There's a lot going on at Fernbank Museum: visitors can get up close and personal with the world's largest dinosaurs, find out how life on Earth developed through the landscapes of present-day Georgia, learn about cultures from around the globe, interact with a variety of hands-on exhibitions and even watch a film at the massive IMAX® cinema – the largest in Atlanta.
After decades of planning, ground was broken in a forest for a 15,000 square-metre natural history museum in 1989, and the museum opened to the public in October 1992. Today, Fernbank Museum attracts nearly half a million visitors each year with its nine permanent exhibits as well as travelling exhibitions spread over three floors.
You can't miss the huge attraction at the front entrance: the bronze dinosaur statues in Dinosaur Plaza. The replicas of dinosaur skeletons in the Great Hall will thrill any child who has seen Jurassic Park. The displays are a recreation of the terrain in Argentina between 65 and 145 million years ago, and there you'll see a 37-metre long Argentinosaurus followed in hot pursuit by a 14-metre long Giganotosaurus, to name just two. Look up and see Pterodaustro and Anhanguera dinosaurs suspended overhead.
There's a great area for kids on the top floor of the museum. The virtual displays, live reptile exhibits, a weather forecasting studio and tornado simulator are just part of a wide range of activities for the under 16s which have earned the museum much acclaim.
Take your seats for science documentaries that are shown to great effect at the five-storey-high IMAX cinema screen. Covering topics from butterflies to the Ice Age, the films are listed on the museum's website.
The museum is open every day and is located east of midtown Atlanta. If you can, try and come at the weekend or late afternoon if you want to avoid school groups. You can buy tickets just for the museum or with a film at the IMAX cinema included.
