I was provided tickets in exchange for a post about our experience.
We love finding places to explore, and have been talking about going to Penn Dixie for years.
Located in Blasdell, New York, Penn Dixie is just south of Buffalo. We used Google Maps to get there, and had no problem finding it.
We checked in at a building at the front of the park. There is a lot of helpful information as well as items for rent or purchase. For example you can rent tools, and there are some souvenirs for sale.
We headed out to join a free informational tour. Our guide, Holly, was very knowledgable and took us to different parts around the park to show us a variety of fossils. She also helped us with tips about getting fossils out of rocks (more often, leaving them in the rock so they stay intact).
It was also nice to see samples of what we might find when we first arrived, and during the tour. We found a lot of horn corals (or as we called them, “Sorting Hats”), brachiopods, crinoids, and trilobites (or at least pieces of trilobites).
Just searching for a few minutes, I found a whole bunch of brachiopods and corals in one spot. No digging, no tools – just looking through the very top layer of soil.
There is no shortage of fossils, and they are always digging out new areas of the park.
One of the things we were looking forward to seeing most at Penn Dixie were trilobites. While we didn’t find a whole, intact trilobite, we found lots of pieces and imprints.
I also liked searching for crinoids, and found lots of segments of stems.
After exploring the park for a while, collecting a variety of fossils, we headed out.
We had an interesting time searching for fossils, and it was a fun learning experience for the kids.
We arrived mid-morning on a Saturday, and there was plenty of parking. There are also porta-potties in the parking lot.
What to bring:
~ be prepared for hot weather in the summer! Hats, sunscreen, water.
~ something to carry your fossils in (ziploc baggies work, and tote bags)
~ we brought tools, and you can also rent tools. However, we didn’t use too many, as most fossils were loose. You may want to try your hand at breaking up larger rocks to see what fossils may be present in the layers.
Visit Penn Dixie at
https://penndixie.org/
No way!!!! This is seriously cool! My youngest son would love to dig for fossils. I see a road trip in our near future.
I’m such a kid at heart. I know I would adore this!! I think that I would also enjoy watching young kids and making their discoveries! Awesome place!
THIS reminds me of when I was a kid and I would go to nature camps in my home state of WY. I loved it!!!
Never knew this place existed. This would be so fun for any age to go and find some really neat fossils and rocks. Great learning experience.
This is so neat! My kids would love to do this. They like to dig for fossils. I’ll have to see if there’s a place like this nearby.
My kids adore adventures like this. We went to Fairy Stone park in Virginia last year, and it was their favorite trip ever! They enjoy outdoor things.
This looks like something that my son would love. What a cool experience. I’m always looking for fun places to take the boys, this would be such a fun day trip.
How cool! My son would go nuts for all of those fossils!
What a neat place to spend an afternoon! I live in PA, so Blasdell wouldn’t be a terribly long trip. Definitely a weekend trip vs day trip, but totally doable! I love fossils.
Oh my goodness I want to go here! It looks amazing! I would love to finding those fossils, just wow! I had no idea there was somewhere like this.
I didn’t know that New York had any kind of nature. I’m a west coaster and never been before. I thought it was all just cememnt and buildings. Its neat to find stuff like this out in nature.
Thats a cool expeerience ever. I would love to visit that kind of beautiful spots too, to know and discover new things.
I’ve never heard of this place, it sounds like a great place for a family fun day. It would be so interesting to see what could be found and learn about it.
Now this is a place my kids would love to visit. They love finding things like this when we visit a new place.
My grandsons would love to look for fossils! What a fun experience!
Wow, now this is cool! My kids would love to visit, they’re all about learning about nature. Being able to discover fossils would be so cool.
Love the fact that you call the corals “sorting hats.” This place looks like tons of family fun!
Whoa those trilobites are so cool. This is something I would love to do and know my kids would too. What fun!
I loved fossils since I was a kid – this place must be paradise for kids like me!
My kids would love to dig up fossils and I would as well. This is definitely a family friendly place. Thanks for sharing.
What an awesome park and how cool. My kids would flip to go here!
i need to visit this place!! so cool!!
Now that is a place the grandkids would love. I have two that are so interested in science, I can see them searching this place from top to bottom for fun fossil finds.
I would have loved to visit there as a kid. I had a huge fossil collection!
How fun! My kids love finding fossils. When I was in 4th grade I remember going out to a river bed and searching for fossils and it left lasting memories.
you should come see the grand canyon. but he water already washed that stuff away.
I grew up on Lake Erie many years ago, and our beach was loaded with all these wonderful fossils. They were just sitting on the beach! I guess we never appreciated what we had, or we might have saved a few.