Moving To The Virginia Beach Area

[Serack]

So I got a job at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, and have no idea if there are any fossil hunting opportunities in the area.

Anyone familiar with the area that might have some tips?

P.S. as my avatar implies, I have mostly had fun looking for Shark teeth, with the occasional ray, fish, and whale tooth thrown in.

[sparkchaser]

You'll be fine. Lots of opportunities within a reasonable drive.

[Serack]

You'll be fine. Lots of opportunities within a reasonable drive.

How do I find out where these opportunities are?

[Auspex]

The closest I ever hunted was Westmoreland State Park, around 3 hours north of Va. Beach (and now suffering from such restrictions to access as to not be worth the drive).

Here's a searchable link to a book that might be of some help, though it's 18 years old:

http://books.google.com/books?id=5rAnVerOI...;q=&f=false

It mentions sites on the York river.

[elbeau]

Looks like a great area, here's some things Terraphone found:

[Guest Smilodon]

So I got a job at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, and have no idea if there are any fossil hunting opportunities in the area.

Anyone familiar with the area that might have some tips?

P.S. as my avatar implies, I have mostly had fun looking for Shark teeth, with the occasional ray, fish, and whale tooth thrown in.

There are any number of places in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina to collect shark teeth, whale parts etc. on your own - Rappahannock (sp?) River, Potomac River, York River but access is limited. Westmoreland is still open to the public, I believe with restrictions. Stratford Hall (Potomac) was my favorite but they've gotten very collector unfriendly. George Washington's home (Potomac) never seems to get mentioned anymore, but I don't know if that's because of restrictions. Clubs can often get into places that individuals can't.

Unfortunately, since Jasper Burns' book came out, any mid Atlantic coastal plain collecting site has been hit very hard over the years. Back then he felt that he was helping out the few fossil collectors that were out there, but collecting has grown so much since then.

My suggestion to you is that rather than trying to go it alone, join regional fossil clubs for a year or two, find out what's up and then you can go it alone if you wish to.

Here is an interesting factoid - In Maryland you are only trespassing on someone's property if you are standing above the HIGH tide line but in Virginia you are trespassing if you are standing above the LOW tide line although you are generally ok if you are in water.

[MikeR]

Check out field trips sponsored by the Virginia Museum of Natural History. I have been on many of their trips to places such as the Chuckatuck quarry--the best fossil shell deposit north of Florida (Pliocene Yorktown), Carmel Church quarry for Calvert Formation shark teeth, and fossil boat trips up the Potomac, James, and Pumunkey Rivers. Most of the fossils are Paleocene-Pliocene marine so the usual shell, shark and whale material, but I have seen 6" meg teeth found and a really cool whale skull too large to collect. Also collected quite a bit of Cretaceous leaf impression on one trip near Quantico. Be prepared to shell out some bucks but if you join the museum you will get a little bit of a discount.