Maybe not

Thanks! With no responses, I kind of figured we weren't that lucky ;-).

wish I could help you but I do not know unless you know someone who lives by a creek or river.

You could probably pick up a rock or two along a country road but to get rock in quantity, you're either gonna have to spend a looooong time picking them up one by one or save your $$$.
Funny what people feel they "own". However, try some of the rock places close to Oneonta. They seem to be a little cheaper than the pallets at the big box stores.
c

if you were near auburn i might could steer you to some.
there is a construction area down the street from where i work. they demolished a house and drained a very small lake or large pond in the back. they are currently bringing in unconsolidated material which contains quite a lot of rock of all sizes to fill this area. i was thinking that the developer would let someone pick the rock from the soil, making compaction easier and more uniform.
if you are interested in driving the distance, i could call the realtor and check for you.

For a $5 permit fee you can pick rocks from designated areas out of the Talladega National Forest. The forestry service office on SR 78 just west of Heflin issues the permits. I picked some nice 'flatish' stones, complete with a little moss, last year. I filled a pickup in about an hour.

Drive around where new building or road construction is going on. Often there are piles of rocks that have been excavated & are just waiting to be hauled off site. I'd get permission first from the site CM, but they probably wouldn't mind if you helped yourself to a few.

Thank you littlecars --- that's exactly the information I needed :-). It's a bit far, but when we are going that way, I'll certainly keep that in mind!

and, great ideas about the construction sites. Thanks all!

I'm interested in collecting flagstone in UT. Where did you get it when you where there?