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Spotsylvania County

Goodwin Mine

Goodwin Mine (inventory spelling Goodwyn) sat on "Gold Hill" near today's Lake Anna State Park country and was among the nation's better-known gold producers in the 1830-1849 era.

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Known for
Major antebellum producer; often called third-largest U.S. gold mine 1830-1849
County / quad
Spotsylvania County · Belmont
Local name
Gold Hill (near modern Lake Anna)
Inventory
MRVID 171A-804 · MRDS W00451 (listed as Goodwyn Mine)
Site type
Quarry / open pit on file; reclaimed status noted

Spotsylvania County remembers this ground as Gold Hill. The mine most people call Goodwin appears in Virginia Energy records as Goodwyn Mine.

Gold was reported here by the late 1820s. Through the 1830s and 1840s the operation was one of the better-known producers in the eastern United States, part of a dense cluster of workings in what is now the Lake Anna area. County and park histories still point visitors to the old mining story along Pigeon Run and nearby ridges.

The inventory lists open-pit / quarry-style workings on the Belmont quadrangle, a handful of acres, and a reclaimed status on abandoned-mine records. That makes Goodwin a strong research and orientation pin: open the map, compare neighboring historic markers, and study how streams leave the old Gold Hill landscape.

Access: Lake Anna State Park and surrounding private land have their own rules. Historic coordinates are for study, not a free pass to dig. Check park regulations and land ownership before you go.

Related historic mines

Sources

Historic mines Field Note · Virginia gold map