On our way home from the Jersey shore, we followed the Cretaceous Coast, from New Jersey to Maryland, and then visited an imaginative art exhibit of prehistoric creatures in Virginia.
Sharon Lyon
Editor, GeoLifestyle
Edelman Fossil Park and Museum, Mantua, New Jersey
Mosasaur bones have been found in the quarry adjacent to Edelman Fossil Museum.
Located in Mantua Township, New Jersey, the Edelman Fossil Park and Museum opened in April 2025. This educational and fun facility is affiliated with Rowan University and was partially funded by a gift from alumni Jean and Ric Edelman.
In addition to the exhibit halls, the museum overlooks a former quarry where you can dig for Cretaceous fossils.
Geology: The area is underlain by Coastal Plain sands and marls deposited along the shallow continental shelf.
The late Cretaceous (70–66 million-year-old) Navesink Formation underlies the 66 million-year-old Hornerstown Formation in the quarry and are the two main fossil-bearing beds. The K/Pg boundary is found within the Hornerstown Formation, preserving evidence of the global cataclysm at the end of the Cretaceous.
From the 1920s–2015, the Inversand Company quarried manganese greensand here for use as organic fertilizer.
Paleontology: The first mostly-complete dinosaur skeleton found in the U.S. was discovered in a marl pit in nearby Haddonfield, New Jersey, in 1858. Hadrosaurus foulkii is now the New Jersey State Fossil.
Paleontologist Edward D. Cope discovered a Dryptosaurus skeleton one mile from the museum site in 1866.
In the 1930s, Inversand workers discovered fossils in the quarry, and scientists investigated. Fossils of turtles, fish, mosasaurs, sharks, rays, and crocodiles have been found in the pit. Invertebrate fossils include corals, clams, brachiopods, oysters, snails, and sponges.
Visiting Tips: You can make a reservation online for the museum, the dig, and the Virtual Reality Experience.
The introductory film and the games emphasize the process of evolution.
The exhibit halls host full-scale replicas of dinosaurs, a mosasaur, and other reptiles.
There are interactive elements that you activate using your magnetic card, including games and a fossil scavenger hunt.
See paleontologists at work in the paleo lab, and explore the aquatic touch tank in Critter Cove.
Outdoors, a large playground called Pterosaur Pterrace has a huge pterosaur to climb on.
Take your coffee and snacks from the Quarry Grounds Café to the outside tables overlooking the quarry. Be sure to stop at Darwin & Co., the gift shop.
Dig in the Quarry: Pay for a 75-minute digging experience (May–October), and keep up to three Cretaceous fossils. Wear closed-toe shoes and be prepared to get muddy.
The Bottom Line: The museum is impressive—modern, interactive, and geared toward children—and was well worth our detour off the New Jersey turnpike.
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The Prince George’s County Dinosaur Park, located in Laurel, Maryland, has been called the most significant early Cretaceous fossil site on the East Coast of North America.
Geology: The dinosaur fossils are found in the 115-million-year-old Arundel Formation of the Potomac Group, a claystone and mudstone with siderite nodules.
The sediments were deposited in oxbow lakes, streams, and rivers that crossed a swampy area on their way to the Atlantic Ocean. The number of fossils of terrestrial animals suggests a freshwater fluvial environment.
The siderite was mined for iron in the 1800s. Miners first discovered dinosaur bones in the pits in 1887.
The largest dinosaur found in the eastern United States, the sauropod Astrodon johnstoni, was discovered in the park area. Astrodon is the Maryland State Dinosaur, its name meaning ‘star-tooth’ for the cross-sectional shape of its teeth.
The Arundel Formation also contains fossils of theropod dinosaurs, ray-finned and lobe-finned fish, turtles, crocodiles, small mammals, and pterodactyl tracks.
In 2022, a shinbone of Acrocanthrosaurus, the largest early Cretaceous theropod in eastern North America, was found at the park. The dinosaur would have measured 38 feet in length.
Visiting Tips: The park is owned by the Prince George’s County Department of Parks and Recreation, and is open on the first and third Saturdays of the month. Check the website for confirmation in case of inclement weather. Admission is free.
Visitors are shown examples of the fossils found at the park, and are then led into the fenced area in groups. Arrive at the start time to be among the first group admitted (opening time varies depending on the date: 10 AM or Noon, so check the website).
No digging is allowed at the park, but you can search for fossils on the ground. Any fossils found must stay with scientists at the park.
There is a dinosaur-themed play area for young children.
T. rex Evolved and Jitters (Caudipteryx) at the Scraposaurs Exhibit
Scraposaurs are imaginative, prehistoric animals crafted from scrap metal and found objects. They are currently on exhibit throughout the picturesque gardens of the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, in Winchester, Virginia.
Created by Minnesota artist Dale Lewis, an award-winning sculptor, there are fourteen creations to experience. They include:
Stanley, an 18-foot-long stegosaurus
T. rex Evolved, with teeth and ribs made from a John Deere rotary hoe
Woolly Rhino covered in 600 pounds of wire hair
Mother of Dragons, a pterosaur guarding her babies in a nest
Visiting Tips: You can pay at either the garden’s Gate House or inside the museum.
The gardens are beautiful even without the Scraposaurs, with ponds, bridges, an Asian garden with a tea house and statue garden. Multiple flower gardens, a vegetable garden, and an herb garden reminded me of Colonial Williamsburg.
There was a pop-up shop for drinks and snacks.
The Bottom Line: The Scraposaurs will be on exhibit until 19 October, so plan a visit if you are in the area. Afterwards, eat at Bonnie Blue for a taste of southern cooking.
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