Search the Community

Relocating to FL a couple of years ago from VA incensed me to start hunting shark teeth, and then lo and behold I discovered that I could have been hunting in VA too. I had heard rumors of teeth at Stratford Hall as a kid but never followed up on it. So I finally had a trip back to VA and a chance to rush out to the beach, last minute I didn't have much time to plan but what better place to hunt fossils than "Fossil Beach", right? The visitor center had a nice display to fan the fever... Well it was a bit different that I expected. I was surprised to find the grey clay material and not as much rock as I see in the "in situ" photos other send from the area. Obviously this wasn't the honey hole I was hoping but some determined hunting did keep me from being skunked.

Hello again! This post is going to lack detail for the most part, because I don't have much to give. All we really know about this piece is that my mother found it in the water at Westmoreland State Park, Virginia. At first glance it looked like it could just be the tooth from a cow or horse, but the shapes didn't seem to match, and the piece looks rather too old to be from something recently deceased. The last image is an extreme close up with a digital microscope, and gives a good glimpse of the texture, which is more rock-like now than tooth-like. Anyway, again, I'm not an expert, which is also why I've had to give up trying to identify it myself. If anyone has any input to provide, I'd greatly appreciate it! It will help put to rest constant discussion in the family about whether this piece is cool or totally nothing.

For my second ever fossil hunting trip, I figured I'd test out a different site, this time on the Potomac rather than the Bay. I read about many good sites (Purse, Westmoreland, etc.) but the one that seemed most attractive was Stratford Hall Plantation, just down the road from Westmoreland State Park in Montross, VA. Although it was nearly double the length of the drive to Brownie's, I'd say it was well worth it. Instead of venturing off on my own this time, I went with my dad, who wanted to share in the experience of my new hobby. We got on the road early in the morning to get there right as the beach opened. The site itself is fascinating and has a lot of history. It is the birthplace and childhood home of General Robert E. Lee. They offer extensive tours of the house and the grounds, and as much as I'd love to learn about it (and I do plan on doing so some time), this time around I was here for something much, much, older than the Lee family. The drive from the entrance of the plantation to the beach is very bumpy and confusing, but we eventually made it there alive. When we arrived to the beach, we were the only ones there as we had gotten there quite early. It's not a very large beach, and the restricted cliff areas are very clearly marked. We began sifting and combing through the shells and pebbles. After finding a few good sized teeth within my first couple minutes, I knew that this was a good site. My dad and I worked on opposite ends of the beach to cover as much ground as possible, and we both got some great finds. Throughout the day, the beach was near empty, with only a few others showing up the whole time. For the last couple hours we had the whole place to ourselves, and we were able to get some good sifts in before the beach closed at 4:00 p.m. We encountered some interesting wildlife as well, from a dead eel in the water that scared the living daylights out of me while I was wading, to a washed up dead bird (quite large, and looked a bit like a heron with stubby webbed feet). We weren't able to catch a low tide, so we didn't have a whole lot of beach to work with but for two people it was sufficient. It was also quite cold out, and the water was absolutely frigid, but that didn't stop us from having a productive day sifting for treasures! We managed to find quite a few teeth, mostly of decent size too! My finds are to the left, and my dad's are to the right. I should mention that my favorite tooth has to be that of Hemipristis serra, so that was one of my main goals. So you can imagine I was a bit disappointed to walk away without one...or so I thought! I didn't recognize them at first, but when I was identifying my finds later on, I found that the top left row of teeth are lower Hemis (including my biggest one, which is extremely worn down and ugly, but a Hemi nonetheless)! Although I'd much rather have an upper Hemi, these finds were great as well. We both found a good amount of tigers, both contortus and aduncus, some in fantastic condition. I have to say the black tiger on the far left may be my favorite tooth so far; it's nearly perfectly preserved! I also found a bunch of small Dusky and Gray shark teeth, as well as some Lemons. The larger one in the bottom left looked different than the rest, with its strange roots and all, so I had trouble identifying it. Help would be much appreciated. The shell I believe is the Virginia state fossil, Chesapecten jeffersonius. We found hundreds of fragments like this one throughout the day, but unfortunately this was the most complete specimen we found. Then, some more ray teeth, the leftmost being the biggest I've found yet. My dad had some great finds as well, including several baby upper Hemis, making me quite jealous. His best tooth is the top left, beautiful Sand Tiger with some nice cusps that he found on dry sand near the high tide line. He also found a tiny bony fish vert, in the bottom right. Overall, this was a great trip and I'm glad I was able to enjoy it alongside my dad. I think this may be a go-to site, as it seems quite reliable and would likely produce much better in nicer conditions. We got a good six hours of hunting in, taking a break midday during high tide. Stratford is a fantastic site for collecting, although keep in mind that they do charge you for entrance onto the grounds for the day, and the beach does close quite early year round. Looking forward to my next hunt, and I hope you enjoy the report. Hoppe fossil hunting!

I came across this little piece that I collected on a past trip but never did identify. Any chance it is a tooth ?

I found the pictured fossil on the Potomac River at Westmoreland. It is broken & worn, which makes me question what this is. Can anyone verify whether or not this is in Megalodon or another type of shark tooth? Are their features of this piece that makes anyone think one way or another? Thanks!

Getting back in the swing of things after a very hot summer in which i did little to no collecting. Headed down to Westmoreland for the day, hoping something good would be laying there. It was a beautiful day with minimal wind but the tide wasn't all that low due to recent rain, but water was clear and calm enough. Found a nice little mako that i was able to get a picture of before i picked it up. Also found a big chunk of bone that still had some matrix still on it, not sure what it is or what its from, if anyone knows anything feel free to chime in. On the way home I stopped at George Washington's Birth place to just walk around as i usually do. Thats when i came across these signs, it seems like theres been a problem with bull sharks recently. If anyone has a knowledge about that id love to hear it. There wasn't anyone down there at the time for me to ask. Enjoy! Boneheadz

See attached pictures, please. This is found on the fossil beach at the Westmoreland State Park. I thought at the beginning that it was a shell of some sort in the shape of a canine tooth so decided to save it for show and tell later. When I showed it to another fossil collector, the person thinks that it could be the tooth of a mammal because of its root. Please help us identify the unknown. Thanks in advance. Please click on the pictures to enlarge it. Also found some shark teeth/sting ray mouth plates around the same location. I thought the fossil beach at the Westmoreland State Park was picked through by now but I did find some good teeth as a first timer.

Headed out to do a little hunting and it was a gorgeous day out today. I got down to the water and immediately headed to my favorite spot. The water was high today, which seems to be coming a common theme. I haven't done a good amount of digging and sifting in ages, so i decided to put some work in. After about a half an hour of digging and finding some small teeth here and there, I came across a whale ear bone! It's the first one I've ever found so i was pretty excited. I kept digging and the only other find worth mentioning is a little beat up mako with a tip ding. I decided to take a break and walk the beach as the tide had dropped since first getting there. I was almost back to my sifting spot when i bent down to pick a little black mako that was laying on top in about 6 inches of water. Sitting right next to the mako was this little Meg. Its a little beat up but its still nice to find a Meg (keeps the spirit up). If anyone else hunts Westmoreland frequently let me know.I hope you enjoy the pics! Boneheadz

Set out for a two day expedition with my girlfriend down to Westmoreland SP to see what we could find. The first day was ok, finding a lot of broken teeth and some bone. The second day we cleaned house and my girlfriend found her first Meg. This excites me because hopefully this will keep her motivated to come fossil hunting with me haha. She really had a great day finding a couple beautiful makos, a meg, and a sweet upper sevengill tooth. If anyone could help me identify this chunk of bone that'd be great. Hope you enjoy the pics! Boneheadz

I had the day off on Thursday and after that storm we had on Wednesday night I couldn't help but go looking for some fossils. I got down there at sunrise and headed down to the beach, thats when i realized that the water was extremely high due to rain and the water was very murky. I didn't find much all day but i did make a friend who was new to hunting for fossils, said he hunts for gems and arrowheads. I ended up giving him most of my shark teeth and bones, in exchange he gave me an arrowhead and a piece of quartz crystal. So the day wasn't a total bust. I'll add some macro pics of some nice extinct tigers I found. Boneheadz

I had an opportunity to go down to Westmoreland twice this week because I was lucky enough to have off work. The first day I took my GF with me because she had off as well. The first day was pretty nice and sunny, the wind wasn't a factor that day so it was perfect for hunting in the water. Being down there only a short time I found one of the most beat up shamer megs I've ever found. Im not sure how it could've gotten this bad, but atleast it was a good sign. We found a few teeth that day including a decent little Snaggletooth. On the second day i went down by myself and found that the wind had picked up significantly from the previous day. I was limited to whatever was laying on the beach. Luckily, I was able to find a couple teeth including a beat up Mako and a nice upper snaggletooth. Here are some pics for you to enjoy. If anyone has any theories to what happened to this meg, I'd love to hear them. The inside of it is mushy and pretty much broke apart in my hand. Thanks, Boneheadz

Hey, i often hunt fossils in Virginia and Maryland and am primarily looking for shark teeth and other marine fossils. I frequent Westmoreland SP and Purse SP. Ive been hunting alone a lot lately and although I'm getting used to it now, I'd still feel more comfortable and enjoy it more if i had someone to go with. I mainly go during the week because less people are down there hunting. If anyone would be like to meet up, send me a message. Thanks, Boneheadz

Just a few of my finds from 2015 at Westmoreland SP along the Potomac river. This is my fist time posting and my finds include Megs, makos, a couple gator teeth and a complete Ray plate. I hope you enjoy. More pictures upon request.

A few weeks back on a Tuesday I took a trip down to Westmoreland State Park (Virginia) to scout for kayaking and fossil hunting spots on the Potomac river. I put in at the park beach shortly after 8am and paddled south-eastish into the rising sun along the "bluffy" coast. Temperatures were in the low 30's but the air was still and the boat quickly warmed up. After about two hours of paddling I put ashore onto an unposted beach and tried sifting in some gravelly areas in about 12 inches of water. I sifted for about 30 minutes and came up with three nice large fossil shark teeth (Isurus hastalis), a snaggletooth shark tooth (Hemipristis serra), other smaller shark teeth, eagle ray pavement teeth, a dermal ray scute, and other bigger bone fragments (i could use help with identifying).. I continued the paddle after stowing the fossils, eventually turned, and paddled back to the beach by late afternoon. On the way back, the rising tide obscured most of the really neat potential fossil spots I'd seen on the way out. Lessons learned.. hunt only on unposted beaches or at the low tide water line, watch the tides, remember to bring booties, and this place has a lot of potential.

Noob to the forum. First collected fossils in the Westmoreland State Park area on the Potomac (in Virginia) when I was a little girl and just recently started back up. Now I hunt with MY kids. It used to be a lot easier to collect there when you could walk under the cliffs at Stratford Hall. I hope to soon go on one of the private expeditions that are allowed to go on Stratford Hall property. That way I can collect from fresh falls before they are messed up by the tides. This year we paid for rights to visit a little private island called Hollis Island aka Shark Tooth Island and have had a LOT more luck than at Westmoreland. Problem is the fossils have had to travel to get there so they are mostly either broken or small. We still really enjoy it and make a day of swimming, hunting, and picnicing. My username is because the biggest tooth I have ever found was a from a crocodile, and I have only ever found ONE crocodile tooth. I was 18 and with a guy and didn't have pockets so I asked him to hold it for me. FORGOT. Losing that tooth bugs me to this day. Didn't get to go fossilling again for a loooong time, but now that I have started back up I have made it my goal to find another... and of course a Meg tooth. I mostly have makos, sand, and tiger. Always looking for "the big one". I also have lots of mammal bones and ray dental plates. Fossil hunting is soooo addictive. I keep wanting to find "just one more" and need another fix before I can bring myself to stop for the day. Here are pics of some of my more interesting finds finds from this past weekend, sorry for the flash inner ear bone from a dolphin my biggest shark tooth so far and the smallest (aren't they cute!? wonder how tiny the shark was?) the disc that grows in between bones of a mammal (not very technical, sorry). But I LOVE the pattern on it.