Discovery Park of America
A ten-story central museum and fifty-acre grounds combine natural history, science, transportation, regional history, agriculture, military artifacts, historic buildings, and a recreated wetland.
Artwork inspired by Red Grooms
Its scale can feel encyclopedic, but the useful thread is how northwestern Tennessee connects to larger systems: Mississippi embayment geology, earthquakes, farming technology, river trade, migration, and industrial change. Outdoor structures make those abstractions physical.
Choose two indoor galleries and one outdoor district before arrival. Cooper Tower and special attractions may carry separate fees, weather changes the heritage park experience, and a full visit needs substantially more time than a conventional museum stop.
- Earthquake simulator
- New Madrid shaking simulated
- Cooper Tower
- Regional overview from above
- heritage park
- Historic buildings across campus
Quick guide
- First move
- At Discovery Park of America, begin with Earthquake simulator: A ten-story central museum and fifty-acre grounds combine natural history, science, transportation, regional history, agriculture, military artifacts, historic buildings, and a recreated wetland.
- Second look
- Cooper Tower: Its scale can feel encyclopedic, but the useful thread is how northwestern Tennessee connects to larger systems: Mississippi embayment geology, earthquakes, farming technology, river trade, migration, and industrial change.
Build the visit around three specific anchors
- Start with
- Earthquake simulator: A ten-story central museum and fifty-acre grounds combine natural history, science, transportation, regional history, agriculture, military artifacts, historic buildings, and a recreated wetland.
- Look closely at
- Cooper Tower: Its scale can feel encyclopedic, but the useful thread is how northwestern Tennessee connects to larger systems: Mississippi embayment geology, earthquakes, farming technology, river trade, migration…
- Connect the story
- heritage park: A museum and heritage park built at landscape scale.
- Plan around
- Choose two indoor galleries and one outdoor district before arrival.
Good to know
Discovery Park of America: cooper Tower and special attractions may carry separate fees, weather changes the heritage park experience, and a full visit needs substantially more time than a conventional museum stop.
Notice these
- Earthquake simulator
- Cooper Tower
- heritage park