Fossils in Northwest Georgia

Northwest Georgia's Paleozoic sedimentary rock hosts many fossils from Cambrian through Pennsylvanian (late Carboniferous) time. Black shale in waste dumps near abandoned coal mines may yield Pennsylvanian plants; most other fossils are marine, including trilobites, crinoids, and brachiopids.

Please respect private property when collecting fossils!

Durham Road mine dumps

Atop Lookout Mountain, east of Cloudland Canyon, Durham Road connects Georgia Highways 157 and 189. About 0.6 miles (1 km) west of its intersection with Highway 157, on the north side of the road, a heap of black shale -- removed many years ago from nearby coal mines -- contains abundant Pennsylvanian plant fossils. In recent years, this site has been fenced and gated; it is no longer accessible to the public.
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I-24 roadcuts

Connecting Chattanooga and Nashville, I-24 traverses extreme northwest Georgia. Here and farther north (toward Nashville), massive limestone roadcuts offer convenient fossil-hunting sites. Drive and park carefully!
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Shale banks

At many roadcut banks in tan Conasauga shale, you may find fingernail-size trilobites.
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Taylor Ridge roadcut on I-75

On I-75 southbound approximately 1 mile south of the Ringgold exit, a massive benched roadcut exposes Ordovician and Silurian strata. In Ordovician limestone near the north end of the cut, you may find brachipods, bryozoans, and allegedly cephalopods (although I didn't see them.)
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Lowe's, Fort Oglethorpe

On Ga. Hwy. 2 in Fort Oglethorpe, Ordovician limestone has been blasted to construct Lowe's building supply center. Fragments lie in a loose slope behind the building. Fossils -- like those at Taylor's Ridge -- are abundant and obvious in the rubble.

• Georgia Geologic Survey Bulletin 62, Contibutions to the Paleontolgy of Northwest Georgia
• The Georgia Conservancy's Guide to the North Georgia Mountains