Powhatan tree expert Robert Church has lucked across a piece of antiquity which may or may not be valuable. “You just never know about these pieces,” said David Packard of Packard’s Rock Shop in Midlothian. “Although I don’t recall the specific piece that Mr. Church brought by here, it could be worth anywhere from cents to dollars per pound,” he speculated.

The “specific piece” is a 30-pound-plus fragment of petrified wood Church found off Otterdale Road. The 72-year-old Church had removed some trees from a customer’s yard and was in the process of planting some shrubs when his shovel hit something large and solid. After excavating around the object, Church unearthed the top of the stump of a petrified tree. “It was a white oak tree,” he said. “After 40 years in the tree business I had no doubt it was a white oak stump.” The stump measured two and a half feet in diameter, according to Church, with “limbs coming off of it as big around as my little finger. It’s got to be thousands of years old.”

The homeowner declined Church’s request to dig up the entire stump, but did allow him to remove and keep some large pieces of the petrified tree.  “These pieces always have some value,” Packard said. “But normally the pieces found in this area are not polishable.” Polishing brings out the color and texture of a petrified piece and makes it more visually attractive and valuable to a collector. “Pieces found in the Appomattox River area are generally the ones from this region that are polishable.”

Church has been contacted by at least one other rock shop and also intends to present the petrified tree piece to the appropriate state agency for aging and evaluation.