Fernbank Museum of Natural History
The largest museum of natural sciences in the Southeast, this architecturally stunning facility borders 65 acres of pristine forest. Architect Graham Gund has achieved a marvelous integration of interior/exterior space The building, which nearly eclipses the attractions inside, centers on a soaring three-story, sky-lit Great Hall -- an Italianate brick atrium with spiral staircases, lofty columns, and windows revealing the woodlands beyond. Look closely at the museum floors, where ancient fossil remains from the late Jurassic period are embedded.When the Great Hall was designed, it was meant to one day be the home of a large-scale permanent dinosaur exhibition, and in 2000, Fernbank became the only place in the world to display a complete mounted skeleton of Argentinosaurus, the largest dinosaur ever found. The dramatic permanent exhibit, "Giants of the Mesozoic," features the 90-foot-long plant-eater as it defends its nest of eggs against the 45-foot-long Giganotosaurus, the largest meat-eater ever classified. Hovering above in the 86-foot-tall hall are two flying pterosaurs. Dinosaurs just don't get any bigger than this, and it's a little hair-raising to walk into the hall and see these beasts towering over the tiny humans below.There are several other permanent exhibits, including "A Walk Through Time in Georgia," which uses the state as a microcosm to tell the story of the earth's development through time and the chronology of life upon it. Visitors travel back 15 billion years to experience the origins of the universe (the Big Bang) and the formation of galaxies and solar systems, and into the future to consider the fate of our planet. Eighteen galleries re-create landform regions from the rolling pine-forested foothills of the Piedmont Plateau to the mossy Okefenokee Swamp, from the Cumberland Plateau (where you can walk through a typical "limestone cavern") to the marshy Coast and Barrier Islands. Exhibits are enhanced by creative films and videos, informational audiophones, interactive computers, sound effects, and old-fashioned field guides -- not to mention more than 1,500 fabricated plants and mounted specimens of birds and animals."Sensing Nature" tantalizes your senses with hands-on exhibits that explore how we experience the natural world. The room swims with computers, colored lights, and mirrors, and you can step into a life-size kaleidoscope, play with perspective, gaze into infinity, see physical evidence of sound waves, and mix colors on a computer.The "Children's Discovery Room," open daily June through August and on a limited basis during the school year, includes Fantasy Forest, a colorful play area designed for preschoolers (ages 3-5), where kids can become bees and pollinate flowers, climb a treehouse, walk through a swamp, and play at being farmers. The state-shaped Georgia Adventure is a similar discovery room for ages 6 to 10.While you're here, be sure to catch a stunning IMAX film (buy tickets as soon as you enter the museum; they sometimes sell out). The immense IMAX screen -- 5 stories high and 72 feet wide -- puts you right in the middle of all the action.Other museum attractions include a wetlands exhibit, a dramatically colorful living coral reef aquarium, a unique shell display, a gemstone collection, and the McClatchey Collection of jewelry and textiles from the old Silk Road countries. A museum store is stocked with entertaining and educational gifts and books, and there's a restaurant with arched windows overlooking Fernbank Forest and outdoor patio seating.

Atlanta History Center
The Atlanta History Center chronicles the past of Georgia and the Southeast, as well as the history of Atlanta, with a vast collection of photographs, maps, books, newspaper accounts, furnishings, Civil War artifacts, and decorative arts. It occupies 32 woodland acres, with self-guided walking trails and 5 gardens. Plan to spend the better part of a day here. And call ahead, or inquire on the premises, about lectures, films, festivals, and other events that take place here on a regular basis; activities range from sheep-shearing demonstrations to decorative arts forums. When you call, also check on house-tour times for the day of your visit (house-tours are described below). The Swan Coach House is a delightful restaurant on the premises.Note: House-tour tickets are limited and can only be purchased on the day of your visit. Arrive early to avoid disappointment.Begin your visit at the Atlanta History Museum, where you can buy tickets and get information about historic house tours and other activities. The museum is the single best place to go for a cultural record of the city and the South. The major permanent exhibit, "Metropolitan Frontiers: Atlanta, 1835-2000," traces Atlanta's history from the days of Native Americans and rural pioneer settlements to the present day. Displays, enhanced by hands-on discovery areas and informative videos, feature hundreds of photographs, documents, and artifacts. Included are an entire 1890s shotgun house, a fire engine that was used in Atlanta's great fire of 1917 (when 50 city blocks were ravaged by flames), a rare 1920 Hanson Six touring car; and a model of Atlanta's most complex interstate intersection, known locally as "Spaghetti Junction."Also on the center's grounds is the recently restored Swan House, the 1928 estate of Edward Hamilton Inman, scion of an old Atlanta family. The house and gardens were designed by renowned architect Philip Trammell Shutze and are considered his finest residential work. The formal gardens include terraced lawns and waterfalls, retaining walls with recessed ivy arches, and fountain statuary. Swan House is fronted by a classical colonnaded porte cochére leading to a circular entrance hall with Ionic columns and a dramatic floating stairway. In the entrance hall, you'll notice that the fanlight over the door features a swan, announcing the theme of the house. There is supposed to be at least one swan emblem or decoration in each room -- see if you can find them. The house is interesting not only architecturally, but also for its eclectic contents and furnishings, which comprise a veritable museum of decorative arts. It's a fascinating glimpse into the lifestyle enjoyed by upper-crust Atlantans in the early 20th century.Tullie Smith Farm gives a sense of the life of Georgia's mid-19th-century farmers. A two-story "plantation-plain" house built in the early 1840s, it was brought to Atlanta along with period outbuildings in 1972. This was no Tara-like colonnaded mansion -- just an everyday farmhouse whose occupants lived in rustic simplicity.Costumed docents give tours throughout the day, and there are frequent demonstrations of 19th-century farm activities. In a bedroom with a rope bed and a crib (always occupied by the youngest baby), a docent will demonstrate how to use a spinning wheel. The basket of pomander balls in this room was typical -- the 19th-century answer to today's air fresheners. You'll find weaving demonstrations in the back room. During cooler months, demonstrations of 19th-century hearth cookery take place in the whitewashed kitchen, where herbs hang from the rafters. Additional outbuildings are a barn, corncrib, root cellar, blacksmith shop, and smokehouse. The gardens and grounds are authentic to the period.Leave some time to stroll the gardens, most notably the forested mile-long Swan Woods Trail. It includes plants native to Georgia, plus the Garden for Peace, home to a sculpture by noted Soviet artist Georgi Dzhaparidze and Atlanta artist Hans Godo Frabel.Construction has begun on a new $10 million, 20,000-square-foot addition housing an exhibition about the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta. The highly interactive three-level museum is slated to open in 2006 to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Atlanta games.

Callanwolde Fine Arts Center
A magnificent Gothic/Tudor-style mansion built for Coca-Cola heir Charles Howard Candler in 1920, Callanwolde today serves as a fine-arts center for city residents. Ongoing classes are given in pottery, painting, photography, drawing, and more, and there are numerous workshops for adults and children. The estate occupies 12 acres in the Druid Hills section of Atlanta, an area planned by Frederick Law Olmsted, designer of New York's Central Park. You may be surprised that most of the rooms are bare; only Callanwolde's exquisite walnut paneling, beautifully carved ceilings and moldings, grand staircase, magnificent marble and stone fireplaces, and leaded-glass windows evoke its luxurious past.Visitors are welcome to peruse shows of local artists in the Petite Hall gallery upstairs; enjoy the lawns and formal gardens, which are maintained by the county; and take in the concerts, storytelling evenings, one and two-day workshops, and dance performances on offer. Check the website to see what's going on when you're in town, because attending an event here is the best way to experience the estate. Especially memorable is Christmas at Callanwolde, when the entire house is decorated for the season and craft shops are set up in different rooms.

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