Hicksville Gregory Museum

Spring cleaning at the HGM. Raked the front and side yards and picked up a lot of debris. That's what happens when one is situated on a traffic circle, all the trash blows our way. Thanks to all the board members and staff who showed up and spent this beautiful day working on the grounds. Much appreciated!

Podcasts Coming Stay tuned for more info.

The Stirling Islands/Outer Lands Archipelago The Hicksville Gregory Museum exists in Hicksville, NY; on Long Island; NY's largest island. But did you know that Long Island is part of an archipelago? Chartered as the 'Stirling Islands' in the 1600's, this chain of islands and one peninsula are all comprised of two main terminal moraines from the last glacial maximum{when glaciers were at their furthest extent}. Each of these islands are basically just piles of glacial deposit...s pushed south from the north. We know this thanks to 2 major glacial moraines that form the high ground to these islands. Both of which you can see marked in the overlay on a satellite image in image #2. You can also see the outline of these moraines in topography such as in image # 3. The Island(s) very soft glacial sands are also evidence of this, it is this extra soft sand that helps make Jones Beach one of the world's most popular beaches making it a popular tourist destination. See more

Attention Birdwatchers! Goshawks and/or Peregrine Falcons have been sighted resting and hunting from the trees at the Hicksville Gregory Museum on multiple occasions. While we have known of this for years now however now we have photographic proof!

Did you like our Selenite Post? More info about it is now available on our Patreon. Check it out!

Pyrite FeS2 Did you know it gets it's name from fire 'pyr' because when struck with certain metals it emits sparks. *(Don't try that at home, maybe when starting a campfire if you are out of matches but definitely don't try at home)

Though many of us don't actually give our kids actual coal today(unless they turn out to be rock hounds and actually ask for it) Ever wonder where much of that coal came from? Here we have some carboniferous period fossils, a period in our earth's history that trapped so much carbon from our ancient atmosphere into the earth that geologists and paleontologists whom first noted the geological period dubbed it the "coal bearing" or "coal rich" period; Hence carboniferous. Some... of these pieces are from ~350-300 million years ago. To give you perspective most of the timeline to which stegosaurs lived was closer in time to us, than they were to when some of these were deposited in a carboniferous swamp. Here we have mostly "seed tree fern" leaves and loose fibers but coolest in my opinion is the bark of an ancient tree "seed fern" or "giant club moss". A few of these fossils have the signature black of coal. A more detailed description will eventually be uploaded to our patreon.

Can you guess this rock? Hint: It has a hardness less than that of your fingernail; and doesn't taste like salt.

Hello Everyone Here we have some Nautiloid fossils. Different from Ammonoids in two major ways,... 1. Nautiloids have a handful of living species notably in pacific and south atlantic. 2. The tube connecting the gas chambers within the shells of Nautiloids are located more in the center of the chambers where as in Ammonoids have the connecting tubes more towards the inner portion of the shell. If you look carefully you can see the outline of this tube in question.

Like other varieties of quartz, black quartz has a hardness of 7, that's harder than your utility knife. What's cool about this variety of quartz is that it's pigment thickness can be so absolute that light can no longer pass through it as you can see in image four, which shows a good transition from high opacity to no opacity. Like other varieties of Quartz the pigment is usually caused by trace amounts of other elements. However Quartz can appear in a wide variety of colours, these colours are all usually caused by trace amounts of another mineral or metal. Uniquely for quartz crystals, black quartz is caused by irradiation usually involving silicon and sometimes aluminum.

Quartz Crystal. A fine example of this mineral's more common status, Quartz is on the harder size as far as minerals go, at a hardness of 7 this rock is harder than steel which has a hardness of 6.5. This rock can scratch up your utility knife very bad and even dent it. In fact, the mineral is so hard it actually scratches up most streak plates, producing no streak at all. If you were to find something harder than it, it's streak appears colourless or white. This particular specimen is Rose Quartz, which thanks to a trick of the light, we can't really see it's normally gorgeous pink adamantine luster. The rose colour is caused, usually, by trace amounts of titanium, manganese, and or iron. However Quartz can appear in a wide variety of colours, these colours are all usually caused by trace amounts of another mineral or metal.

How about some filler content, ~450myo sea floor sedimentary deposit filler that is! While not necessarily the most exciting sort of fossil, these containing brachiopods(sorry for sorta repeat post) it's the bigger picture that is interesting. This fossil is just layer after layer of brachiopod deposits, each a snapshot of the sort of shell litter for the area this fossil formed. As we turn the rock over, we can sort of make out the layers from the bits of brachiopod outlines... on the side. Just look at the molds on the underside! We have a better specimen of this theme on display in the museum, 'Devonian Sea Floor', just something to look forward to checking out when we reopen. Even though our state's State Fossil is the eurypterid, In NY's Catskills, these kinds of fossils are just everywhere and are by far the most common. Just make sure to check up on a state's fossil laws before going fossil hunting!

Happy Friday and happy late constitution day (that was Thursday). It has been a little over a week since this post from our patreon was due here. For those of you who want to enjoy our posts early, please consider subscribing to us on patreon to view posts like these before everyone else! Otherwise enjoy! :) While individual specimens from this shark can reach upwards of 7 inches, it's important to note that most didn't reach this size. Much like how modern great whites don...'t usually grow much larger than 16ft or 4.8m, despite at one time estimated to be capable of reaching anywhere from 22-35ft(never observed more than 25ft), it is fair to assume the same was true with C. megalodon, with most individuals falling prey to biting sperm whales and the ancestors of orcas. So most megs you'd probably encounter, had you of visited our oceans 2 million years ago, would probably of sported teeth mostly of this size. Averages can be quite humbling when you are mostly exposed to the more massive specimens. This probably came from a fairly young individual when it fell out of the shark's mouth. Do enjoy the various images from different angles!

Check out our new post on Patreon!

The images here show a large chunk of sedimentary rock containing various casts of Brachiopods as well as some molds, and even the remnant bits of the fossilized shells. The main image is curious as it perfectly shows the space in-between the cast and mold that when buried would of been the shell that has long since disintegrated. In some of the other images we have the remnant fossilized shell. If you have ever kept clams in your aquarium, the warping in the one remnant mineralized shell might seem familiar to you. To see more posts like this, please consider leaving us a like and share, to support what we do please consider supporting us on Patreon where you can see posts like this early.

Check out our Patreon! Now Launched and Running! For as little as 1$ you can help support us and our mission. We also have some rocky rewards of varying hardness, check them out!

We need help raising money for renovations. Wont you share and or donate to help raise money for the museum? The first targets for renovations are the Driveway followed by repainting/wood restoration if we raise enough with this. https://www.gofundme.com/f/hgm-renovations/donate

Cleaned up version of the older profile picture.

In case you missed it. The 2020-2021 school budget passed! This is great news to the Gregory Musuem. Thank you to all! https://patch.com//hicksville-public-schools-budget-vote-2

In 1895 the flag of the United States only had 44 stars. Hence the odd configuration of stars in the field of blue. That's 125 years ago, the same year the Hicksville Town Hall / Court House was built. Yes, it's still standing and in need up a little work to get it up to snuff again. We thought that would of happened this year during the buildings 125th anniversary. I guess we'll have to wait another year because of the recent set back. Stay safe this holiday weekend and Happy Independence Day!