One of Michigan’s Most Famous Rocks Is Heading To the Smithsonian

If you've ever spent hours on a Michigan beach staring at and talking about rocks like you're auditioning for a geology reality show, your moment has arrived.

RELATED: The 20 Most Common Last Names in Michigan Revealed

According to a press release from the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Michigan's beloved Petoskey stone is one of the featured artifacts in the new exhibition "From These Lands: Sharing Our Natural and Cultural Heritage," opening June 18 in Washington, D.C.

A Michigan Fossil Gets the National Spotlight

A stone you may've kicked while walking down a beach in Michigan is getting a display at a Smithsonian Museum.

The massive exhibit celebrates America's 250th anniversary and features more than 600 rare artifacts and specimens from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. territories. Many of the items have rarely, if ever, been displayed in public.

Michigan's contribution includes a Petoskey stone, the state's official fossil. Those distinctive hexagon patterns come from fossilized rugose coral that lived roughly 388 to 383 million years ago, back when Michigan was covered by a warm, shallow sea instead of construction barrels and orange cones.

Michigan Has Been Here Before

A display in the Smithsonian Museum of History shows the Detroit Tigers ballcap worn by Tom Selleck in the TV show Magnum, P.I.

This isn't Michigan's only Smithsonian cameo. Visitors can find Michigan-based items and displays throughout multiple exhibits, including the Detroit Tigers cap worn by Thomas Magnum, the P.I. character played by Tom Selleck. Apparently, even fictional private investigators know good headwear when they see it.

See It for Yourself

The exhibition is free to visit at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and is expected to attract millions of visitors during its multi-year run.

Not bad for a fossil most of us have accidentally kicked down the beach at least once.