GULF SHORES — Gulf State Park celebrated National Fossil Day for the second year in a row with a day packed with events from a DIY fossil exaction to examining Alabama sea monster fossils.

The day started with a Gulf State Park (GSP) history hike where Chloe Drexel, environmental educator with GSP, walked attendees along Gulf Oak Ridge Trail while sharing the park's history, from prehistoric to modern. She also spoke about plants within the park and their use throughout time.

Next, Nancy Tuttle, a GSP naturalist, presented Alabama's geological history and reviewed the periods of time from the early Paleozoic to the more recent Cenozoic. Tuttle also spoke on the state's rich fossil record and the variety of fossils found throughout the state.

Later in the afternoon, attendees were taught about fossil evidence of Alabama's sea monsters, how many recent fossils are unidentified and many discoveries are yet to be made.

Then, the DIY fossil excavation where kids — and adults — had the opportunity to try their hand at paleontology by doing their own dig and identifying what they found.

To wrap up the day, GSP hosted Andrew Gentry, a paleontologist who specializes in Alabama fossil turtles. He spoke on the recent discovery of a new sea turtle species, Ueloca colemanorum, as well as the research and naming processes.

Drexel said National Fossil Day is held Oct. 15 each year. Originally, it was only celebrated by national parks but now is recognized by science centers, state parks and other places.

"This is our second year celebrating it within the park, and I totally intend to do it again next year," she said. "I will put it on the calendar."

PREHISTORIC GULF STATE PARK TO NOW

During the cretaceous period, about "60-something million years ago," the world was a lot hotter than it is now, causing higher ocean levels compared to our standards. Drexel said fossilized corals have been found as far north as Birmingham.

Despite scientists originally thinking it was a reptile, Alabama's state fossil, Basilosaurus cetoides, is an early whale species that lived in lower Alabama during that time.

About 30 million years ago, dinosaurs were living in Alabama, from marsh dwelling herbivores to close relatives of the t-rex like the Appalachiosaurus montgomeriensis.

Millions of years later, the sea level shrank to several miles lower from our shorelines today. Species like the American mastodon, wooly mammoths, sabertoothed cats, giant ground sloths and giant beavers could be found in the area. Drexel said a mastodon tusk was found off the coast of Florida by a diver a few years ago.

"There's record of people being in Alabama as far back as 14,000 years ago, which is crazy. That's at the tail end of the last ice age," she said. "Alabama looked a lot different during the ice age. Temperatures were cooler; we didn't have snow caps that we usually think of being the ice age, but we had lots of different creatures."

In more modern history, indigenous tribes settled in the area and used many local plants, which can still be seen in the parks today, in ceremonies and wellness practices. Later, European settlers came to the area and established fishing and farming village areas.

Shell Middens, basically ancient trash piles of shell scraps, tools, broken dishes and pottery, can be found throughout the Gulf Coast area. These piles "tell us that people were here."

At the end of the Great Depression, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a New Deal organization for young, unmarried men to travel the country and work, were building throughout the country. In the early 1930s, the CCC came to the area to establish what is now Gulf State Park.

They put in the original road that cut through the park as well as some primitive cabins, trails, a ballroom, banquet hall and the "casino" general meeting space, which was not for gambling. The CCC also cleaned up the beaches and the area surrounding Lake Shelby. The park officially opened in 1939.