Quincy Area: Fossil Hunting in Gadsden County, Florida

Plan your visit

Generally open to casual rockhounding

County

Gadsden County

State

Florida

Nearest road

Porter Mitchell Road

Postcode

32352

Coordinates

30.67658, -84.55657

Coordinates are approximate. Confirm the exact ground in the RockHoundR app, where land overlays show which agency manages the area.

Land & collecting status

Generally open to casual rockhounding

Most public-tagged spots sit on BLM, U.S. Forest Service, or other federal land where reasonable hand collecting of common rocks and minerals is allowed. Confirm posted rules and active mining claims before you dig.

Access note: Search public rights-of-way, creek banks, and publicly accessible land; confirm status before crossing onto private tracts, which are common in the area. Petrified wood and other plant and invertebrate fossils on non-park state land need no permit.

Public-land rules vary by agency, season, and field office. The RockHoundR app pulls live BLM, USFS, NPS, and tribal overlays so you can see exactly which agency manages the ground at this spot.

Best time to visit Quincy Area

Comfortable months (45 to 90°F highs)

Best months: September to June. Typical highs run 91°F in midsummer and 64°F in midwinter, with winter lows near 40°F.

Climate normals: NOAA 1991-2020 monthlies, QUINCY 3 SSW station (9 mi away).

Geology at Quincy Area

This spot sits on Hawthorn Group, Torreya Formation, mapped as sandstone and limestone that formed roughly 16 to 12 million years ago. Limestone like this typically forms in ancient seas, so marine fossils such as brachiopods, corals, and crinoids tend to weather out of fresh exposures.

Mapped unit

Hawthorn Group, Torreya Formation

Age

16–12 Ma (Middle Miocene)

Rock types

sandstone and limestone

Elevation

210 ft

Geologic mapping via Macrostrat and the underlying state geological survey maps (CC BY 4.0). Bedrock at the surface can vary within a mapped unit.

Sources & verification

Spot details combine the public RockHoundR location dataset, normalized mineral labels, agency land-status checks in the app, and community submissions. Coordinates are approximate until verified in the field.

• Florida Geological Survey
• Florida Museum vertebrate fossil permit
• Florida State Parks rules
• Community submissions reviewed against published agency rules