WESTERN TENNESSEE
Discovery Park of America
By Margaret Word Burnside and Aaron R. Fodiman
This incredible sight is the Discovery Park of America, an educational complex
that was built as a result of Robert and Jenny Kirkland’s $100 million donation.
158 TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE | MAY/JUNE 2018
TRAARVTEL
On the way from Memphis to Jackson, Tennessee, we
stopped in Union City, a rural town with a population
of 11,000 to see the 50-acre Discovery Park of America,
which the late Robert Kirkland and his wife Jenny
opened in 2013, spending over $100 million. The Kirklands
wanted to build something that would bring people to Union
City, so they decided on this interactive, family-friendly learning
and teaching facility that covers 250 million years of world
history from the Paleozoic Era to modern space travel. The
100,000-square-foot main building has nine permanent exhibit
galleries; a simulation theater that replicates the sounds and
tremors of the 1811 and 1812 earthquakes that created Union City’s
nearby Reel Foot Lake; a 20,000 gallon fresh water aquarium with
local aquatic creatures; and a starship theater with a 160-degree
dome screen that replicates a journey through outer space. There
are also outdoor exhibits and a 120-foot tall observation tower
that overlooks the 50-acre property. More than 300,000 people
attend the attraction’s year-round concerts and special events to
be entertained, as they learn about nature, science, technology,
history and art.
Another stop before Jackson was in Brownsville at the West
Tennessee Delta Heritage Center, which houses a museum that
traces the history of cotton from the 1800s, and a music museum
of spirituals and rockabilly music. The center also features the last
home of blues guitarist Sleepy John Estes and the Flagg Grove
School, which was built in 1889. Singer Tina Turner attended
TENNESSEE DEPARTMENT OF TOURIST DEVELOPMENT