Tellus Science Museum

TELLUS SCIENCE MUSEUM is an expansion of the Weinman Mineral Museum, a 9,000-square-foot facility built by the city of Cartersville in 1983. In 2001, the Weinman became part of Georgia Museums Inc., a 501(C)(3) public charity, and a much larger museum was envisioned. Tellus opened the doors of its 120,000-square-foot science facility in 2009.

This museum provides unique educational opportunities to the region. Nowhere else in the Southeast can visitors experience exhibits and programs on rocks and minerals, dinosaurs, transportation technology, hands-on science, astronomy, and alternative energies, all in one institution. Additionally, the Museum showcases the only all-digital planetarium in the region open for daily public shows and a state-of-the-art 20- inch telescope in the observatory. Since opening in 2009, Tellus has served nearly 2.6 million visitors including more than half a million schoolchildren who have participated in the museum's STEM programs.

There is plenty to see and do at one of four permanent exhibit galleries at the Tellus Science Museum; the Weinman Mineral Gallery, the Fossil Gallery, the Millar Science in Motion Gallery (a transportation gallery), and the Collins Family My Big Backyard (an interactive, handson science gallery).

The museum’s collections include minerals, gems, meteorites, and fossils. The primary focus is collecting these geological specimens relating to Georgia and the Southeast. Tellus has the best and most comprehensive collection of Georgia minerals in the world, and the museum’s fossil collection ranks nearly as high. The collection also includes transportation-related objects such as automobiles, aircraft, and hardware related to space exploration. The museum’s curatorial staff actively adds to the mineral and fossil collection through purchases, seeking donations, and field collecting. A team of curatorial staff, volunteers, and interns catalog new specimens and add them to the museum’s database. They are also involved in preparing specimens for exhibit.

The Vulcan Materials Gem Panning and the Vesta Dalia Fossil Dig are two popular exhibits. Here, one can pan for gems, dig for fossils, and keep their finds. The Bentley Planetarium is also a favorite and offers exciting shows every 45 minutes. In addition, the museum offers a wide array of special events, evening and daytime lectures, workshops, symposia, and other public programs.