The Middlesex County Museum and Historical Society located at 777 General Puller Highway in Saluda has a new display of fossilized bones and shells on loan by a local resident. Fossil “hunting” has always been interesting along the shores of the Piankatank River near the site of an 1800s trash dump.
Items from near the old dump have blended with a Miocene-era layer of soil, so fossilized bone fragments from more than five million years ago have emerged there, along with much more recent bottles and similar items. There are small whole scallop shells and a clam casement. A natural gypsum crystal, fossilized shark and horse teeth, a portion of a whale flipper and other finds have also surfaced.
The museum welcomes visitors 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays. Admission is free.
For information, call 804-758-3663.
