Augusta Canal Interpretive Center and Petersburg Boat Tour
Explore the nation's only industrial power canal still in use for its original purposes. You will learn about the people who built the canal in 1845 as well as the progress, problems and promise of its century-and-a-half history.

Spend the afternoon on a leisurely boat ride on the canal. Following the construction of the canal in 1845, Petersburg boats (originally built in the extinct town of Petersburg, GA.) would bypass the rapids in the Savannah River by locking into the canal and continuing on to deliver goods in downtown Augusta. You may now travel the canal aboard replicas of the original boats. The two boats are approximately 65 feet long and carry 45 passengers each. The typical tour lasts approximately 1 1/2 hours, but tours can be customized to for each group's needs.

The Riverwalk
Visit Augusta's famed Riverwalk. A five block, multi level, brick esplanade located on the scenic Savannah River, the Riverwalk boasts themed gardens, historic buildings and monuments.

Guided Tours of Augusta

Historic Tours of Augusta

• Two-hour driving tour of historic Augusta with a step-on guide and entrance into one historic site. As you travel along the downtown streets, you will learn about Augusta's elite who grew wealthy from trade and will see the grand homes they once inhabited. You will travel up the hill to Summerville, one of Augusta's seven historic districts, which began as a summer resort for wealthy Augustans who sought refuge from the heat and mosquitoes near the Savannah River. By the late 1800's Augusta's claim as a resort city attracted wealthy northerners who flocked to the village of Summerville to build grand mansions that served as winter homes. Summerville, now know as the "crown jewel" of Augusta's neighborhoods, boasts impressive examples of revival styles of architecture-Greek, Gothic, Italianate, Spanish and Colonial to name a few.
  
  
• One-hour driving tour of historic Augusta with a step-on guide. Your group will drive through the historic Telfair district in downtown Augusta as well as the Summerville historic district.

Augusta's Black Heritage Tour
Black heritage two-hour driving tour of Augusta with a step-on guide. On your tour you will see the Laney-Walker historic district, home to one of America's first black-owned banks and life insurance companies. Your group will tour Springfield Baptist Church, the oldest independently formed black Christian church in the United States still holding services on its original site. It was here that the Georgia Equal Rights Association was founded and Morehouse College, which later moved to Atlanta, Georgia.

Morris Museum of Art
Tour the exquisite galleries of the Morris Museum of Art, the nation's premier showcase for masterworks of Southern painting. Its superb permanent collection includes antebellum portraiture, landscape painting, still lifes, impressionist works and painting on such diverse themes as rural life, the Civil War, and African-American images, all presented with consummate elegance. The Morris is a feast for the eyes.

Augusta Museum of History
Take a guided tour of the Augusta Museum of History. Award-winning exhibits explore the region's rich history from prehistory through the 1997 space shuttle mission by Augusta native astronaut Susan Still.

National Science Center's Fort Discovery
This high tech playground for the young and young at heart features 250 hands- on math and science exhibits and a multi-effect theater. Located along the Riverwalk, Fort Discovery is the country's only science center with a national focus and is a fantastic playground for the mind. Exhibits include a spectacular gravity-defying, 1,000-pound floating stone you can spin with your fingertips as well as 10-foot-long lightning bolts generated by a million-volt Tesla Coil!

Sacred Heart Cultural Center
Tour this magnificent example of Romanesque Revival architecture featuring more than 15 patterns of exterior brickwork. Jewel-like stained glass windows imported from Germany and intricately carved marble grace the interior. Formerly a Catholic Church, it now houses several of Augusta's arts organizations and serves as a cultural center for the city.

Lucy Craft Laney Museum of Black History
This wonderful museum is located in the former home of Lucy Craft Laney, one of the most influential educators in the history of America. The Lucy Craft Laney Museum hosts a luncheon lecture series the 2^nd Wednesday of every month. Topics include Art Demonstrations, Storytelling, Historical Highlights and Preventative Medicine.

Meadow Garden
Take a guided tour of Meadow Garden, the home of George Walton, twice Georgia Governor and youngest signer of the Declaration of Independence.

The Boyhood Home of President Woodrow Wilson
This magnificently restored civil-war era home contains original furnishings owned by the Wilson family.

Ezekiel Harris House
Tour this 18^th Century home of a prominent Augusta tobacco merchant extensively renovated in 2003.

St. Paul's Church
Tour Saint Paul's Church, Augusta's oldest church and site of the city's founding.

Phinizy Swamp Nature Park
Phinizy Swamp Nature Park's trails, boardwalks and observations decks give close-up looks at the birds, animals and plants in this 1,100 acres of swampland operated as a nature preserve. Education programs for student tours include teacher workshops and on-site pre-K through high school environmental sciences programs focusing on wetlands, wildlife and water quality.