Cross-Country with Gernot

Big Bone Lick

So, this sounds like the punch-line to an off-color joke. (That's why I took the photo, of course.) After some research, though, I discovered that this is in fact a major paleontological site, on the same order as the La Brea Tar Pits. Thomas Jefferson sent Clark (of Lewis and Clark) to Big Bone Lick to carry out the "first organized vertebra paleontology expedition in the United States." For more info, see the official National Park Service Big Bone Lick page.

My favorite Big Bone vignette: some bone specimens were sent to Jefferson's house, where an overly helpful servant promptly ground them into fertilizer.

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