If you are a fan of history and would say that, theoretically, you ‘dig the past,’ then now you can say that you ‘dig the past’ and mean it – literally. There’s a little-known park in North Carolina where you can dig for, and keep, the fossils you find.

The fossil park belongs to the Aurora Fossil Museum at 400 Main Street in Aurora, NC. Since its inception, it has been stirring up the interest of would-be paleontologists from all over.
Aurora Fossil Museum
The park is located right on Main Street directly across from the Aurora Fossil Museum. It may come as a surprise, but this small museum in a town with a population of a mere 550 residents had more than 17,000 visitors in 2017 alone. That's a lot of digging — and diggers!
Facebook/Aurora Fossil Museum
The museum is home to quite a large collection of its own, some of it procured from the very finds from across the street.
TripAdvisor/Barbara B

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Let's take a much closer look below at the pile of material in the park. The fossiliferous material is donated by nearby Potash-Corp Aurora. It is known to contain a multitude of fossils from the Miocene epoch extending from 23.03 to 5.333 million years ago.
Facebook/Aurora Fossil Museum
A day of digging in the park could be rewarded with the remains of ancient sharks, whales, bony fish, and coral, to name a few. What you find depends on you.
Facebook/Aurora Fossil Museum
You'll need to bring your own trowel, sifting device and plastic bag(s) to hold your treasure on the way home. Ehhh... you may also want to bring some wipes for your hands!
Facebook/Aurora Fossil Museum
You never know what kind of treasure you'll dig out of the park, but whatever you find you'll get to keep it forever.
Facebook/Aurora Fossil Museum

Have you been to the Aurora Fossil Museum and/or did you know about the Fossil Park? We’d love to know what fossils you dug up. Aurora Fossil Museum is located at 400 W Main Street in Aurora, North Carolina. They’re open Monday – Saturday 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. and on Sundays from March 1 through Labor Day 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Check their offical website for holiday closings and special announcements.

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