ATLANTA — The Fernbank Museum of Natural History in northeast Atlanta is celebrating its 32nd anniversary.
While it’s been a part of the community for decades, there’s an amazing feature some Atlantans may not know about.
Severe Weather Team 2 Chief Meteorologist Brad Nitz went to the Fernbank Museum to help show off one of its big, but hidden, treasures.
That hidden treasure is the Forests of Fernbank, 75 acres of forest and more than two miles of trails.
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Nitz spent the day there recently to show off the treasure right in Atlanta’s backyard. He said it feels like you’re in the north Georgia mountains, but it’s a sanctuary right in Atlanta.
“It is this hidden treasure that you can explore nature in a very safe and exciting way,” Jennifer Grant Warner, Fernbank Museum President and CEO, said.
The forest is an old-growth forest, located not far off of Ponce de Leon Avenue near the Fulton-DeKalb County line.
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“What makes it an old-growth forest is that it is pretty much untouched,” Heather Waringa, Fernbank Museum’s forest manager, said. “We have over 60 different species of trees here in Fernbank Forest. Some of the oldest ones are over 300 years old.”
Staff at the museum told Channel 2 Action News that the forest is rich with history.
“Fernbank was actually founded back in 1939 as a nonprofit to preserve Fernbank Forest to teach about nature,” Grant Warner said.
Then, in 1992, the Fernbank Museum of Natural History opened.
“So we’re actually the only museum of natural history in this country, possibly the world, that’s grown up out of an old-growth forest,” Grant Warner said.
At the museum itself, there are three floors of exhibits for all ages, as well as a giant 3D theater that can take visitors to places all around the world.
“At Fernbank, we see 50 to 60,000 st udents visit each year,” Grant Warner said.
To make Fernbank a true indoor and outdoor experience, organizers needed to find a way to bridge the museum with the forest, so they found an exciting way to do it.
“Wild Woods is the gateway,” Grant Warner said, showing Nitz the trails. “So you take this and this is an accessible part of the experience.”
It’s the perfect outdoor classroom, Nitz said.
“At a time when, you know, we’re not getting outdoors as much, or we’re not connecting, Fernbank’s work and mission matter more than ever,” Grant Warner said.
The Fernbank Forest was recently featured in Georgia’s Hidden Treasures on Channel 2′s Family 2 Family special.
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