Waiting in line to get into the museum, Terry and Judy Howard of Union City said that “everyone is emailing and facebooking friends to get them to come.” For $50, a ticket holder is issued a photo ID, allowing them access throughout the year. A children’s play room is full of toys and a bathtub full of a playdohlike substance that can be molded into various shapes without ruining the child visitor’s clothes. The 30 foot high twisted metal man is actually a slide. It’s not all work and no play at the Park. Ongoing research in history and science will be part of the Park’s mission. The University of Tennessee at Martin is taking a role in sending grad students to the Park. The Park is working on plans that conform to common core national standards. The Park will offer lesson plans in science and history for teachers through the Park website. Louis, Nashville, and Memphis, are all within a day’s drive of the Park. Snyder said that six million people live within driving distance of the Park. The Park has plans to host school groups and is advertising heavily in a circle of cities around Union City. Larry Snyder, director of development at the Park, said estimates of yearly visitors range around 100,000, the bulk coming in summer. Bondurant said he got an archeology education traveling around obtaining display items.Īt the opening, Rippy told the waiting visitors that it’s “quite a venue for Obion County and he urged them to “celebrate bringing an event to rural America.” One of the volunteers, Jim Bondurant, said that as volunteer chair of the Natural History Gallery, he got to work with archeologists and to help select fossils for the museum. The Park, only fifteen miles from the Kentucky border, is both an education facility and a recreation park. The founders hired Verner Johnson Museum Design Architects of Boston and Thine Design of New York to bring the Park to life. There’s a Japanese garden, a grape arbor, a covered bridge, water wheel, a Reelfoot Lake aquarium, a simulated earthquake and more, more, more. From the trains on the south end of the site to the village on the north, the Park is dominated by a three story museum of history and science, complete with restaurant inside. Answering the call, over 200 volunteers added their vision and work to the Kirklands and came up with a breathtaking site that spans the history of the area. Kirkland and his friend Jim Rippy had their own ideas, but they wanted to hear what their community wanted to do. The Kirklands invited interested citizens to meet to plan something exciting for the site. The Kirklands own Dixie Gun Works, a long established business. Robert Kirkland is a man known to have a keen sense of what works in business, according to one source. Union City and Obion Countians had reason to believe that the Kirklands could make big ideas to life. Then Robert and Jenny Kirkland purchased the land and publicly announced that they had “headline making news” for the site. Caudle writes that the founder of Union City had a homestead tucked in the corner of the land, but by 2007, no sign of activity could be seen. Six years ago, according to a story written by Glenda Caudle in a newspaper given out on opening day, there was a fifty acre field and nothing else. In a ceremony crafted down to the minute, the ribbon was cut and 5000 visitors streamed into the newest tourist attraction in far western Tennessee. (Union City, TN – November 1, 2013) – The long anticipated Discovery Park of America opened with flags and brass fanfare. Lots of dinosaurs on display in the Discovery Park of America.
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