Fort Discovery

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, which operated from 1991 to 1994.

Fort Discovery

Established	April 1997
Dissolved	December 2010
Location	1 7th Street Augusta, Georgia,  United States
Coordinates	33°28′36″N 81°57′44″W / 33.4768°N 81.9622°W / 33.4768; -81.9622
Visitors	200,000 (2007)
Director	Rob Dennis

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.^[1][2] 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.^[3]

After Fort Discovery closed, Unisys purchased a portion of the building as its new center in Augusta.^[4]

• State of Georgia portal

External links

• Fort Discovery closing, National Science Center leaving, WRDW-TV
• YouTube video tours of Fort Discovery

References

1. . AccessWDUN. 26 May 2003. Archived from the original on 24 March 2021. Retrieved 24 March 2021. ATLANTA - The state budget for next year shows a big fat zero on the line for Fort Discovery, the interactive educational museum for science and math in Augusta.
2. . www.legis.ga.gov. Georgia General Assembly. Archived from the original on 24 March 2021. Retrieved 24 March 2021. 604: Fort Discovery National Science Center, $0
3. Pavey, Rob (19 October 2010). . The Augusta Chronicle. Archived from the original on 24 March 2021. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
4. Martin, Jenna (16 March 2015). . Augusta Tomorrow Incorporated. Archived from the original on 5 December 2020. Retrieved 24 March 2021. Unisys announced Monday that it finalized a lease to occupy much of the former Fort Discovery space along Riverwalk Augusta. The news puts to rest months of speculation that the global information technology company would chose the Port Royal building at 1 Seventh St. as the permanent location of its new client service center.