Presents, raptor not?

Have a rawr-some time holiday shopping at Prehistoric

By Sabine Wilson

For the TODAY

It's not every day that you get to go shopping for merchandise that is millions of years old, but at Prehistoric in Lincoln City you are able to do just that.

As a dedicated and passionate gemologist, founder and owner Doug Bradstreet has been acquiring the best and rarest artifacts for most of his life.

“When I was around seven or eight, I started collecting rocks and fossils with my grandmother and aunt in New Hampshire,” he said. “Every year we would go up to the lake to look for rocks and tourmalines and other cool minerals which really got me interested in it all.”

Over the years his passion never wavered.

“All this time I just stayed interested in it,” he said. “It’s a passion that has gone crazy over the years.”

Bradstreet was in the jewelry business for more than 30 years, dealing with gems, minerals and more. This led him to start a more serious collection, adapting and shifting his assortment as his treasures accumulated.

“I began to collect fossils and then started stockpiling them with the thought that when I retire from the jewelry business, I was going to open up a really cool shop,” he said.

Bradstreet’s thoughts transformed from a dream into reality, and he now owns two shops: the one in Lincoln City and another in Saint Augustine, Florida.

But though his path may seem clear cut on the surface, it was far from a straight road.

When Bradstreet was just 25 years of age, he was diagnosed with cancer and given six months to live. He was in the Arnold Palmer Hospital for children at this time.

“I saw all these young kids suffering and at that point it motivated me to get back and give back,” he said. “I told myself, `One day I am going to beat this thing and will give back to the kids.’”

After he beat his cancer he indeed got back to the promise he made himself when he was in the hospital. This experience set the stage for the numerous talks he does at different schools across the country free of charge.

“It’s a lot of fun,” he said. “The excitement the kids have when you put a fossil in their hands for the first time is nothing short of amazing.”

This youth-centered mindset is also a big part of what they do at Prehistoric. In addition to the kids’ educational toy area, there are also interactive once-in-a-lifetime toys made with kids in mind. Take the geode-cracker for instance.

“The geode-cracker is something that I converted from a cast iron pipe-cutter into a geode-cracker,” Bradstreet said. “I designed it so that kids can be a part of this process.”

This one-of-a-kind tool makes it safe for children to operate. They can hold onto the handles themselves and break open the geode to see what’s inside. 

“I believe that the more hands-on kids can be, the more they love, the more they get excited, the more passion they get from these experiences,'' Bradstreet said. “I try to do things that will get the kids interested.”

Another unique family-friendly service Prehistoric offers is sluice mining.

“You get a bucket and fill it with sand that has all kinds of fossils and minerals,” Bradstreet said. “Participants are then able to refer to their provided guide in order to mark off what they found. It builds excitement because you don’t know what you’ve gotten until you seek it out.”

But of course, not just children love dinosaurs and gems.

“The beauty of it is whether you’re three or 100, you remember these types of experiences,” Bradstreet said. “We had a 95-year-old woman comment on our well-known T-rex that roars at people when they come in. She told us how she remembered doing the same when she was young. This is what our goals are: we want to make new lasting memories for people and we want to enhance the old memories too.”

From the massive, 15-foot dinosaur tail in the window to millions-of-years-old dinosaur teeth to toys, rocks, crystals and more, there truly is something for everyone in this store, with unique gifts ranging from $3 to $125,000. Not only are you guaranteed a wonderful time and a wealth of knowledge but you can also take home a piece of history with you.

Prehistoric is located at 1425 NW Hwy. 101 in Lincoln City, open daily from 10 am to 5 pm. For more information, including the online store and Bradstreet’s blog, go to prehistoriconline.com.