Prez Says...

by Ken Reynolds, MSDC President

Hello MSDC  members and welcome to September!

I hope everybody had a nice summer and a break from our mineral meetings. Heather and I took the grandkids to Ocean City Maryland for our 7th annual trip in July. How fun it is to see the kids grow and change over the years!

I also had the opportunity to take a rock/mineral related trip during our time off when I went to Culpeper, Virginia for the book signing of the FMVA'S new book "The Northern Virginia Trap Rock Quarries." Thomas Hale and his crew of Friends of Mineralogy of Virginia (FMVA) have really outdone themselves with this new book. It is very informative, explaining everything about the northern Virginia trap rock quarries including their history, their economic importance, and of course, the mineralogy of the quarries. The book includes a large section of colorful pictures of the beautiful minerals found in these quarries, many of which we have at the Smithsonian on display. The book also has a section on collecting safely in the quarries as well as access to the quarries.

It wasn't that long ago that out local clubs had field trips to these quarries and collected great specimens, but sadly today, mineral clubs are prohibited from entering most of these sites because of the owners' company policies. Hopefully with the help of the FMVA and their work with the quarry owners we can get this to change!

My friend and mineral dealer August (Andy) Dietz was also there at the book signing, personally signing copies of the book as well as identifying minerals that people had brought to the event for this purpose. Andy has been involved with collecting minerals in the NoVa trap quarries for years and is a leading expert in the identification of these local minerals.

MSDC President Ken Reynolds (right) and Andy Dietz

It is thanks to Andy that the FMVA has such a nice collection of these trap rocks to loan for events like these. Its was fun hanging out with Thomas and Andy and has really sparked my interest in the Virginia trap rocks. Anyone interested in purchasing a copy of the new book please contact; fmvapublications@gmail.com.

Looking forward to seeing you all at our September 7th meeting,

Thanks, Ken Reynolds , President MSDC