Beautiful Petoskey Stones Formed Through Glaciation Over 350 Million Years Ago

MessageToEagle.com – The beautiful and unique Petoskey stone is Michigan’s official state stone. The stones were formed over 350 million years ago through glaciation during the Devonian period.

The name Petoskey originated late in the 18th century and comes from an Ottawa Indian Chief, Chief Pet-O-Sega. The city of Petoskey, Michigan, is also named after him, and is the center of the area where the stones are found.

According to legend, Petosegay was a descendant of French nobleman and fur trader, Antoine Carre and an Ottawa princess.

Petosegay, meaning “rising sun”, “rays of dawn” or “sunbeams of promise”, was named after the rays of sun that fell upon his newborn face.

Petosegay was a wealthy fur trader who gained much land and acclaim for himself and his tribe.  In time, he met and married an Ottawa Indian princess.Carre with whom he had two daughters and eight sons. He became known to the Indians as Neatooshing. Later he was adopted by the tribe and made chief.

In the summer of 1873, just a few years before the death of Petosegay, a city came into being on his land along the bay at Bear Creek. The site was a field overgrown with June grass. Only a few nondescript buildings existed. The population was no more than 50 or 60. The city was named Petoskey, an English adaptation of Petosegay. Thus they honored someone who gave his land, name, and the heritage of “sunbeams of promise”

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More Cool Science Facts

This remarkable stone is rock and a fossil, often pebble-shaped, that is composed of a fossilized rugose coral, Hexagonaria percarinata. Hexagonaria percarinata consists of tightly packed, six-sided corallites, which are the skeletons of the once-living coral polyps. The center of each polyp was the mouth and contained tentacles that reached out for food. The hexagon shape of each cell and thin lines radiating out from the dark “eye” in the center are distinguishing features unique to this fossil. In a roundabout way they also helped determine its common name, Petoskey.

The Petoskey stones are commonly found on beaches and in sand dunes. The most popular place for hunting Petoskey Stones is a Lake Michigan beach. It is said that the best time of year to find these tones is spring, after the sheets of ice have churned things up and uncovered specimens that they have pushed against the shore.

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