Fossil Sites near Blacksburg VA

[cabes234]

Hello, I am going to be spending most of my summer at a biological research station near Blacksburg Virginia. I was wondering if there were any good locations to go fossil hunting within a relatively short drive. I know about the Lost River site and other places in that area but I was wondering if there were any sites closer by, I have a good amount of experience fossil hunting in the northeast and mid Atlantic but am very unfamiliar with the area so any info would be very appreciated.

 

Sincerely, Caleb.

[historianmichael]

Jasper Burns's "Fossil Collecting in the Mid-Atlantic States" describes a number of sites in the area, including one just outside Blacksburg 

[shark57]

The Jasper Burns site near Blacksburg is a place called the Luster's Gate which is about 10 minutes away. I went there a couple of times (should have gone more) nearly 50 years ago when I was a student at Tech. In an hour or so of collecting I would find a couple small trilobites and some graptolites. I happened to be in the area last year and stopped there for about half an hour. The shale from the roadcut is still there but it is quite weathered and fragmented. I didn't find anything that day, but if you have time to look longer you might do better than I did.