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Aurora Fossil Museum, Aurora, NC

Photo: RadioFan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.

Museums

Aurora Fossil Museum

A nonprofit fossil museum in rural Beaufort County, North Carolina, with a fossil park where visitors can dig for their own fossils.

400 Main Street, Aurora, North Carolina 27806 · Aurora, NC

About Aurora Fossil Museum

Founded in 1976 as a nonprofit science education center, the museum focuses on paleontology and the natural and cultural history of Eastern North Carolina. Its main building displays Miocene and Pliocene marine fossils, many collected from the neighboring phosphate mine, and includes a shark hall featuring the extinct giant shark Megalodon. A learning center across the way holds gems, minerals, a fluorescent mineral room, and fossils from around the world. Directly across the street, the Fossil Park contains two pits filled with mine material where visitors can search for shark teeth, shells, coral, and other ancient remains. Admission is free, though gift shop purchases and donations help cover operating costs. The museum holds a Fossil Festival each year on Memorial Day weekend.

  • #fossils
  • #paleontology
  • #shark teeth
  • #Megalodon
  • #phosphate mine

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