Amity, Town of Warwick, Orange Co., New York, USA

Ref.: The Minerals of New York City & Its Environs, New York Mineralogical Club Bull., Vol. 3, No. 1, Manchester, J.G. (1931): 63. This locality lies on the northern extension of the Precambrian Franklin marble belt into Orange Co., NY.

The Town of Warwick, New York, covers approximately 104 sq. miles. Amity, along with Edenville, is among many unincorporated areas within the town. Amity is approximately 2 miles west of Edenville and these locality designations represent essentially the same area. Virtually all the minerals listed for the Amity – Edenville area are derived from the Franklin Marble. Amity is near the center of the marble outcrop belt but Edenville is actually east of it in country underlain by Paleozoic dolomites and slate. I suspect the name that got put on old lables depended on how the collector approached the area. If one came from the Franklin, NJ area there was probably a tendency to arrive at Amity first. If one came by way of the Village of Warwick the route to the collecting area passed through Edenville.

This area has attracted collectors since the early 19th century. Since the landscape is generally gentle and outcrops are small and scattered it was originally a “stone wall fence” locality. A few outcrops that yielded unusual mineral assemblages, such as vesuvianite or large spinels, were thoroughly excavated with gunpowder. In the present era the area is gradually suburbanizing and so exposures are occasionally available in the foundation excavations for the new McMansions.

The mineralogy of this classic area, and of the Franklin Marble in general, has received some attention in the past 35 years. The geological environment of the Franklin Marble and its associated rocks is gradually coming into focus. Major advances in the understanding of this area have recently been made and investigations are ongoing.

Ref’s: Kearns, L.E., 1978, The Amity Area, Orange County, New York. The Mineralogical Record, V. 9, pgs 85 – 90.

Kearns, L.E., 1977, The Mineralogy of the Franklin Marble, Orange County, New York. Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. of Delaware, 211 p.

Volkert, R.A., Zartman, R.E., and Moore, P.B., 2005, U – Pb Geochronology of Mesoproterozoic Postorogenic Rocks and Implications for Posty-Ottawan Magmatism and Metallogenesis, New Jersey Highlands and Contiguous Areas, USA. Precambrian Research, V. 139, pgs. 1 – 19. (and references therein)