Petoskey Stones

 

We offer beautiful Michigan Petoskey stones in unique little display jars or as pendants.

Petoskey stone is a rock, often pebble-shaped, that is composed of fossilized coral.  These stones were formed as a result of glaciation, where sheets of ice plucked stones from the bedrock, grinding off their rough edges and depositing them in the northwestern (and some in the northeastern) portion of Michigan’s lower peninsula. It is the official state stone of Michigan. 

Petoskey stones can be found on various beaches and inland locations in Michigan, with many of the most popular Petoskey stone beaches stretching from Traverse City to Petoskey, along Lake Michigan. They are fragments of a coral reef that was originally deposited during the Devonian period. When dry, the stone resembles ordinary limestone but when wet or polished, the distinctive mottled pattern of the six-sided coral fossils emerges. 

The stone was named for an Ottawa 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. 

The movement of the frozen lake ice acting on the shore during the winters turns over stones at the shore of Lake Michigan, exposing new Petoskey stones at the water's edge each spring.