Looking to do a fossil hunt in NH, ME, or VT

[Quinntails]

Hi all! New here so apologies if this isn’t formatted correctly or anything. I’m new to this and really want to do a fossil hunt with my family, I live in the sea coast of New Hampshire and could travel about 2 hours in any direction, I also have a house in Warren Vermont and could do the same travel time from there. Does anyone have any tips on places? Preferably easier for a beginner fossil hunter. Any tips on what tools I would need would be greatly appreciated as well. Thank you!

[Jeffrey P]

Unfortunately there aren’t any easy places to hunt for fossils in your area. If you’re willing to travel to Newport, RI or up to Northern Maine where it borders New Brunswick, or out to the islands in Lake Champlain there are fossils there, but sadly, none of those areas are “easy.” If you’re  willing to travel to New York, New Jersey, PA, or Maryland there are sites there where fossils are easy to collect. Good luck, whatever you do.

[Paul1719]

When I retired and was looking at potentially where to live, I ended up nixing NH for reasons that may be all to obvious to you now….(I'm in CT). They don't call it the granite state for nothing. 

[Misha]

I spent a good portion of this summer in NH. The state itself is pretty much completely devoid of fossils. Though there are some interesting mineral sites you can visit if you're interested in that. As said above Lake Champlain has some fossils, Ordovician in age, probably the closest you have in those 3 states, more on the NY side though probably than the Vermont side. Maine has some Silurian fossils, but those are on the Eastern part of the state, quite a drive from your area.

 

You might want to look into the Carboniferous fossils around MA and RI, they are probably the closest you'll find to your area. Otherwise, NY is probably the best place for fossils in the Northeast and it will also be the easiest to find good spots and info on online, the other spots will require a lot more research 

Edited October 29, 2023 by Misha

[jpc]

good info from all the above folks.  Pretty non-fossiliferous in most of New England.