One of the best places for fossil hunting in Minnesota – a place where you’re actually permitted to keep some of the fossils you find – is Quarry Hill Nature Center near Rochester.

Quarry Hill is a popular park and nature center just outside Rochester.
Brenda Willhite/Google
(Although it’s a beloved park today, the area has a creepy history.)
Folks visit the park year-round for its many trails and forested hills.
Juniper Hall/Google
One of its best features is its nature center and “Exploration Hall.”
M Miraz Hossain/Google
Inside, kids of all ages will find all manner of interactive displays and exhibits.
Bryan McCarty/Google
These range from live animals, like the nature center’s resident snakes and northern saw-whet owl, to furs and bones for touching.
Jack Phillips/Google
The dinosaur bones are especially popular.
Tyson/Google

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One of the biggest draws, however, is the nature center’s exhibits regarding the region’s fossil history.
Joe Allison/Google
Almost half a billion years ago, the site where the nature center is located lay at the bottom of a shallow sea.
The quarry for which the park is named exposed the sedimentary limestone that was once the seabed.
Quarry Hill Nature Center/Facebook
Visitors today are able to see the many fossils that evoke the teeming sea life that once lived here.
Many types of fossilized coral, such as sunflower coral, are visible in the rock.
Quarry Hill Nature Center/Facebook
Brachiopods, of which several varieties are in evidence, are also common fossils at Quarry Hill.
Quarry Hill Nature Center/Facebook
Fossil hunting is permitted at Quarry Hill, and you’re allowed to keep any fossil that fits in your hand.
Quarry Hill Nature Center/Facebook
With the ample resources available at the nature center, you can learn all about how the animals of today become the fossils of tomorrow.
Quarry Hill Nature Center/Facebook

Visit Quarry Hill Nature Center’s website for programs, hours, and more information about fossil hunting. Have you visited Quarry Hill? What are some other awesome places for fossil hunting in Minnesota?

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Featured Addresses
Quarry Hill Nature Center, 701 Silver Creek Rd NE, Rochester, MN 55906, USA