Fernbank Museum of Natural History

Fernbank is the museum Atlanta families grow up with, and it is far more than a rainy-day fallback. The building on Clifton Road, in the leafy Druid Hills neighborhood east of Midtown, opened in 1992, but the organization behind it dates to 1939, when local naturalists set out to protect the forest that still surrounds it. The first thing every visitor sees is the reason children beg to come back: a soaring, skylit atrium filled with enormous dinosaur skeletons, including some of the largest dinosaurs ever found, posed mid-stride as if the room were built around them. Daytime general admission is unusually generous. It covers the museum galleries, a film in the four-story giant screen theater, and the 75 acres outside — WildWoods, a network of elevated walkways, nature play areas and trails, and Fernbank Forest, a rare stand of old-growth Piedmont forest that the museum calls the largest of its kind in an American city. Inside, the museum is in the middle of a major multi-year transformation. The long-running Georgia walk-through-time gallery closed in spring 2026 to make way for a new exhibition on how the planet has changed, due in 2027, and some areas may be closed or modified while work continues. In the meantime, Fernbank keeps a steady rotation of big temporary shows — in autumn 2026, an exhibition on modern and ancient elephants with a full-scale woolly mammoth model — plus the Our Place in the Cosmos gallery and a hands-on discovery zone for younger children. Book online for the best price, plan at least half a day, and save the forest walk for the afternoon light.

Fernbank's story is really the story of the forest. In the early twentieth century, the land belonged to Colonel Z. D. Harrison and his family, and his daughter Emily Harrison spent her life campaigning to keep it wild. Fernbank, Inc., founded in 1939, protected the woods for decades, and the museum that opened in 1992 was built at the edge of them with a mission to connect people to the natural world. The forest was restored and reopened to the public in 2016 along with WildWoods, turning a museum visit into a genuine nature outing within the city limits. Walking under tall oaks, tulip poplars and beeches only a few miles from downtown is one of the quiet surprises of Atlanta, and it suits the region's nickname, the city in a forest.

A good visit has a rhythm. Arrive at opening and go straight to the dinosaur atrium while it is calm, then do the current special exhibition before school groups and families build up. Check the giant screen theater schedule as soon as you arrive and pick a showtime that breaks up the day; the films change through the year, and the screen is large enough to make the dinosaur and nature documentaries feel like events. After lunch, head outside. WildWoods is the easy, family-friendly part, with boardwalks, outdoor exhibits and play spaces; Fernbank Forest beyond it has longer, quieter trails on natural surfaces, and it closes a little earlier than the museum, so do not leave it until the final hour. Wear proper shoes for the forest in wet weather. Because galleries are being rebuilt, read the museum site before you go for any area that is temporarily closed.

Evenings are a different Fernbank. Fernbank After Dark, held on the second Friday of most months, is an adults-only night with live music, drinks and science stations, and it makes an offbeat date night. Seasonal programs, including illuminated outdoor experiences in the winter months, appear on the museum calendar. The museum sits in Druid Hills, a short drive from Little Five Points, the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum and the eastern end of Ponce de Leon Avenue, so it pairs easily with an afternoon in the eastside neighborhoods. Fernbank is also part of the Atlanta CityPASS, which is worth pricing if you plan to see the aquarium, the World of Coca-Cola and other big downtown attractions on the same trip.