Searching for Petoskey Stones is a national pastime in this neck of Michigan!

They can be found on various beaches and inland locations, with many of the most popular being those surrounding Petoskey and Charlevoix where we have been hanging out daily … and we have yet to find one!

A Petoskey stone is a rock and a fossil, often pebble-shaped, that is composed of a fossilized rugose coral. Such stones were formed as a result of glaciation, in which sheets of ice plucked stones from the bedrock, grinding off their rough edges and depositing them in the northwestern portion of Michigan’s lower peninsula. In these same areas complete fossilized coral colony heads can be found in the source rocks for the Petoskey stones.

In September 2015, a 93-pound Petoskey stone was removed from the shallow waters of Lake Michigan, near the city of Northport. Some three months later, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources confiscated the stone under a state law that disallows removing more than 25 pounds (11 kg) of materials from state lands. The stone is now on permanent display at an Outdoor Adventure Centre in Detroit.

Petoskey stone is the state stone of Michigan and it’s quite common to see them incorporated into decorative items. The garden stones pictured above are rather cute as they are made with Petoskey stones depicting the shape of the lower peninsula of Michigan (nearest the plants) and the elongated stones are shaped for the upper peninsula of the state!