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State

Fossil sites in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania's two accessible fossil sites are modest by comparison to neighboring states, but both offer collectors a local option without crossing state lines: a free Devonian marine pit in the center of the state, and a Carboniferous plant exposure in the west.

Tightly folded limestone beds exposed across the face of a roadcut at Corriganville, Pennsylvania
Photo: Jstuby at en.wikipedia, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Montour Preserve Fossil Pit near Danville exposes Devonian marine limestone where collecting of trilobites, brachiopods, gastropods, and crinoids is free and open to the public. The pit is maintained as part of a broader nature preserve. Productivity varies with recent digging and weather, but the site consistently produces identifiable material across a range of Devonian invertebrate groups. Bring your own tools. Hammer and chisel work is permitted.

The Ambridge area in western Pennsylvania exposes Carboniferous-age plant material from the Pennsylvania System, the geological period named for the state's coal-bearing strata. The plant exposures are best treated as a viewing site rather than an active collecting locality. Neither site approaches the output of Ohio's Caesar Creek or Maryland's Calvert Cliffs, but both are within a day's drive for collectors based in Philadelphia or Pittsburgh who want to find something locally.

5 fossil sites

Updated 4 August 2026

Part of our national guide to the best places to fossil hunt in the United States.