Coastal Education Center Funded

    In October of 2005, the North Carolina Parks and Recreation Authority allocated $5,998,189 for the construction of the Coastal Education Center here at Fort Macon. This amount is to be used for the construction of the building and exhibits to go inside. We are very excited about having this building constructed and think it will be a great addition to the park. At this time we do not know when construction will begin. There are several steps that have to be completed before we can actually break ground on the building.   The first of these is the selection of an Architect for the project. Once approved the architect will be responsible for updating the existing plans so they meet all state building codes. Once this is completed and the plans have been reviewed by all of the required agencies, the project will go out for bid. So there is still a lot of work that needs to be completed before construction will begin. With luck we should be able to begin construction by late fall of this year. It will probably take about one and one-half years to build the center. We may be able to have the dedication in the spring of 2008. Listed below are some functions of this building:

OFFICES

    At present the park offices are located in a small building away from the general flow of the public. This building does not met ADA requirements and the Department of Insurance has written several letters requesting that State Parks come into compliance. The park has over 1,200,000 visitors a year, and we do not have an office where a person in a wheelchair could use the bathroom. At the new center we will have more office space to accommodate the park staff and be ADA compliant.

LIBRARY/CONFERENCE

    The park has a lot of requests for information concerning the fort. We want to move all of the research books that we have at the fort to the center. This will allow people to have a space to do research on their own. We will also be able to have small group meetings in this room, such as the Board of Directors of the Friends of Fort Macon.

BOOKSTORE

    At present we have a bookstore located in a casemate inside of Fort Macon. We propose to move this store to the center. With this move we will be able to increase the bookstore size and open up more space in the fort for exhibits. Eastern National, who operates the bookstore for the park, has committed to put all new bookshelves, etc. in the new store. Their staff will also give the park extra people to answer questions from the general public when they come into the visitor center.

EXHIBITS

    We plan on having an exhibit area of approx. 4000 sq.ft. This area will be dedicated to exhibits about the coastal environment. The park does not have any exhibits on the coastal area and we have a large number of school groups requesting programs about coastal ecology. Most people only think of Fort Macon having programs on history, while there is a great resource in the park that we can educate school children about. At present the Interpretation and Education staff is limited as to what programs they can do because of the weather, and all interpretive supplies and exhibits are stored in a non-climate controlled garage where they are deteriorating.

LARGE CONFERENCE

    The park has a need of an area where we can offer programs to groups. This room will have a capacity of 150 people. There will be the capability of offering slide programs and other audio-visual programs as needed. We will also be able to remove all of the chairs from this room and use it for special purposes, such as large meetings of the Friends of Fort Macon.

FLOOR PLAN

The floor plan for the Coastal Education Center is shown here.

If you have any questions about the center feel free to contact me at 252-726-3775