New Museum opening in East Tennessee

East Tennessee State University is opening a new museum this summer - just off Interstate 26. Soon, fans of fossils will be able to get a nearby fix, without having to go out west!

Discovered by a highway construction crew in 2000 during a road widening project, the Gray Fossil site was determined to be from the late Miocene in age (between 7-4.5 million years ago). This is the only Miocene site in Appalachia.

The road was rerouted to avoid the fossil site, and money was appropriated for a museum.

The 33,000-square-foot visitor's center will be adjacent to State Route 75 less than two miles from I-26 in an area that does not intrude on the dig site. The location of the visitors center provides easy access to the site for travelers from the region.
The center will include storage space for the fossil collection, a preparation lab, a museum, an education center, and a workshop for display construction and assembly of the fossils.