Augusta Canal National Heritage Area

Fun fact: the Augusta Canal is a partner of the National Park Service. The Discovery Center also has a passport stamp not listed in the NPS Passport. I’m really glad I convinced Mac to visit before we moved. I would have been devastated (okay, slight exaggeration) if I had missed out on a stamp so close to home.

Address and Location

The Augusta Canal Discovery Center is located at 1450 Greene Street in Augusta, Georgia. You catch the boat tours there.

Cruise down the Augusta Canal in a Petersburg boat

Cost

You can visit the canal Discovery Center without taking a tour. If you choose that option, admission costs $6 for adults and $4 for seniors, students, and military. The boat tours also include admission to the Discovery Center. The nature and Civil War tours cost $14 for adults and $12 for seniors, students, and military. The music cruises run $25 for adults and $23 for seniors, students, and military. Times for the tours vary and change seasonally.

What to do

The Augusta Canal Discovery Center museum traces the history of Augusta, the canal, and the local industrial revolution. Augusta originally built the canal to power mills and stimulate the local economy. The Discovery Center actually sits in the old Enterprise Mill building. They still have a functioning turbine that helps power the building. Once you finish up in the museum, you can hop on a tour.

I would definitely recommend taking one of the canal boat tours. We opted for the Civil War tour, and I enjoyed it. We had perfect weather, and we enjoyed a smooth cruise down the canal. Sherman didn’t march through Augusta, so it tends to be overlooked in Georgia’s Civil War history. But it served a major producer of gunpowder and munitions. The Confederate Army converted several of the textile mills to produce these. Our tour guide gave us a history of the area and the buildings as we passed by. She also pointed out lots of wildlife along the route.