About Dinosaur State Park
In 1966, a bulldozer operator preparing land for a Connecticut state building uncovered a row of three-toed impressions in red sandstone. The construction site was sitting on one of the largest dinosaur trackways in North America, preserved from a lakeshore roughly 200 million years old.
Scientists identified thousands of tracks across the site, many attributed to a large predatory dinosaur represented by the footprint name Eubrontes. Instead of removing every print, the state protected the original surface. About five hundred tracks remain exposed inside a huge geodesic dome.
Another roughly fifteen hundred prints were deliberately reburied to protect them for future research. That decision leaves an entire hidden landscape beneath the ground outside the exhibit center. Inside, visitors look down onto the actual stone surface crossed by Jurassic animals rather than a recreated display.
The surrounding arboretum extends the prehistoric theme with conifers, ginkgoes, magnolias, and other plant families connected to ancient eras. Trails, geological displays, casts, and seasonal activities explain how tracks form and what movements can be reconstructed from spacing and direction.
Why it’s weird: A routine government construction project uncovered a dinosaur highway, so Connecticut built a giant dome over the footprints and buried hundreds more for safekeeping.
Visitor info: The grounds and exhibit center keep different schedules, and the center is usually closed one weekday. Check the official park page for hours, admission, special programs, and temporary closures.