Petoskey Stones

In the Petoskey & Charlevoix area, the basic rule is that anywhere you can find access to the beach can be a good area to find Petoskey Stones. It is only fitting to start your search at the Petoskey State Park. It is actually a great spring, summer and fall activity. The State Park is 6 miles SE of Harbor Springs on M-119.  We also have  many other beautiful beaches to choose from. Zorn Park, Magnus Park, Michigan Beach and Mt. McSauba to name a few.

Early Spring is a good time to look for the stone after the ice has melted along the shore. Each year as the ice of Lake Michigan breaks up and the wind shifts the ice back and forth, it pushes a new crop of fossils to the shore. During the summer months the best time to look for the stone is after a wind storm or during a mist rain when the stones will show the fossil pattern more clearly.

To give you a little history of the Petoskey Stone, they are actually fossilized colonial corals. Their origin is traced back to the Devonian Period, 355-415 millions years ago. The Petoskey Stone was made Michigan's official state stone by Governor George Romney in 1965.