Castle Hayne 3-2012

On March 30, 2012 thirty-five members of the North Carolina Fossil Club took part in the annual spring collecting trip to Castle Hayne. This was the largest turn-out for the Castle Hayne trip ever! Once again we were blessed with beautiful weather and good hunting conditions. The overgrowth of the quarry can make it challenging to find areas to hunt but perseverance with a little sweat brought some great results. Due to the large turn-out, the group was split up with Linda McCall volunteering to take about a third of the group to the challenging Eocene hills. This area is not for the faint of heart due to the steep terrain but many great fossils can be found here. Linda McCall found another nice nautiloid in matrix, a Coelopleuris carolinensis echinoid and sawfish vertabra. Linda seems to find a nautiloid on every Castle Hayne trip! Todd Daughtry and his son Perry found lots of sharks teeth, Coelopleuris echinoids and sand dollars. Peale Chaung with his sons Austin and Jaiden found a C. ariculatus sharks tooth, crab material and sawfish rostral tooth. The Dombrowski’s – Claudia, Dan Allie & Loui found echinoids, sharks teeth and sand dollars as well as a Cretaceous croc tooth. I found a nice croc tooth as well. George & Karen Marrier and their daughter Trinity found a beautiful Linthia wilmingtonens echinoid that was perfectly clean with very little damage. A rare find!! Jeff Butterworth and Earl Guertin both found C. ariculatus sharks teeth. Earl also found two nice Squalicorax. Tracey Hale-Mayo found a crab carapace and claws, S. koerti sharks tooth, and a partial fish jaw. Joy Herrington found the nicest ariculatus sharks tooth of the day plus a nice assortment of teeth. Harriet Angelis, Kathleen Glielmi, Ralph & Ralph Brinton, Steph & Andrew Jeffries, Kathy & Hugh Rigby, Trish Kohler, Mike and Emily Bruff, the Troutman Family and Terry Denny also attended the trip. We owe a special thanks to Burnie Freas and the mine employees at Martin Marietta Castle Hayne.