In 1852 Lyell and Dawson made a celebrated discovery of tetrapod fossils entombed within an upright tree at Coal Mine Point. Subsequent investigations by Dawson led to the discovery of one of the most important fossils in the history of science, "Hylonomus lyelli", which remains the earliest known reptile in the history of life, but not the earliest known amniote. In 2002, "Hylonomus lyelli" was named the provincial fossil of Nova Scotia.