Oklahoma Rose Rocks Stock Image

The Oklahoma state rock since 1968. No one really knows why barite roses are rarely found elsewhere except in the narrow Garber sandstone band east of Oklahoma City. The Cherokee legend of the `Cherokee Rose` is told that when gold was found in Georgia, the government forgot it`s treaties` and drove the Cherokee to Oklahoma. One-fourth of them died on the journey west. But God, looking down from Heaven, turned the drops of blood of the Cherokee braves and tears of the maidens as they hit the ground into stones shaped like a rose. This is why they are so plentiful in Oklahoma, the end of the Trail Of Tears.