I am excited to be named as the new editor of Rock & Gem and am honored by this opportunity to guide this wonderful magazine into its next 50 years. I could spend this letter giving you all my credentials for this job, but that’s really no fun. Instead, I’d like to share my own Show and Tell like you’ll find on pages 24 -25 of this issue.
Over the summer, I spent a day with my family on South Bass Island just off the shores of Lake Erie. The island is best known for the town of Put-In-Bay, an ideal place for leisurely exploring via golf cart. Just down the road from main street is Heineman’s Winery. Wineries are fun to visit, but usually not of geological significance. Heineman’s though is different. It’s a winery that survived prohibition and thrives today, in part, because it’s sitting on top of the world’s largest geode -a tourist attraction that people will pay money to see and kept the coffers flowing when the wine couldn’t.