfinds.JPG (39272 bytes)

Here's Pete going to the shed where he files the crosses:

fairyshed.JPG (40450 bytes) fairyshed2.JPG (40088 bytes) fairyshed3.JPG (39605 bytes)  fairyshed4.JPG (37561 bytes) fairyshed5.JPG (36751 bytes) fairyshed6.JPG (37195 bytes) fairyshed7.JPG (37251 bytes)

    Here you see the finished cross, he has filed away the softer stone to leave only the hard cross crystal itself: 

fairyshed8.JPG (37667 bytes)

Some are just too hard to file, they end up outside:

fairyshed10.JPG (37069 bytes) fairyshed11.JPG (40572 bytes)

 

"The Hand of God" cloud formation, I'm sure you'll enjoy.  This phenomenal natural photo was taken by Sue Beatrice in southern New Jersey:

Hand_of_God.jpg (13211 bytes)

 

She contacted me with more information from her online gallery on how it was taken, except for resizing and color correction, this is really what she saw & photographed:

 

Here's another image taken moments later as the cloud was dissolving:

 

http://www.pbase.com/artshot/image/42419285

Kudos, Sue, on a once-in-a-lifetime photo!

 

Here is the beauty wrought by our German customer Sabine with the fairy stone crosses into necklaces:

sabine1.JPG (52090 bytes)  sabine2.JPG (50861 bytes)  sabine3.JPG (55904 bytes)

 

Fairy stones in matrix, this great specimen from France is displayed at the Smithsonian Museum:

smith fairystones France.JPG (38257 bytes)  

 
STONE CROSS MOUNTAIN MUSEUM

April 2007

We visited the museum in Martinsville, Virginia and had a personal tour of the museum by Don Hopkins himself.  The museum represents a lifetime labor of love for him, and it made our tour that much more interesting and educational.  Here is Don at the museum:

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An impressive array of fairy stones in all sizes and thicknesses that he found in Virginia:

museum1.JPG (148937 bytes) museum3.JPG (135910 bytes) museum16.JPG (132690 bytes) museum20.JPG (144543 bytes)

Here are many stone crosses

museum4.JPG (161150 bytes) museum13.JPG (154838 bytes) museum14.JPG (150249 bytes) museum22.JPG (138170 bytes)

Several hundred fairy stone crosses in matrix in this showcase, wow!

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STONE CROSSES FROM OTHER STATES & COUNTRIES
From Georgia & North Carolina:

museum18.JPG (142864 bytes)

 Minnesota, Australia, Madagascar, and New Mexico:

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 From Minnesota:

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 From Maine:

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From Madagascar:

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 From Russia:

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 From New Mexico:

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