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County's watery past yields fossils
Purse park beach is home to tons of ancient teeth
Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2010
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by MEREDITH SOMERS
Diane Jurney of Waldorf and Parkville resident Lyle Peterson comb the beach along Wades Bay searching for fossilized shark teeth and dental plates from long-gone rays during the Aug. 28 Fossil Find at Purse State Park.
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Charles County has an entire department dedicated to the planning and managed growth of county land, but millions of years ago that division would have been moot.
Where sprawling farms and lush forests spread out in Southern Maryland today, sharks and rays and all manner of ocean life swam above the land when the county served as a prehistoric seabed.
Over the weekend, a handful of residents — and one northern neighbor — braved the hot summer sun to look for proof of that history during a fossil find at Purse State Park in Nanjemoy.
"Fossils are something people don't think they can find just anywhere," said Elena Bode, seasonal interpretive ranger for the Southern Maryland Recreational Complex-South. "The fact of the matter is, most people in Charles County are within 45 minutes of this and don't know it exists."
The "it" that Bode refers to is the park's beach along Wades Bay in Nanjemoy that is littered with fossilized shark teeth and dental plates from long-dead rays.
At one time, the area was covered by a shallow, warm water sea, Bode said. It was the perfect environment for large predators like sand sharks, tiger sharks, eagle rays and cownose rays.
"Each shark has multiple rows of teeth and they produce teeth their entire life," Bode said. "They probably go through 100 in their lifetime."
With millions of years of tooth loss, that means the Potomac River has built up quite the collection of dental treasures, and the banks of Purse State Park are the perfect place to find them.
"You can find shark teeth pretty much the length of the Potomac," Bode said. "This particular area is good because this beach is very white and you're looking for dark, shiny black objects."
Bode explained to the small group that sojourned to Wades Bay on Saturday afternoon that the best places to look for the marine fossils are right along where the tide turns.
"Tides can determine what you find. It can be calm or lapping quickly," Bode said.
Among the locals who followed Bode to the prehistoric treasures were Carol Wathen of Nanjemoy and her father, Larry Crandall.
"I like to do this kind of stuff," Wathen said. "It's fun to do something different. [This area] is kind of secret," like Elena said.
Both Wathen and Bode said they had been coming to this area since they were little. Bode has trained her eyes so well that even while walking and talking about fossils with the visitors, she has to refrain from finding too many ahead of the novices.
Lyle Peterson of Parkville came well-prepared for the fossil find.
Armed with an empty coffee canister and a sifter made from a bureau drawer and screening, Peterson joined Bode and Wathen as they crouched and strolled along the shoreline.
Peterson said he runs an elementary school forest program and has looked for fossils with his son before during the youngster's time as a Cub Scout.
Bode has run a series of summer programs aimed at getting children more involved with their outside environment. There were no youngsters on this particular adventure, but in a follow-up e-mail Bode said other programs will be scheduled for September and that the hope is to have a nature center at Smallwood State Park set up and running by next summer.
When asked about students' views of the outdoors, Peterson said that a lot of kids don't know the differences among wetlands, woods and meadows.
"In any group you'll get some that are very interested, some that are tagging along and watching the others and some trying to get lost and go home," Peterson said. "It's fun with the ones that are really interested."
If you go
The next Fossil Find will be at Purse State Park at 1 p.m. Sept. 25.
For more information, call 301-743-7613 or e-mail park-smallwood@dnr.state.md.us.
Directions: Follow U.S. 301 south to Route 225 West. At the intersection of routes 225 and 224, take a left on Route 224. Stay on Route 224 for approximately 15 miles. Purse has a dirt parking lot right along the road side. The trail to the beach is across the road from the parking lot.
