• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About
    • Meet Tara
    • Contact
    • Disclosure
    • Family Photography
    • PR & Advertising
    • Privacy Policy
  • CRAFT
    • Edible Food Crafts
    • Fabric Crafts
    • Home Decor
    • Kids
    • Papercrafts
    • Party DIY
    • Printables
    • SVG Cut Files
    • Wearables
  • PARTY
    • Baby
    • Birthday
    • Christmas
    • Easter
    • Father’s Day
    • Halloween / Fall
    • Mother’s Day
    • Patriotic / Summer
    • School / Grad
    • Sports
    • St Patricks Day
    • Thanksgiving
    • Valentine’s Day
    • Wedding
  • Home
    • Basement / Garage
    • Bathroom
    • Bedroom
    • Entryway
    • Kitchen
    • Living Room
    • Office
    • Outdoors
  • LIFE
    • Blog Life
    • Favorite Products
    • Organization
    • Parenting
    • Travel
Spot of Tea Designs

Spot of Tea Designs

NJ Travel: Sterling Hill Zinc Mine

in Lifestyle, Travel

Discover what a family of 11 (ages 69-7) learned as they explored the Sterling Hill Zinc Mine in Ogdensburg, NJ. From glow-in-the-dark ore to life of a minor back in the 1920s, you’ll discover a bit of NJ history on this educational field trip to Sussex county.

NJ Travel - Sterling Hill Mine Tour in Ogdensburg, NJ | spotofteadesigns.com

DISCLOSURE: Some of the links in this post contain affiliate links, which come at no cost to you. Know that I only promote products I personally use and stand behind. To learn more about my affiliates, please review my disclosure policy.

At the start of the summer, our family spent some time up in north Jersey in my hometown and took a day trip over to Ogdensburg, NJ in Sussex County and toured the Sterling Hill Zinc Mine. We were joined by my parents and my sister’s family, which included 3 boys ages 7-12. Check out my instagram video reel about this trip and check out before for more info!

NJ Travel - Sterling Hill Mine Tour in Ogdensburg, NJ | spotofteadesigns.com

Here are some tips about visiting Sterling Hill Mining Museum and the Zing Mine:

  • Tickets: No reservations are needed but you also can’t purchase any tickets online. Check the website to see which days and times they host the tour but when we visited in early June tours were only held on the weekends at 1pm. During the summer they updated it to be everyday at 1pm. Get there between 12:30 – 12:45 to get a placed in a tour group. If you’re lucky enough to have tour guide Bruce, then you’re in luck as he was a past miner who had great insight on the experience!
NJ Travel - Sterling Hill Mine Tour in Ogdensburg, NJ | spotofteadesigns.com
  • Visit the gift shop before – the tour begins by purchasing your tickets in the gift shop. There are souvenirs and snacks to buy in this area, which is a great distraction while waiting for the tour to start, since you need to be there 15 – 30 minutes early.
NJ Travel - Sterling Hill Mine Tour in Ogdensburg, NJ | spotofteadesigns.com
  • Bring a jacket – The mine gets down to 56 degrees even if it’s super hot outside so bring a jacket to stay warm.
  • Wear sneakers – The ceiling does drip with water running through the mine and the ground is therefore then wet so make sure to wear covered shoes.
NJ Travel - Sterling Hill Mine Tour in Ogdensburg, NJ | spotofteadesigns.com
  • Lights and black lights – The tour itself is lit with basic lighting, but there are some areas where they turn the lights off to see the glowing ore. They do worn you before they do it but give your kids a heads up!
NJ Travel - Sterling Hill Mine Tour in Ogdensburg, NJ | spotofteadesigns.com
  • Tour length – The tour is 2 hours long, but it entertained our crew! There’s plenty of educational talk along the way but lots of visuals, photos of the past mining experience, and different sights to see. Make sure you use the restroom and bring a drink with you as there are no restrooms along the way.
  • Space height – There are no super tight squeezes, but you are walking through a guided route of the mine, which has different sized passages. If you’re 6 ft 2inches or taller, they give you a “bump hat.” No mine carts rides or anything like that, but you see plenty of the equipment used in this space.
NJ Travel - Sterling Hill Mine Tour in Ogdensburg, NJ | spotofteadesigns.com
  • Museum area – After the 2 hour tour, you can explore the museum area which includes lots of past equipment, like these lockers used by original miners, and products made using the zinc from the mountain.
NJ Travel - Sterling Hill Mine Tour in Ogdensburg, NJ | spotofteadesigns.com
  • Sluice Bags – You can purchase sluice bags at the gift shop and sift bags of sand and materials for a “mining experience” before or after the tour. We didn’t do this step but it gave you that sifting through sand experience if you wanted.

More Family Friendly Travel Adventures

Climbing and Ziplining at TreeTopQuest in Philadelphia | spotofteadesigns.com
Williamsburg Family Vacation Recap -Jamestown Settlement | spotofteadesigns.com
Amish Country Vacation Recap - where we stayed, what we did and where we ate in Bird-in-Hand pennsylvania in November 2022 | spotofteadesigns.com
Universal Orlando Vacation With Kids | spotofteadesigns.com
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit

Related

in Lifestyle, Travel # family travel field trip NJ Travel

Spotofteadesigns.com Signature Design showing ways to socially follow this DIY/Parenting blogSpotofteadesigns.com Signature showing how to follow on twitter. Username: spotofteadesignSOTD2019SignatureFollow4FacebookSpotofteadesigns.com Signature showing how to follow on pinterest. Username: spotofteadesignSpotofteadesigns.com Signature showing how to follow on instagram. Username: spotofteadesignsSpotofteadesigns.com Signature

Reader Interactions

Leave a ReplyCancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Meet Tara

You can probably find me in my craft room, in front of a computer or behind the camera lens.
LEARN MORE

EMAIL NEWSLETTER SIGN UP

Sign up and be the first to know about new posts filled with printables, svg cut file designs and gift ideas!

Privacy Policy

HALLOWEEN

DIY Sheep Pumpkin made with Poly-Fil Polyester Fiber Fill | spotofteadesigns.com
Zombies Team Halloween Costumes - made with Cricut, vinyl and paint! | spotofteadesigns.com
DIY Rain Cloud Costume using Poly-Fil from @FairfieldWorld | spotofteadesigns.com
Goonies Halloween Party - Unique Dessert Table that features movie Easter Eggs | spotofteadesigns.com
Spooktacular Teacher Halloween Thank You Tag and Gift Idea | Spotofteadesigns.com
Shop the Spot of Tea Designs Amazon Store front | spotofteadesigns.com

Amazon Associates Disclosure

Tara Nehil is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.

To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

LATEST GRAMS

What's creepier than a creepy doll? A creepy DISAS What's creepier than a creepy doll? A creepy DISASSEMBLED doll! This DIY project was one I created years ago for a client and all it took was a trip to the thrift store for a bag of dolls, some paint and shopping my house for glass vases and jars! 
.
Give it a try for your Halloween party!
.
.
.
#spotofteadesigns #craftersgonnacraft #makersgonnamake #painting #halloweenparty #halloweendiy #diyhalloweendecor
Here's your sign to find a crafty friend who also Here's your sign to find a crafty friend who also likes to make @cricut crafts with you and pair up to create Halloween costumes for your kids teams. 
.
The 7 sets of costumes we've done together:
- Dalmatians
- Gatorade 
- Jack o'lanterns 
- Dr Seuss Things
- Lifeguards
- Chick Fil A 
- Skeletons
.
#spotofteadesigns #craftersgonnacraft #makersgonnamake #halloweencostume #htv #DIYHalloweencostume #softballlife #softballmom #craftfriends #cricutcrafts #vinyallthethings
HEY YOU GUYS! I cannot believe I never shared this HEY YOU GUYS! I cannot believe I never shared this Goonies Halloween party on my blog! I styled it back in 2017 for a no longer around site that sold party supplies and I loved every minute of it! I love styling things where you can really dig into a theme, especially for a movie I watched so many times. 
.
Scroll through these shots to see all the hints to this nostalgic rewatch
.
.
.
#spotofteadesigns #halloweenparty #halloweentreats #trickortreat #desserttable #halloweendesserttable #craftersgonnacraft #partyinspo #makersgonnamake #goonies #gooniesneveversaydie
It's time to break out the @cricut and get some Ha It's time to break out the @cricut and get some Halloween crafting done! Stay tuned!
.
.
.
#spotodteadesigns #makersgonnamake #craftersgonnacraft #cricutlove #cricutmaker #cricutcrafts #halloweenwearables #vinylallthethings #halloweencrafts
DIY Rain Cloud Halloween Costume with Poly-Fil fro DIY Rain Cloud Halloween Costume with Poly-Fil from @fairfieldworld AD
.
See all the step by step photos, get a link to the exact umbrella I used, grab the free raindrop template and see how to use Poly-Fil both outside and inside this craft to make a DIY costume for a meterology lover!
.
.
.
#spotofteadesigns #FairfieldWorld #PolyFil #PolyfilwithJoy #diycostume #diyhalloween #diyhalloweencostume #raincloud #meterology #craftersgonnacraft #makersgonnamake
Tips to using a t-shirt ruler guide: - Press your Tips to using a t-shirt ruler guide:
- Press your shirt first to get out any wrinkles and moisture
- Lay down your tshirt ruler at the top neck
- Lightly fold your vinyl piece in half to find the center and center it on the guide
- REMOVE the guide before your place your press cloth and heat
.
Comment GUIDE if you want a link to this helpful vinyl t-shirt accessory.
.
.
.
#spotofteadesigns #irononvinyl #vinylallthethings #siserna #cricutmade #cricutcreated #diytshirt #craftersgonnacraft #makersgonnamake
Follow on Instagram
2025 © Spot of Tea Designs
made by soulmuse