Georgia Magazine - November, 2009 - (Page 26)

There’s fun and education for everyone BY LYNN COULTER I s the earth shaking? You might think so when you see the fierce apatosaurus standing in the Great Hall of the Tellus Northwest Georgia Science Museum, which opened this January in Cartersville. Of course, you’re just seeing a cast of a dinosaur that once roamed our planet 150 million years ago, but at 82 feet long, the big guy is a thrilling introduction to one of our state’s newest educational centers. Tellus stands on the site of Georgia’s old Weinman Mineral Museum. “The Weinman,” says Joe Schulman, director of marketing for Tellus, “was a great museum that served Georgia wonderfully for nearly 25 years.” But with an average 19,000 visitors a year, the Weinman was getting crowded. Tellus is about 12 times bigger than the old museum, and within its first two months, drew more than 30,000 guests. “We will have 23,000 students visit Tellus by the end of the 2009-2010 school year,” Schulman predicts. What’s the secret to the new museum’s success? It has “something for everyone,” Schulman says. Rock hounds love the Weinman Mineral Gallery, which houses many treasures from the first museum. It features gemstones, rocks and minerals from around the world, including meteorites from Mars and the moon. “Please touch” signs invite visitors to handle petrified wood and volcanic pumice, while brilliantly lit cases showcase rocks and minerals from Georgia’s Blue Ridge, Piedmont and Cumberland Plateau. The huge dinosaur is just one of many casts from the museum’s Fossil Gallery. Also included is a re-creation of a giant ground sloth whose bones were found in a cave at Ladd’s Quarry in Cartersville. These sloths, scientists believe, lived throughout the Southeast until the last ice age ended 11,000 years ago. Bill Montante from Kennesaw is COURTESY TELLUS MUSEUM Taking in the Tellus Above top: Tellus Northwest Georgia Science Museum now houses exhibits that were once displayed in the old Weinman Mineral Museum, but it’s about 12 times bigger. Above: Amateur paleontologist Bill Montante often volunteers at Tellus, allowing visitors to touch and examine fossils. an amateur paleontologist who volunteers in the Fossil Gallery on weekends. “Georgia has a rich fossil history,” he says, and if visitors want to bring in their own finds, he is happy to help identify them. “Don’t miss the LYNN COULTER The amethyst on display is actually a variety of quartz. It ranges in color from dark purple to violet, thanks to iron or manganese impurities. In 1988, some of the finest amethyst in the U.S. was uncovered at Jackson’s Crossroads, in northwestern Wilkes County. Look for spacecraft and space artifacts in the 11,000-square-foot Science in Motion gallery. You’ll see models of rockets from the Mercury, Atlas,Titan II, Saturn and other missions, along with a replica of the Apollo I capsule. GEORGIA MAGAZINE www.georgiamagazine.org LYNN COULTER LYNN COULTER http://www.georgiamagazine.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - November, 2009

Georgia Magazine - November, 2009
Contents
Viewpoint
Picture This?
Mailbox
Georgia News
Calendar
Holiday Festivities Guide
Currents
Thanking Disabled Veterans
New, Inspired and Tasty
Around Georgia
My Georgia
Georgia Gardens
Georgia Cooks
Snapshot

Georgia Magazine - November, 2009