Caswell County Meteorite

Caswell Meteorite

Locality— Caswell County

This stone fell at 2 p. m. on 30th January, 1810. It was  described by Bishop Madison (of Williamsburg, Virginia) as resembling other meteoric stones, especially the one which fell at Weston, Connecticut, in 1807. It was not only attracted by the magnet, but was itself magnetic. Whether the stone is still preserved anywhere and who possesses it is as little known as anything further with regard to its characteristics.

Literature—'Gilb. Ann., 41, 1812, 449; Chladin, 291; Buchner, 27; Kerr App., 56; Min. and Min. Loc., p.13.
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So far as can be learned, twenty-three meteorites have been  reported as found in North Carolina. Facts with regard to these  have been collected under many disadvantages and with great difficulty. A complete list of references in scientific literature has proved an impossibility; still a great many such references  are given. It is also impracticable now to trace all of the possessors of portions of these meteorites. They have been divided often into many pieces, and widely scattered. Only occasional clues to their whereabouts can be gotten at the present time. One fact is made apparent, and that is, that nearly all have passed out of the State, not even fragments being preserved here.

It will be noticed that, with the exception of one from Nash County, all of the reported meteorites have come from Western  North Carolina. That many of these came to the light at all  has been due to the intelligent energy of General T. L. Clingman, to whom the State owes so much already for bringing to notice her minerals and other possessions.

It has been thought best to include in this list all reported falls and finds. In the case of all proved to be non-meteoric, or  about which doubt exists, note is made under the proper heading. If these doubtful ones be eliminated, as well as those not belonging properly to the State, the number is reduced to about twenty. There is doubt, however, whether the number should  be as great even as this, as there is cause for thinking the Madison County, and, perhaps, some of the Buncombe county finds  may belong to the same fall. Still the number is large when we bear ia mind the comparatively small number of recorded meteorites for the whole earth. Huntington in his catalogue (1887) places the number at 424.

Source: Venable, F. P. "A List and Description of the Meteorites of North Carolina." Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society, Vol. 7, No. 1 (January-June 1890), p. 41.