Where Can You Find Petoskey Stones in Michigan?
Not too long ago my wife Lori went to Petoskey, Michigan for a family get together and basically told me how beautiful it was and how much fun they all had searching for Petoskey stones.
By the way, the Petoskey stone is Michigan's state stone and generally can be found along the shores of Michigan's lower peninsula.
I know this sounds crazy, but I've never seen a Petoskey stone or for that matter held one in my hand. Now I'm on a quest to find one or maybe a dozen of them.
So what is a Petoskey stone? According to michigan.org:
The Petoskey stone is fossilized pre-historic coral fossilized rugose coral, Hexagonaria percarinata. Distinguishable by its unique exoskeleton structure, a Petoskey stone consists of tightly packed, six sided corallites, which are the skeletons of the once-living coral polyps.
Okay all of that information just went over my head. My goal is to find a Petoskey stone or several, and then maybe add them to my rose bush garden which is surrounded by unique little rocks.
I've talked with many friends who have told me that the best place to find Petoskey stones is along the shores of Lake Michigan.
And that's exactly what my wife and I are going to do next week during our anniversary getaway. We're going to Petoskey, Michigan for a few days and we plan on spending time not only walking the shores of Lake Michigan, but walking and searching for Michigan's state stones.
By the way, there are rules when it comes to hunting rocks of any kind. Michigan.org tells us this:
When hunting rocks of any kind, it's extremely important to be aware of any state or federal regulations. According to the Michigan DNR, you are only allowed to remove 25lbs of stones per year. If any Petoskey Stone weighs over 25lbs, the DNR has the right to remove it.