When we take a vacation, I tend to search for months beforehand to get idea of things to do in the area. We try to do something new every time we go. Topsail Island, NC is our go-to beach spot. We’ve been going for years. So after so many years it’s harder to find something “new” to do. Don’t get me wrong we still have our favorite, must-do things, but we like discovering and exploring.
I guess because of the search I was doing, a blogger article came up in my facebook feed about the Aurora Fossil Museum in Aurora, NC. It looked like something interesting, it was free, and the “dig pits” were a big draw (also free). When I mapped it I found it wasn’t too far out of the way for a stop on our drive back home from Topsail Island to PA (relatively speaking).
Getting there involves going through some beautiful rural areas. The town of Aurora was much smaller than I expected but the Aurora Fossil Museum’s dig pits were active. As we pulled into the parking lot we noticed license plates from Wisconsin, South Carolina, and other states so we were not the only out-of-state visitors.
The museum is free (but donations are accepted). While the museum itself is small it had a lot of interesting fossils and info on the area. The staff was very friendly and helpful. They have a museum store where you can purchase souvenirs, fossils, gems and minerals, and digging supplies if needed. They also sold bottles of water. They have a guest book that they encourage visitors to sign. Currently they have had visitors from 48 states. Last update on the Aurora Fossil Museum facebook page was they haven’t had visitors from Iowa or North Dakota. That was as of July 2024.
My daughter couldn’t wait to get out in the dig pits. We did take a plastic beach shovel and a ziploc bag for findings. However, things went a lot smoother when we bought a sifter and a decent hand shovel in the shop. My daughter found a sharks tooth within 5 minutes. I found one myself after about 10 min of digging. There were lots of fossilized coral too. There are multiple dig pits so you don’t have to worry about being elbow to elbow with people.
We spent about 45 min in the dig pits and came home with a few pieces of fossilized coral, a cute shell, and about 6 sharks teeth from at least 3 different species. They have helpful visual charts up at the dig pits to help you identify what you might have found. The museum staff encouraged us to bring items into the museum too if we needed help identifying.
Next to to the museum was a little shop that advertised ice cream and a few other treats. We did not venture in but it was available and would be a nice treat on a hot day. Less than a mile from the fossil museum was a little restaurant called Frank & Shirleys. Though it was small they had plenty of staff, a big menu with a nice variety of options, and the prices were great. My daughter ordered a soft shell crab meal, I ordered a greek salad with chicken added, hubby got a club sandwich, and my son got their hotdog special. My daughter got a brownie for the road that was huge. For the 4 of us to eat including tip and the brownie it was only around $52. So a budget friendly place to eat after the museum visit.
Frank & Shirley’s restaurant in Aurora, NC has a facebook page where you can see their menu and daily specials.
Things to know before you go
- Take a sealable container with you to collect your dig treasures. Ziploc bag or jars work great.
- a garden trowel or small shovel is handy as the plastic beach hand shovel we have wasn’t really cutting it.
- Have some kind of sifter to sift through the dirt made it much easier to find the sharks teeth through the rocks and dirt. The holes need to be a decent size. The plastic beach sifter we had did not work. They do sell them in the museum store for about $6 if you don’t have one that works.
- I have Consumer Cellular for my cell phone service which runs off of AT&T and T-Mobile towers. Google maps got us there but once in the town I had ZERO cell phone service. Only SOS mode available We had moments of 1 bar of service so I was able to get it enough to pull up the map for the area on my phone to find Frank & Shirley’s. Once at Frank & Shirley’s we were able to pull up the wifi from the Dollar General to get Google Maps up and running to get back out of town. Just keep that in mind that you’ll either need to remember your way out or do the same if you’re not familiar with the area or have the same cell service I do.
- If you don’t want to spend any money I’d suggest packing a lunch as places to eat were limited in the town. There is a gas station not far from them museum as well if needed.
Summary
I’m glad we took the time to stop. I think it was such a great experience and something not everyone has seen. It’s possible to get away with not spending any money at all for this fun side trip if you plan well. I would encourage a donation to the museum though as it is such a nice resource and draw for the little town. The staff were all great.
I would not make this your only destination if you’re driving more than an hour to visit as the museum really only take about a half hour to get through if you really look at everything though you could spend as much time as you want to in the dig pits.
I would add this to your itinerary for travel on the NC coast if it’s not too far out of your way, especially if you have younger kids. It’s a great way to get the kids out of the car to learn, move, and expend some energy. I would definitely consider stopping again as part of our itinerary.
