When finding fossils pays the bills
Great white and hammerhead shark teeth. Whale and dolphin bones. These are just some of the fossils you can find in the rivers of South Carolina — if you know where to find them.
Schuyler Andrulat knows where to look. She is the co-owner of Palmetto Fossil Excursions, a business she started after a lifetime of fossil hunting in Summerville, South Carolina.
“My mom actually had me strapped onto her chest in a sling, walking down the beach looking for shark’s teeth when I was a kid,” she said.
Last year, looking for a way to make some money, she started selling fossils and giving tours to people who wanted to dig their own. The business focuses on tourists and rarely locals.
“We typically don’t do tours for people that are from here unless we’ve done some extensive background research into who they are as a person,” Andrulat said.
With competition among local fossil hunters in the Summerville area, Andrulat keeps her favorite fossil sites a secret to prevent other locals from “pillaging” the area.
Click the audio player above to hear the full story.
This series only works with your help. Let us know how your economy is doing using the form below, and your story may be featured on a future edition of “My Economy.”
Stories You Might Like
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
