Landscapes of forest in the northern, southern, eastern, and western areas of America. The Smithsonian Institute gave us this exhibit that had been developed for the American Bicentennial Celebration.

• Historical information on the early use of products from pine gum and antiques (collected by our museum) of masts for ships, other wooden items such as wagons, furniture, tools, poles, and more.
• Featuring several peepholes in the display that show a variety of views of forest scenes.
• The development of civilization utilizing products made of wood.
• Plus a variety of short movies.

Animated dioramas, tell the story of ground preparation, planting the seedling nursery, and illustrate the three stages of growing trees ages 5, 15, and 25 years when they are ready to harvest. Techniques of forestry management. A Forestry Quiz Board has buttons to press for a correct answer. There are displays on ecology and the environment and on champion trees of GA. Exhibits include two large dioramas on Hebardville, a mill town in north Waycross, and another on Billy’s Island in the swamp. Both received and processed millions of board feet of cypress between 1909 and 1926.

This features the original mural with specimens of some of the ferns and mounted animals of the swamp including a 493-pound black bear that was a Georgia champion when he was killed by James Gilbert in 1983, just fourteen miles from this museum; a fox squirrel; a raccoon; and a small opossum reminiscent of “Pogo,” made famous with the swamp by cartoonist Walt Kelly.

• A shop Smith custom-made in the 1930s with special saws welded together and run by diesel engine for woodworking equipment.
• A large wooden eagle, carved from a section of a tree during a forest festival. Petrified wood from Baxley GA. 
• A collection of ten varieties of pinecones.
• A giant cypress tree similar to the Sequoia trees in California is another of our fantastic exhibits, along with photos telling the story of its being found in the grove of similar trees in a remote section of Boyles Island near the Altamaha River just forty-five miles away.
  Most residents have no idea that such trees are still growing in Georgia.

• Our astounding mummified dog in a log, ‘Stuckie’, as featured in Ripley’s Believe It or Not.
• A display identifying 12 varieties of trees in their native forests located through Georgia with 4-foot sections of their trunks and 5 examples of foliage.
• A highly unusual exhibit and has a unique display of damage done by beetles.
• Walk inside a tree with our spiral staircase as you climb through the tree to the 2nd floor, it is possible to see how trees grow, by following the flow of xylem which carries water up the tree.
• A knothole for a bird or squirrel may be seen en route.

We have a scale model of a fire still and an original oil painting of a working fire still. These were used extensively in the South to produce turpentine between 1834 and 1936. Photographs and realistic exhibits show how the gum was collected, paper and pulp mills, plus the thousands of products with some element of a pine tree in it.

You’ll be fascinated with all the information you would never have sort possible.

See actual clothing and equipment used in space, and how it relates to pine products.

• 7-foot tall scale model of the Saturn rocket that helped put a man into space, with a 7 ½-foot tower
• A scale model of the lunar shuttle that put man on the moon.
• Other types of shuttles, include a model exhibiting the time when the U. S. and Russian shuttles docked in space to begin the joint space program.