Interpretive Center
Illustrations from the Vernon Johnson Museum Architects detailed design
VMNH Interpretive Master Plan
A VMNH | City of Waynesboro Partnership
Part of the mission of the Virginia Museum of Natural History is to interpret Virginia’s natural heritage and provide educational programs to its citizens. A location in Waynesboro is the connection between the natural resources of the region and the public and would serve a population of close to 450,000 including nearly 63,000 K-12 students and 300,000 annual visitors to the Shenandoah National Park.
The Chmura study projects numerous benefits from a new 21,850 sq. ft. facility including 108 construction jobs, annual operations budget of $500,000 and 10 jobs, visitor spending of $1.8 million, yielding significant annual tax revenue: local – $23,608, State – $49,576
The Quatrefoil report presents a feasible facility that runs in line with the estimated revenue projections and reviews four possible locations within the City’s central business district.
Click HERE to download the full report.
Related reports for download:
We are a Museum Without Walls. That is a call to mission, ambition, relevance, and responsibility. There are over 7 million Virginians we must reach. Martinsville, the Board of Trustees, and the VMNH Foundation took a brave step forward when the doors to our Starling Avenue facility opened in March of 2007. We now contemplate a bold new move to triple our attendance to exceed 100,000 visitors annually, and capture an audience composed of state-wide and nation-wide tourists. We will achieve this while interpreting one of the truly amazing ecological regions of Virginia, with the Shenandoah Valley and Blue Ridge supporting flora and fauna found nowhere else on earth.
Waynesboro is an unconventional next step in the growth of VMNH, just as opening the museum’s original building on Douglas Avenue in Martinsville was three decades ago. I have worked closely with numerous constituents in Waynesboro over the past three years and have seen an economic recovery fueled by support from the City and local business leaders.
Waynesboro is centrally located between Harrisonburg and Charlottesville, is adjacent to Interstate 64 and 10 minutes from Interstate 81, has 300,000 people traversing Mile Post 0 on the Blue Ridge Parkway annually, and the south entrance to the Shenandoah National Park is situated only 10 minutes from the Downtown. These travelers represent a ready-made audience of people from throughout Virginia and other parts of the country who would be keenly interested in an interpretive natural history experience in this biologically and geologically rich area of the Commonwealth.
This master plan outlines steps we may take together to engage more visitors and operate a sustainable science interpretive facility that will match our Museum Without Walls ambitions. I thank the Board of Trustees, VMNH-Foundation Board of Directors, the VMNH staff, the City of Waynesboro, and everyone else who has worked to bring us to this exciting point.
Joe B. Keiper, Ph.D., Executive Director
Virginia Museum of Natural History