The Connecticut River Valley is perhaps the best place in the world to find dinosaur tracks.

The first dinosaur tracks ever found, were found in 1802 by a farmer by the name of Pliny Moody. He was plowing his field one day, when he turned over a rock containing some tracks.

In 1833 Professor Edward Hitchock in his book Ichnology of New England (1858), identified the tracks to be those of an ancient bird¹. Dr. Hitchcock spent much of the rest of his life collecting dinosaur tracks around the Connecticut River Valley .

In the 1860's, as knowledge of dinosaurs increased, it became apparent that the Connecticut River tracks could not be those of birds and they were reidentified as belonging to dinosaurs

In 1933 Carlton S. Nash made a new discovery of tracks about one mile from the original Moody find. In 1939 he was able to buy the land and open Nash Dinosaurland. One can still see, enjoy and purchase authentic dinosaur tracks.

1. An article in the Springfield Republican for November 18, 1837, is said to speak of 'the Giant Turkeys of Professor. Hitchcock.'