Aurora Fossil Museum

Cute little place we've been to Aurora a few times in the last 5 years. It's a great place for a day getaway. They people are so nice. The small museum is very insightful and educational. They have great options in the gift shop even stuff to buy if u forgot anything like a sifter or a shovel. There are 3 areas to dig, it's clean, right down town, and plenty of parking and seating to eat if you bring a nice lunch. If your looking to do something new, unique, to get away, and enjoy some quiet this is just right for you.

Wow! What a treasure! This was our first visit after hearing a lot about it and we can’t wait to go back. The 2 men working the gift shop/museum were super friendly and knowledgeable. Everyone we talked to in the pit was also very nice and respectful. I would suggest packing snacks and drinks because you won’t want to quit!

Had a great time with our 2 boys 4 & 11 . Went on a day trip & had a great time finding all kinds of great fossils/sharks teeth . The gift shop has some really cool stuff as well . The museum has some amazing megladon teeth .

My family and I loved it! Very small, and kind of in the middle if nowhere, but the fossil pit was great and the guy in the museum was very friendly and knowledgeable. You WILL find lots of shark teeth and other fossils. Yes, megalodon teeth have actually been found in the pits! Would love to see this place expand as it has potential to be something fantastic. Worth a day trip from the OBX!

Update: The last pic is a display my daughter made of some of the shark teeth and fossils we found on our trip to Aurora!

Absolutely enjoyed our first outing at Aurora Fossil. They have 3 separate areas for you to explore to find fossils and an awesome exhibit of teeth, bones, history, and geographic measures of how these are located, found, and still lay.
This museum is free along with pit searching. They do rely on donations- so if you do go for a daily outing, be sure to bring some cash or your card for a fair and even exchange for both parties.
They also have some pretty cool things in their gift shop, including meg teeth you can purchase for your forever collection!
I mean, look at all I found in 5 hrs of searching!
Over 300 shark teeth, alligator teeth, shark vertebrae amongst other vertebrae, and some BONES! I love finding bones.
They have small sifters they sell on site, and after searching with both my hands and a borrowed sifter from another goer for a bit, I've found that sifting does help you not miss some of the bigger teeth.
As an avid hounder for gems, minerals, and fossils, I adore what this little museum along the aurora streets has to offer. Can't wait to come back again! There's another tooth in that gift shop with my name on it 😉

We make the drive out to Aurora at least a couple of times a year. The museum has a lot of neat things, and digging for fossils is SO much fun!

This was such an awesome experience! We were visiting from philly and staying in beauford and took the 90ish min drive to the museum. Definitely take the route with the (free) ferry. Why not its free and fun just check out the ferry times if you're pressed for time (I think its like every hour and half hour... Google: ferry schedule cherry branch)

The museum itself isn't large, BUT it is VERY interesting if you are into sharks and marine fossils.... if you're not... oh well, go across the street and dig in the dirt 😅

No litterally .... go across the street to the (free) dirt piles, and you can spend hours there just digging through a million year old rubble that is locally mined and dumped there for everyone to find amazing fossils!

The museum sells digging and sifting gear if you don't bring any... if you want to bring some from home you'd want a small gardening shovel and sifter. Everyone was sitting on the dirt... but it hurts so maybe they have thicker skin than me... I knew I was coming and bought a cheap Walmart Yoda mat so I could sit on it and by the end I was laying flat bc it is soooo much easier to find the shark teeth that way. I wasn't finding any until I laid flat and my face was closer. The teeth are very dirty and just look like ..well.. rocks 😆 bring a little spray bottle with water to tell for sure. You will know immediately if it is a shark tooth or not 🤣. Also a TONNNNNN of coral. Lots of people were discarding it as rocks but I personally love fossilized coral and bleach (deluded) to bring it back to a white color. I

Don't forget the buy stuff at the museum store. It's run by the nicest folks ever!!! It's free but I highly advise to give a donation or buy some of the cool stuff they sell... and for a very fair price! The mugs are pricey but hand made and they sell all sorts of fossils and identify sheets for just a few bucks. Definitely buy the $2 shark teeth ID sheet. It's easier than Google I promise!

Oh.. and if someone leaves their digging area bc they can't find anything... dont waste your time digging in their hole lol I saw so many people doing this- wasted time and energy and get frustrated and leave! Find an undisturbed area and try there... or one of the many piles in the park!

Happy hunting!

What a fun place! Great for the whole family! When we arrived, we noticed people sifting through dirt in an empty lot. The knowledge staff told us they were digging for fossils, and we can try our luck for free. Inside, there is merch available and a mural depicting the mining project that supplies the material to dig. The next room displays thousands of shark teeth, sand dollars, clam shells, scallops and tons of other sea life. Then there is a cutaway depiction of the mining operation that is a couple miles down the road. There’s also a video explaining the mining operation and the company’s commitment to re-vegetation to leave the land as they found it. It’s worth the trip. We will return soon.

Visited in 2013, Excellent family destination. If you want to learn about shark teeth & fossil history of the eastern USA this is the place to go. The museum is superb. The on-site dig area is fun. Pack a picnic and spend the day. Small town, Big experience.

Great little location with a friendly staff and free entry. The star of the show is the large pit outside the museum where you can sift for shark teeth, shells, and other ocean remnants. There’s a bathroom inside the museum, but no easy food or drink locations, so pack a lunch. The museum sells sifting trays which are invaluable and reasonably priced.

A few hours of sifting between two adults and a couple of kids netted about two hundred teeth.

Donations are welcomed, and I recommend dropping in a few bucks for the experience.

Getting to see the Aurora fossil museum while at North Carolina Fossil festival was a treat.

The Museum is smaller but tells the story of the area and the mine and has a lot of great megalodon and prehistoric shark fossils.

It's definitely worth a visit especially if your at the festival!

A wonderful place to explore both indoor exhibits and an outdoor fossil digging pit! Definitely worth stopping by, even to just go to their little shop before the exhibit. FREE ADMISSION TO ALL!

A great fossil museum with a lot of information on eastern North Carolina fossils and geology, and an excellent outdoor fossil hunting area. I drove out here from central North Carolina for a day trip, and I couldn't have been more pleased with what I experienced.

The museum itself is free of charge to enter. The exhibits are well displayed, and they have many different specimens from the local area, namely the phosphate mine. There are modern species on display as well that can be compared to their ancient ancestors. They also have a section on the phosphate mine and on the local geology, which helps explain why there are so many fossils in the area and how they are being discovered.

There is a gift shop in the entrance of the museum that sell a variety of things to help raise funds, from museum merchandise, to toys, and fossils from around the world, including local fossils that were donated by visitors. They also sell little wooden framed sifters at reasonable prices, and even sell little bags of fossil material that you can take home and dig through. There are restrooms located here as well.

The fossil pits are located right across the street next to a park with plenty of shaded seating. It is free of charge to dig; however, they do ask that you follow the rules and also check in at the gift shop before you start digging, as visitor counts are very important to small museums such as this one. The pits are filled with fresh material from the mine at least twice a year. Even after months of guests digging in it you can still find plenty of wonderful fossils, including small shark teeth, coral chunks, and small shells. However, if you are patient and fortunate you can find some fairly great fossils as well, including medium to large teeth, vertebrae and more. I know that they replinish the pits around May, during their annual fossil festival.

There are a few local stores around, but the local restaurants are a few minutes away by car. I do recommend the local restaurants, as they have good food and good service. The park across the street seems to be a good picnic area as well if you prefer to pack a lunch. Most nearby lodging seems to be outside of the town, but the local traffic isn't bad, so it might be a fairly decent drive.

The staff are very friendly and knowledgeable, and are happy to answer and questions about local fossils or geology. I myself brought in quite a bit of fossil material from Holden Beach to try and learn more about it. They were not only able to help me identify a few fossils, but ended up teaching me quite a few things about them as well. They were very kind and patient as we went through all the fossils I brought in. They also taught me about some other local and public fossil hunting sites.

All in all, I had a wonderful time, and I definitely feel like this day trip was worth it. I'd definitely recommend this museum to anyone interested in fossil collecting or paleontology. I know I will be coming back myself in the future

We spent the day at this awesome place yesterday and had the best time! We spent about 3 hours sifting through the "sunny" pit and found 62 shark teeth, some of which were quite large. The museum across the street is very nice and informative as well. If you love looking for teeth/fossils, definitely go! Highly recommend!

Superior service and staff. Informative, knowledge, cares about the heart & history of Aurora. Lots of digging sites for a no-cost family adventure that is unique to your time spent together. Reasonable gift shop, can find many raw Earth stones here for sale to take home, & they make excellent/unique gifts for all occasions. Highly recommend!

We absolutely love the Aurora Fossil Museum and Fossil Pits! Our family of 5 (kids ranging in age from 3-9) has been there several times and highly recommend it for families. The fossil pits are really fun for all ages to dig and search for shark teeth, bones, and shells. And the museum is a great little place to learn all about the history of the fossils.

Great place to find tons of prehistoric shark teeth and lots more! They sell sifters for as low as $8. You’ll need a strong metal spade shovel, not full sized. There are 2 pits that they dump sand into on a regular basis from the nearby phosphate mine. We found 1300 shark teeth and ray plates in 2 half days. Bring a stadium seat because it’s hard to sit on all the shells. It’s like walking on the moon. We kneeled on life jackets. Bring a pop up tent or beach umbrella because the sun feels brutal in that spot. There is one pit that gets afternoon shade. You’ll want a container for all your teeth! Great to make crafts or jewelry!

We went to the festival. The kids were able to dig for sharks teeth and we found 2. We went to the museum and it was pretty cool actually. The museum is very small but lots of really neat fossils. It's interesting to see the size of the sharks teeth up close and personal.

Awesome place to visit! I loved the full dentition displays of the different prehistoric sharks. I also enjoyed the explanation of how the meg teeth ended up where are from a geographic perspective. My wife loved sifting for fossils outside, and we found a bunch of prehistoric sharks teeth. Would strongly recommend visiting!

Until four days ago, I didn't even know this place existed. The museum was easy to locate, and the parking lot was directly across the street. Museum staff is pleasant and knowledgeable. They were very friendly and didn't seem to mind answering questions. Admission to the museum is free. There are donation boxes located in the museum. I bought a sifting screen from the museum and proceeded outside and back across the street to mine for fossils. I had an old plastic shovel and would recommend that you use a metal garden trowel for easier digging. I had a blast sifting for sharks teeth and look forward to going back.