Local Good News: Gray Fossil Site

One of the local stations, WATE has picked up an AP story that the state of Tennessee is set to buy land next to the Gray fossil site, near Johnson City, Tennessee. The author writes:

The state is set to buy a tract of land next to the Gray Fossil site.

The Johnson City Press reports the parcel in Gray contains just over 14 acres.

Site museum director Jeanne Zavada has been discussing the purchase since 2006 with the family who owns it.

Zavada says the Tennessee Board of Regents negotiated with the family, and the state will pay the appraised value of the property. It was recently appraised at $178,000.

The Regents are involved because East Tennessee State University operates the site where the current digs and the museum are located.

The fossil site now includes less than five acres.

Here is the website for the museum. My family and I visited the site a year or so ago and had a great time. They have a nice museum and active excavations of Miocene sediments on the grounds.

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