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Hi All, I thought I would share photos of a recent trip to Virginia over Labor Day weekend. We stayed in Colonial Beach, and had quick access to Stratford Hall and Westmoreland State Park. I was able to squeeze in 3 visits during the trip, once with the family, and twice solo. Friday 9/1 - Stratford Hall Had a late start, but the beach wasn't too crowded. Had the whole family in tow. My wife found a nice posterior Megalodon tooth and my daughter landed a a good looking Physogaleus tooth. I was happy to snag a complete tooth from a Odontocete. A woman with her son on the beach found a beautiful, complete Cow shark tooth. Was my mission to find a complete one, but only found a couple pieces. View of the cliffs from the beach. Area beneath the cliffs was off limits. Group shot of our finds from the day Some close-ups of the different fossils: Galeocerdo sp. (Tiger Shark)- This one washed up on the shore next to me while I was crouched, talking with my wife. Odontocete tooth Coprolite? or slag?

OK, I have read the posts about croc tooth versus mosasaur and croc versus alligator. Based on what I read, this could be a mosasaur tooth given the sort of “prismatic” ribbing and lack of any carinae or at least the lack of the two that are equidistant from each other. Anyway, I’m not an expert but would love some help from those more learned. Check out the pics. This is basically from the Calvert formation - but more specifically Horsehead Cliffs area from the water. Thanks for looking!

Please help me identify 2 unusual fossils I discovered November 2022 at Popes Creek on the Potomac River, Westmoreland VA. I have attached images.

Ok. Found this one in the Potomac River near Westmoreland State Park / Fossil Beach. It has some enamel toward the narrow end and in the hole. Never seen anything like it and would love some ID help.

Last weekend I went on a camping trip to Westmoreland State Park in Virginia, somewhere I had fossil hunted previously and found some cool bones like a dolphin vert. This time, I found several bones that I believe might be able to be identified. If anyone can help, it would be much appreciated. Thanks! All of the finds: A piece of whale bone, id'd through size: Rey Teeth: Continued in the next post due to upload issues

Hello, I found this some time ago at Fossil Beach in Virginia. Can anyone help me identify what bone this is and what animal it may belong to? Thank you! 3 Monkeys Mama

Hi all, I had a fairly productive first outing to Westmoreland State Park but I have no idea what any of the fossils I found are. I am happy to provide close-ups of any of the individual fossils, and in addition to the photos here, I posted some to imgur to get around the size restriction here. https://imgur.com/gallery/2uIedQS Thanks for your help!

My husband and I went fossil hunting today and would love some help identifying our finds. We were searching at Westmoreland State Park at Fossil Beach; it was our first time there. I believe the larger black piece is bone? And is the round piece a fossil at all? It has a hole completely through the middle- maybe a pipe stem? Thank you!

I found this yesterday at Westmoreland State Park in Virginia, which I think is Miocene stuff. Can anyone ID?

I got to make my first trip to Westmoreland State Park (WSP) today. I hit the beach around 1330 today (low tide was ~1430). As expected...it being a Saturday... the place was packed. Most of the traffic was on the first 1/3 of the beach, so I opted to walk about halfway down the beach and setup shop. I can't say that I had lofty expectations, as this was only my second fossil hunting trip. I was surprised to find my first tooth within about 10 minutes. I had multiple sifting sorts (or whatever you want to call it) that had 2+ teeth in them. One had three teeth. It was interesting to see how the teeth were clumped in a spot. I'd find 5+ teeth in a 4' radius in x < 5 minutes and then not find any for 15+ minutes while hitting an area a few times that size. For only two hours work...I was happy with the results. The bottom row includes some junk, to include a couple that I'm guessing are not teeth. Please disregard the amateur hour sorting. The largest one of the bunch. As far as condition...this little guy is the best one of the lot. The badly broken one here...is this a Mako? You can't really make it out, but the serrations on this one look really nice.

It was a little colder than we would have liked, but still had a fun time! Definitely going to have to return. We were there for a few hours, left just after low tide peaked. Found most of the stuff in one hole, decided to just keep digging it down and sifting with 1/4" mesh. Not the most productive day, but we also had a picnic which took a bit of our time away. Are the bits in the top right anything of note? They looked different so we decided to keep them.

I found this a few days ago along the Virginia side of the Potomac River along a miocene cliff. It's mostly if not all Choptank formation. Any ideas about a genus? Grid is in inches. Looks like maybe mature dolphin tailbone, but it's so small???

I found this scapula this weekend along the Potomac River in Virginia. It's a vertebrate. That's all I know for sure. Most of the cliff next to the beach where I found it is miocene marine, but the very top is pleistocene terrestrial. The grid is in inches.

Spent a cold, soggy day on a private trip along the Potomac yesterday. The mud was so saturated that we were sinking up to our knees where the sand met the mud at the base of the cliffs. It was totally worth it! Came home with treasures untold until I finish unpacking. I know there are some really nice whale vertebrae in there, including the one below. There are also a couple nice Ephora snails and what looks like maybe an echinoid -- really rare for the area if it is! My daughter found a couple snaggletooth shark teeth that are actually iridescent and blew me away! Here's a video report of the trip: Sorry I can't say specifically where this is. They are having problems with uninvited guests already.

Hi, I found these two odd items yesterday at Westmoreland State Park. Both were in the stream that feeds from the wetlands into the river. The "fang" type piece does appear to be hollow. The small black piece might just be a weird rock but kind of looks like a piece of scute (fingers crossed lol!). Thanks in advance for any help!

I recently found this at Westmoreland State Park (Virginia) near the Potomac River. It just looked weird to me so I kept it. I'm fairly new to fossil hunting so I am unsure if it is a fossil. Thanks you in advance for any help!

Hello Forum Members! I've been looking around this site for awhile, but just today finally decided to make an account! My boyfriend and I look for shark teeth all around Virginia and Maryland, usually always finding something to take home. We like to look for teeth and fossils in a variety of areas- rivers, bays, oceans, and creeks, wherever they can be found! We've been looking for teeth ever since we got hooked on vacation at North Myrtle Beach a few years back. We often look at public locations like Westmoreland, Chippokes, Purse, etc. Although those spots can become looked over, we more often than not find the biggest tooth next to someone else's footprint- it's always an exciting and fun trip. For us, it's the thrill of the hunt- around the next corner could be a giant meg or a beautiful blue Hemi! (which often makes it hard to turn around and go back towards the car) We find that the biggest problem we have in VA is public access. Maryland seems a bit better, but it is still tough without a boat! We are also just beginning how to identify where in Virginia it is possible to even find teeth. I'm joining the forum to connect with other fossil hunters and to learn more about the teeth/fossils that we find. As soon as we go out on another fossil adventure, I will post our finds! Attached are some personal favorites from our collection. Happy Hunting Everyone! -Sara

What a trip! I finally had the opportunity to visit the renowned Westmoreland State Park in Montross, VA. I had heard mixed feelings about the site online, with some claiming it was far too over-picked and others dubbing it reliable and productive. I decided the best way to find out the truth was to go there myself! My dad and I hit the road early to get there before sunrise. It was about a 2 hour drive. We arrived and expected to have to pay a fee to get in, but it appeared that no one was being charged. I guess there is only a fee during the summer months. We hiked down the steep trail to Fossil Beach to discover that a few had beaten us to the first spot. They, however, had only come for a short visit and were heading out just as we arrived. It was low tide, but the water was still high up the beach. My dad and I spent the first hour or so walking along the river in the water, which I typically don't do. But I was finding some great teeth! The water was relatively calm and very clear so I could see everything in the sand with ease. My dad went further down the beach while I kept a steady pace and picked up anything I could spot. After about half an hour spent in the water, I looked down a little deeper and saw a large tooth sitting on top of the sand, facing towards me. My heart skipped a beat and my first thought was "Megalodon", but once I picked it up I realized it couldn't be so. It was a very large Mako, rather. It's about 2 inches in slant height, and in great condition. Undoubtedly the largest tooth I've found in my fossil hunting career. After finding something so incredible, it seemed that the rest of the day was underwhelming in comparison. But I did manage some other nice finds. More people showed up at the beach as the sun rose and the air began to warm up. When someone came to me and asked if I was having any luck, I was more than happy to show them the huge tooth I had found. Many thought it was amazing. I also had the opportunity to explain the world of fossil hunting to an elderly couple who showed up and had no idea what everyone was looking for. I had a nice conversation with them and answered their many questions, then gave them a few teeth and got back to work. This is not the first time someone has come to me asking what exactly I'm doing pacing up and down the beach. I absolutely love to inform them when they ask. I eventually made it all the way to the border of the beach where the cliffs pick back up, where I picked up a cliff fall and carried it to a safe distance from the cliffs. I used my rock hammer to pick away slowly at the fall, but came away with nothing. The tide was getting really high and the beach began to disappear. I had to cross the stream that separates the beaches before it got too high, otherwise I would have been stranded. My dad and I decided it would be best to call it a day at Westmoreland and go grab some lunch nearby, but we weren't done hunting yet. Right down the road from Westmoreland State Park is Stratford Hall Plantation, the birthplace and childhood home of General Robert E. Lee. I have been to this site before actually, for one of my first fossil hunting trips ever. I convinced my dad that it would be worth it to go give Stratford a shot once we finished our lunches. We made the short drive and paid the entry fee then drove down to the beach for a few last hours of hunting. We were finding teeth in larger quantities than at Westmoreland, but nothing too large. It is interesting to see the varying frequencies of finds between the two sites. For example, at Westmoreland I only found two ray plates, while at Stratford I found nearly 30 of them, some large, and in less time spent hunting. Instead of beach combing like we did at Westmoreland, we sifted at Stratford for the majority of the time. We wrapped up the trip with one last walk up and down the small beach, then waved goodbye to the Potomac. The grand total of shark teeth found between me and my dad was 167. The finds are not as abundant here as some other local sites like Brownie's or Purse, but in terms of quality it is high end. We found some decent sized hastalis and Makos, and a lot of the usual Tigers, Hemis, Lemons, and Requiems. I found one tooth that I believe is the crown of an Odontocete but I could also see how it could be a small crocodile tooth because of its visible vertical ridges and the fact that it is hollow. I will be posting identification topics on that tooth and many others from this trip, because we definitely found a few strange things. Overall, a great day on the Potomac, and my first time hitting two sites in one day. I walked away with my biggest tooth and handful of other great finds. Thanks for taking the time to read my report. Hoppe hunting!