New Jersey has the distinction of being the state where the first fossil was excavated. The year was 1787, Gloucester County. The primary paleontologist was Dr. Caspar Wistar, who discovered a thigh bone.

Wistar subsequently misplaced the fossil, giving New Jersey another first, the first state where a dinosaur fossil was lost. (More fossils were later found in the area.)

Paleobiology Database, a nonprofit public resource that brings together fossil records from research institutions around the world has gone a long way toward bringing order to fossil fieldwork. (It’s important to note that the database doesn’t reflect all dinosaur fossil records in the United States, but a sample of fossils available in public collections.)

According to the database, New Jersey has a total of 140 recorded fossils. The genus with the most — Hadrosauridae (26 fossils) — may be familiar to those fond of old bones. New Jersey’s state fossil is from a duck-billed Hadrosaurus, found in Camden County as early as 1838.

Like many seashores, New Jersey is renowned for more marine-like monsters, including the Icarosaurus, a lizard with leathery wings that likely lived during the Triassic Period. It also is famous for marine relics of 30-million-year-old crocodiles and sharks. (Full disclosure: I haven’t risked swimming in the ocean since “Jaws.”)

If you’re planning a fossil-centric vacation, be sure to visit California, which has the highest number of fossils according to the database — 1,988. Wyoming runs a close second, with 1,118, while Montana (940) and New Mexico (935) are third and fourth. If however, you have some deep aversion to dinosaurs and their bones, probably brought about by watching “Jurassic Park” too many times, Kentucky, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin are fossil-free.