Fernbank Museum Announces 75 Acre Expansion, Increased Access to Forest
Decatur Metro | November 21, 2014 | 12:58 pm
From Atlanta Intown…
The Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Druid Hills has announced significant expansion plans, which includes the 75-acre Fernbank Forest.
The new outdoor adventure experience will occupy the 10 acres of mature woodlands behind the Museum’s terrace overlook. Experiences will include tree pods, play areas, ground trails, sensory stations, adventure nets, hands-on water cycle activities, a restored wetland and “floating” walkways. It’s expected to open in the summer of 2016.
Rendering courtesy of Atlanta Intown
Wow. That image prompted a Proust-level flashback to a Star Wars book I had as a kid that showed life on the planet of Kashyyyk with the wookiees living in elevated wicker/wood structures built around the trunks of massive trees (this design idea was subsequently cribbed and made a little more primitive for the ewoks in Return of the Jedi). Man does this look great…
Cool! Ewokville!
No need to pine. Your adventure in the trees awaits:
www [dot] airbnb [dot] com/rooms/1415908
love that tree house
Very nice… but that’s off Northside Drive.
Interesting progression – when access to the forest was from the science museum it was free, now I assume one will need to pay the natural history museum fee to enter.
Boo… Hiss…
I preferred the non-commercialized, non-homogenized, authentic experience of the Fernbank Science Center use of the Fernbank Forest.
Me too.
Maybe you will still be allowed to walk on the floor of the forest for free? Is that too much to ask? To hope for?
The museum has cut ties with the Fernbank Science Center so it is highly unlikely that they would allow people to enter the Forest for free. There is an “open Fernbank Forest” petition circulating and before the petition began, the museum was even charging their members $5 extra to enter the Forest,and after the petiton, they dropped the added charge for museum members. The Forest was meant to be open to all for exploration. The Forest was saved by Emily Stewart Harrison whose family owned the Forest land. She wanted a “school in the woods” to be built at the Forest site. She saw Fernbank Science Center open which made her dream a reality. She would have never imagined that future Forest trustees would turn their backs on the center and lock the Forest gates. Several of Ms. Harrison’s descendants have signed the petition.