Fort Discovery
Established | April 1997 |
---|---|
Dissolved | December 2010 |
Location |
1 Seventh Street Augusta, Georgia, United States |
Coordinates | 33°28′36″N 81°57′44″W / 33.4768°N 81.9622°W |
Visitors | 200,000 (2007) |
Director | Rob Dennis |
The National Science Center's Fort Discovery, generally known as Fort Discovery, was a 128,000-square-foot (11,900 m2), children's science exhibition center and museum located in downtown Augusta, Georgia, at Riverwalk Augusta. The museum was located in the former Shoppes at Port Royal, a two-story shopping mall which operated from 1991 to 1994.
Fort Discovery featured over 250 hands-on exhibits that demonstrated various scientific concepts. It featured several rides such as a high-wire bicycle, the human gyroscope, and space moon walk, each demonstrating a fundamental concept of physics. The center opened in April 1997. In late 2003, the state cut off funds to the center and Fort Discovery was at danger of closing. In early 2004, the city and community funded Fort Discovery until January 2005, when the state started funding the center once more.
National Science Center relocated to Washington, D.C. after Fort Discovery closed permanently on December 31, 2010.
The property has since been gutted, and the building still stands but remains vacant.
The property is currently being rebuilt. Unisys has one portion of the building as its new center in Augusta
External links
- Fort Discovery closing, National Science Center leaving, WRDW-TV
- YouTube video tours of Fort Discovery