Another great place to take the kiddos on a weekend is Fossil Park, located in an abandoned quarry in Sylvania.  Fossil Park is an unusual destination for travelers who are interested in rocks, quarries or mines. The park contains some of the best fossils from the Devonian period in the world; diggers can easily find corals, brachiopods, echinoderms and trilobites. Visitors are allowed to break the fossils from the soft shale and keep any fossils that they find. No tools are allowed.  I have taken my kids and they thought it was alot of fun.  You can take shovels and pails I believe and also an old toothbrush to brush off your treasures that you find!

About Fossil Park

Travel back in time 375-million-years ago when Northwest Ohio was a great sea teeming with life. Experience that reality today at Fossil Park in Sylvania, Ohio. Fossil Park is one of just a handful of parks of its kind in the nation, and the Sylvania area is one of only two prime Devonian Era sites on the entire planet. Visit Fossil Park and search for these world-renowned fossils in an ADA-accessible 5-acre rock quarry in a safe and controlled environment.

TOPS prohibits tools of any kind in Fossil Park. The Devonians come from Hanson Aggregate Midwest’s large working quarries a mile south of Fossil Park and are already in shale soft enough to break with your bare hands.

Bring a brush to assist in cleaning your fossils, as well as something in which to carry your buried treasures home with you. An egg carton is excellent for smaller children, and a milk jug with the top removed but handle intact is great too. See the links at the bottom of the page for information on the fossils you can find and even cut-outs to put inside egg cartons for your kids.

Pets are not allowed down in the fossil pit, though they are allowed in the parking lot and on the bike trail that circles the pit.

Admission is FREE! Parking is FREE!  The fossils you find are FREE!

Fossil Park Hours:

     May 29 to August 29:            8:30am to 8pm

     August 30 to September 6:    8:30am to 7:30pm

     September 7 to 30:               8:30am to 7pm

     October 1 to 17:                   8:30am to 6:30pm

On WEEKENDS from May 29 to October 17, a staff peson will be at Fossil Park. They will be there to answer your questions and help you find fossils.

Staffed Hours:

     Saturdays & Sundays:           11 am to 5 pm

     Memorial Day, May 31:         11 am to 5 pm

Fossil Park is located at 5705 Centennial Road, Sylvania.