Cumberlandite, Iron Mine Hill

A dark, heavy, iron-titanium rock that is Rhode Island’s state rock, and essentially a four-acre lot at Iron Mine Hill in Cumberland is where it comes from. Traces of it were dragged south by the ice and turn up through the Narragansett Bay watershed as far as Martha’s Vineyard and Block Island, so a beach cobble is the realistic way most people ever hold a piece. It is not unique to Rhode Island in the strict sense, the other known occurrence is at Taberg in Sweden, but that is a very short list for a rock. Whether the hill itself is open to collectors is NOT documented, so treat it as look-only and ask locally before taking anything.