Every day Jose Santamaria, the director of Tellus: Northwest Georgia Science Museum, comes into work, he is amazed by the way the museum is taking shape. His favorite part? “The whole building is an architectural wonder. It’s hard to choose.”
Located in Cartersville, Ga., Tellus, which opened Jan. 12, educates visitors through permanent galleries: the Weinman Mineral Gallery, originally its own museum before Tellus; the Fossil Gallery, which showcases mammals and dinosaurs including an 82-foot-long Apatosaurus (commonly called the Brontosaurus); the Science in Motion Gallery, where visitors learn how transportation has evolved over the past century (it features a replica Wright flyer, an Apollo I capsule and a 1948 Bell-47 Helicopter).
And – “This is what a mad scientist’s backyard would look like,” says staffer Joe Schulman about the Collins Family My Big Backyard. Here, guests can perform sound, weather and other experiments occurring within their own backyard.
In addition to the four galleries, Tellus has a digital planetarium and observatory with a 20-inch telescope open to visitors during special night viewings. 770-606-5700, tellusmuseum.org
