Fossil Sites Near New York City

[gjb6774]

Hello -

I'm very new (today) to the site and hope this is the correct way to post. I live in Westchester (just north of NYC)and am a fossil collecting/hunting newbie. I was wondering if anyone was aware of any sites near NYC. I've seen several posts about the Penn Dixie site but was wondering if folks have uncovered more.

Thanks, Gary

[Fossildude19]

Hello Gary and Welcome to the Forum.

Link # 1

LINK # 2 - look at the NY list, and remember - old info - prone to being totally out of date and quite possibly no longer accessable.

Google - Little falls NY for Triarthrus trilos.
And a place called Trilobite Mountain in Port Jervis, NY.

I cannot impress how much google helps me with my location searches. If you need further assistance refining your google skills, please feel free to PM me and I can give you a hand. Also searching the forum is usually productive as well.

Welcome again.
Regards,

[xonenine]

Welcome.

I've been checking out Rt.9 lately, and Bear Mtn./Hudson River area some for this season.There are numerous cliffs, mines, and deep road cuts that sound like good sites, and there was prolific mining in your area, Anthony's Nose is the name generally given to a roughly 8 sq. mile area that once was home to hundreds of working mines.Many appear to have left tailings that can be rummaged through, though reported to be quite pyritized and mineral stained, same w mineral collection.Have fun, Carmine

heres a nice site describing alternatives for a longer day or overnight trip in NY fossiling.com

Edited January 19, 2011 by xonenine

[fossiljunkie]

i know you said new york but besides new york you might want to check out the big brook new jersey site. monmouth county new jersey is very close to the city.

check out this link

http://www.njfossils.net/cover.html

[piranha]

Greetings and Welcome to TFF from Oregon!

Try this LINK listing numerous fossil collecting sites in New York. This is a great resource sorted by county and identifies the fossil types of greatest interest. Scroll to the right for the GPS coordinates. Even if you don't have a navigation device there are free online GPS visualizers that can be utilized for a printout. Here's another great LINK to the NY Paleontological Society. Networking with folks like you're doing here will give you the best results and hopefully eliminate any 'dud' outings for you. Most importantly .... always try to verify that the site you're going to is accessible and productive for collecting especially if you have to do a lot of traveling to get there.

Good Luck and please post any photos or updates of your success!

[gjb6774]

Thank you all so very much for the quick responses and wonderful information. I can see this site is going to be a wonderful resource and I hope, one day, I can have enough knowledge to help a newbie like I am now.

Gary

[gjb6774]

Oh...and thanks for the NYPS info. I actually found that site over the weekend and the check is in the mail.

Gary

[erose]

hey gjb,

Unfortunately your immediate area is very poor for fossils. I lived in Hastings-on-Hudson for 8 years and NYC city before that. It was always frustrating that I needed to travel at least an hour to go collecting. I had really cool chunks of bedrock coming up in my backyard but it was all metamorphic. I was a member of the NYPS for many years and you will probably see my name attached to field guides they still use. I wrote many of them and led trips as well. Folks have given you several good leads on the closer sites. For me I always found Big Brook in NJ as the quickest fix when I had a Jones. From hastings I could be there in just over an hour (traffic pending...) Big Brook (Cretaceous) is fun and you are sure to go home with fossils. The next choice would be upstate NY. You can get up to the Schoharie Valley (Devonian) and back in a day and bring home great fossils. The NYPS will have trips to both most years. A little further north of Schoharie there are numerous road cuts along US-20 starting at about Sharon Springs that expose more Devonian stuff. Many of them are good collecting.

But with that said you can find some exposures closer to home in the Mid-Hudson Valley. There are Ordovician, Silurian and Devonian rocks exposed in places from Schunnemunk Mountain up to Catskill and further north. But all are scattered small exposures. You will have to do some exploring on your own. So much land is private or a state park (NO collecting) but diligence can pay off. The Catskill Mountains can also be good but the layers with fossils are generally thin and separated by 100's of feet of barren shale and sandstone. If you go west into the Finger Lakes those formations become very productive. And a two or three day trip out to Penn Dixie and 18 Mile Creek is well worth it when the weather is nice.

The state museum/geological survey has good maps to help along with other publications. In particular get this: http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/pubsforsale/detail.cfm?pubID=5173 It comes with a state geo map.

Have fun.

ERose

[gjb6774]

Hi ERose -

I have to tell you. The first two days here have been absolutely amazing with so many people offering up more help than I could imagine. Thanks for the info and I'll keep an eye out for your name...I just sent the NYPS a check today and am looking forward to their field trips. Appreciate the lead on the book too.

Again...thanks so much!

Gary