own backyard

Back in 2000 there was road construction in my county and while razing the route tons of bones were unearthed. The state archaeologist came in and declared there was something there. Then the governor got involved and decided to re-route the road. Then the state appropriated $8 million to build the Gray Fossil Site.

Most of what they found were tapirs, sort of a pig-like creature that's related to the horse dating back to the Miocene. Miocene sites are rare in eastern North America, so it's really something special to have in your own backyard. And they're always finding alligators which means that this part of Tennessee once had the same climate as Florida. There's tons of limestone in east Tennessee and the area where the fossils were found was once a huge cave system that collapsed and then became a watering hole (this happened over, say 10,000 years) which drew a variety of animals, several which died and were preserved in the moist clay.

symbolic watering hole

The museum opened last year, but it took some time for us to stop by. Its practically in our backyard and was in the news regularly, so we figured we knew all about it, so why bother to visit?  I took Wednesday off because Ian had the day off, a rarity. When he asked me what we should do, I suggested the Fossil Site. The neat thing is that with the excavations they've done since approximately 2000, they've only scratched one percent of the surface. The site could be dug in for another hundred years and still yield goodies.

The outdoors tour was kind of blah. Mr. Davenport took us over to a covered dig site. We stood and stared into a flooded pit. That wasn't so exciting, but the information that Mr. Davenport shared with us was really thrilling, if you're into fossils and discovery and identification of new species, like the red panda. Listening to him was great fun. He answered any question we had for him.

Once inside, we watched the short movie that gave the basics which I've shared with you. Then we walked around the exhibit hall which was so well done. I was really impressed. Most museums in our region were built in the 1960s, or earlier. And so their exhibits, displays, signage, etc. are terribly dated.

The lighting in the room was awesome, sort of dark and colorful which lent a sense of foreboding to the person walking through amongst all those skeletons. There were multiple interactive areas that appeal to children; drawers to pull out and touch screen computers allowing the guest to date particular animals on a timeline. Then the next room was brighter and looked more like a laboratory. There were about a dozen stations where you could sit, or stand, and look at how a turtle shell is pieced together.

tapir teeth/jaw in cool magnifying exhibit case

While Ian visited the bathroom, Mr. Davenport spotted me waiting in the lobby and  showed me a pre-molar and a juvenile tooth from tapirs that he found while walking the grounds after we left him. Seeing those items so up close and so recently after they were found was super neat. And that Mr. Davenport wanted to share them with us was a really special touch that you don't experience at every museum.

Comments

[del]

Cool. That's great that you're so close to it.

[deborah]

so fascinating, links to the past, to the earth and all that lived there and the fact that the climate has changed and the terrain and who lives there now makes for such wonder.

[Kel]

Cool! Might have to make that a stop for when we are home this fall. Looks neat!

[JC]

I'm a total geek for stuff like this. It sounds like an interesting museum.

[lla]

Thanks for posting about this - very interesting and very timely...

to make a long story shorter - Schecky doesn't want to go to Bays Mountain Camp this year. BUT - I still want to come to KPT. So he and I are coming up for a week (the date TBA) and "making our own camp" - so far I've got 2 things on the agenda: Bays Mountain Day and Gray Fossil Day. Still need to figure out 2 or 3 more "days" - any suggestions??? The Little Dudes post you mentioned elsewhere sounded intriguing... will have to look into that...

xo