Fernbank Museum of Natural History

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History

Fernbank Museum of Natural History grew out of a forest and the dream of Emily Harrison, a young girl who loved it. Growing up in the late 1800s, Emily Harrison often played in the forest surrounding her home just east of Atlanta.

Emily was a naturalist and thrived on learning about the plants and animals around her. One of Emily's favorite spots in the forest was a creek bank covered with a variety of ferns. She was the first to call the area "Fernbank," the name which records indicate was publicly recognized in the late 1880s.

As an adult, Emily dreamed of preserving Fernbank as a forest school. She retired from teaching in the mid-1930s and returned home to teach nature classes. Simultaneously, she enrolled at the University of Georgia to begin a formal study of forestry.

In 1938, Emily Harrison and a friend, Dr. Woolford Baker, led a group to charter Fernbank, Inc., in order to purchase and preserve the 70 acres of old-growth woodland and the adjacent properties where she played as a child.

Emily Harrison’s woodland is now called Fernbank Forest. At 65 acres, it is the largest old-growth urban Piedmont forest in the country.

In the early 1960s, Fernbank's trustees entered into a lease agreement with the DeKalb County School System. DeKalb instructors were permitted to use the forest to teach biological sciences, and in return, the School System fenced the forest and began a conservation and management program to preserve it. In 1964, the Fernbank trustees deeded four acres of land to the DeKalb School System for the construction of Fernbank Science Center, which opened in 1967.

In the late 1970s, interest in a natural history museum grew beyond the reach of the physical sciences. The trustees wished to expand programming and facilities for the general public in addition to the existing school-focused program at Fernbank Science Center.

Fernbank, Inc. hired Graham Gund Architects to design the striking, 160,000-square-foot museum. Ground was broken in 1989, and on October 5, 1992, Fernbank Museum of Natural History opened to the public, becoming one of the only museums in the world to grow out of an old-growth forest.

Since then, the Museum has continued to grow and expand its collection. In 2001, Fernbank became the first museum to display the world's largest dinosaur, Argentinosaurus. This gargantuan sauropod is now a permanent feature in the Museum's 86-foot tall atrium along with one of the world's largest carnivorous dinosaurs, Giganotosaurus; a flock of pterosaurs and a variety of other prehistoric species in the permanent exhibition, Giants of the Mesozoic.

In 2004, Fernbank was selected as the new permanent home of The St. Catherines Island Foundation and Edward John Noble Foundation Collection. This significant collection contains more than one million objects spanning a period of over 5,000 years and includes aboriginal and European ceramics, glass trade beads and more. It provides a visual history of this important period in Georgia’s and the nation’s history, and features many artifacts from the Mission Santa Catalina de Guale.

Fernbank strives to bring the highest quality programming to our community and beyond through innovative exhibitions, and large-format films, new and expanded educational opportunities, and our growing research and collections program. You can play a part in our growth by supporting the Museum by becoming a volunteer, member or donor.

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