Dinosaur State Park Field Trip
Dinosaur state Park has the largest set of dinosaur tracks on a single layer of rock in the world. The park is located just outside of Hartford CT in Rocky Hill. It is the only fossil display site in the Northeast and attracts thousands of visitors each year. The park afforded our class the opportunity to examine the tracks of creatures that ruled the earth over 200 million years ago. The tracks are from the Eubrontes dinosaur, a close relative of the half-ton, meat eating Dilophasaurus.
The park's famous prints were discovered by a construction worker during the excavation of the area for a state highway building. The worker uncovered a sandstone formation that housed 1,500 dinosaur tracks. The area was soon declared a national landmark and further development of the area ceased. A year later, 500 more tracks were discovered and the park began to blossom. It has grown from 6 to 66 acres, with over one and a half miles of nature trails, a butterfly-drawing garden, a garden of plants and flowers from Asia and Europe, and a swamp. It is definitely one of Connecticut's most treasured natural attractions.
The park's telephone number is (860) 529-5816.
 Students enjoying the pleasant summer weather aboard the ferry that took us from Port Jefferson, NY to Bridgeport, CT. |
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Students compare their shoe size to that of the dinosaur imprints. The fossilized tracks contain both positive and negative relief tracks. The positive relief tracks are raised relative to the rock unit while the negative relief tracks are depressed. This is due to the filling of the imprints that were left by the dinosaurs. |
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