Stopped in to check out a little piece of history. Runs next to the train tracks were picked up the…read moreguys on their way to the get camp. The place is packed full of history from WWI, WWIi, Korea, and Vietnam. Lot of WWII all donated by families. Uniforms, guns, radios, Walkie-talkies, flags, helmets and much more. They have more than they can put out so they rotate the displays. Highly recommended!

Was a very informative museum with very informative displays. Love the uniforms and weaponsread more

I feel like my experience was a Mandela Effect with how mirrored my memories were of the place, on…read moretop of the scenery changing so much over the years. I wish more of the historic buildings were either cleaned and open, or memorialized for viewers to really get a full experience of history walking into these refineries.

We had a good time learning about the history of the Copper Basin. There was a short movie and then…read morethe friendly curators spent time talking with you about the artifacts and history of the area and mines.

Stopped in after hiking at Tallulah Gorge state park. It's about a 15 min drive from there and…read moretucked away, not able to see from the road. I thought the set up of the museum and tour were fantastic. I happened on a day when a school was touring and they had a working blacksmith and musician. The exhibits in the cabin are fantastic and the artifacts are well displayed. I liked that the tour takes you on a trail to each cabin so you get a bit of a workout. They had a nice gift shop and clean bathrooms. Tour took me about 90 minutes. Only thing I would caution is to make sure you can walk on slightly steep inclines. I also liked that while it focused on Appalachian culture it didn't shy away from highlighting the impact of the Indian Removal Pact that impacted the region. Highly recommend.

Interesting history and structures. Nice gifts hopefully and very informative and friendly staffread more

BLUF: A very impressive collection of Lionel model trains including a train layout with a few…read moretrains running. Although I like to joke that I am an LGB G scale purist, I was impressed by this collection of model trains which are mostly O gauge trains from Lionel. The display cases are nicely displayed and labeled and the plexi-glass was super clean. Plus, this is a massive collection! While many people will enjoy watching the trains zip around the large layout and pushing the buttons for the interactive layout, my husband loved looking for items from the B&O railroad while I enjoyed looking at models of my favorite locomotives. It was really cool to see models in this collection of some of the greats like Norfolk and Western J-611 and Union Pacific "Big Boy." For kids the museum offers a scavenger hunt but I think my husband and I would have had fun doing that ourselves! Admission to the museum is included with a train ride on the GSMR. We were able to visit the museum the day before our train ride by showing our ticket to the staff at the gift shop. We appreciated their flexibility in letting us visit the museum a day ahead of our train ride so we weren't rushed.

Very cool place especially if you love trains.. lots and lots of history in trains from different…read moreplaces and toy models you can see.. very interesting to learn and speak to employees.. I love watching the trains.. there is huge display you can walk around see something different from different angles..

This place is a real hidden treasure. This huge model train museum/exhibit started out as three…read morehobbyists' escape. It features a walk-through representation of the surrounding area including Brasstown Bald (Georgia's highest peak), Blairsville, Cleveland, Dahlonega, Gainesville, and parts of Atlanta. The tour includes a brief history of the model train and then a walk through of the train exhibit.

Horribly run business. We checked the website for hours, which confirmed that they are open for…read moretours on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 1:30. We drove for over 45 minutes with an excited toddler to see the railroad, only to find that it was closed with no notice. Three cars were waiting outside, with several children left disappointed. If it's too much hassle to update their website, they could at least leave a note on the door indicating that they are closed.

Came to Brasstown Bald Observation Tower for the views and it was a sight to see! It's not everyday…read more(at least where I live) that you can stand in such a high place and be able to see mountains spanning across 4 different states. The entry fee was 8 per adult (kids are free) which also includes a van ride to the overlook. Or you can choose to hike which wasn't a long hike but steep from what I saw. A must do for anyone visiting the area! Ohh... and make sure you watch the little movie at the top, it's very cool to see how one place is its own little world in different seasons and the history behind the place.

The current Brasstown Bald observation tower was built in 1965, replacing an earlier stone tower…read morethat was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1935. The original 1935 stone tower was torn down in 1947 and replaced with a steel tower before the current structure was built - we'll folks looks like it's time to build another tower this one is in a state of disrepair. I came here to observe 4 states from the highest point in Georgia, but apparently the observation tower is in such bad shape that it is now closed to the public and your adventure will end after climbing a few flights of stairs ending at the base of the observation deck yeah there's a view from the lower level but in my opinion not worth the price of admission. Thankfully there's a shuttle van that takes you from the parking lot level to the top it runs about ever 10 minutes, our driver was very friendly and tried his best to entertain us during the short drive to the top but there's not much to say - the museum at the top is okay and takes about 2 minutes to tour it then time you walk the lower deck and wait for the shuttle back down - I purchased a refrigerator magnet for the RV from the gift shop and headed for the truck. I guess I am fortunate that I came and saw this, although it was never on my bucket list, I'm still trying to figure out why there's an old train engine in the museum it's quite the anachronism...

This is a museum in progress but it was still pretty decent. I liked that they included pottery and…read moreitems from more recent times to tie in with the past. Overall I do wish they didn't cover over some of the signage with paint but it's very reading intensive. Kids probably wouldn't find this as interesting Would love more interactive parts like being able to touch beading, playing cultural songs, I loved the portion where you hear their language by syllables Really interesting and the girl at the counter was super sweet. The gift shop was kind of expensive- a sticker was $6.. overall easy parking and access.

Having visited many years ago the museum is in transition. They have taken out many items and are…read morelooking to eventually build a new facility. It was an average experience but one bit too be missed if wanting educating on the Cherokees.

Being a big Bigfoot fan, I decided I would check this out while in the area. Admission is fairly…read moreinexpensive just $9. You do the tour yourself and walk around. There are some headphones to listen to some stories and there's a few little mini theatres that you can sit and listen to. Unfortunately the only bad thing I have to say about it is that the main theatre plays very silly computer generated Bigfoot videos instead of actual footage. So myself as well as some other people got up and left pretty quickly. The staff is sweet and there's a gift shop to get some moderately priced goodies as well as look at an updated map of Bigfoot reported sighting by civilians.

Definitely an interesting experience. Totally worth the $9 ticket. Only complaint is that we wished…read morethere was a tour guide. Thankfully there was a true believer who was there at the same time as we were so we were able to listen to his fun facts.

Tiny but mighty! There are a few rooms here with interactive exhibits for kids. My 4 and 5 year…read moreolds could have spent a lot of time here even though at times it felt a little tight. There's a small climbing structure that my kids kept coming back to, which was a favorite. A lot of the exhibits focused on the earth. I think it was sort of lost on my kids, but the exhibits were fun to interact with. You can't really avoid the shop.

Very underwhelming, for a city known for tourism this is probably the lamest science center I've…read morebeen to. It's like 3 rooms total, all of them in basically the same space, there's probably a whole like 4 or 5 things for the kids to do that they can probably do within 30 minutes. The admission price should be like $5 for what it's worth. The lady at the front told me there was a bunch of hands on activities for babies and I'd say there was like three. The first room was a tiny room with a virtual earth, that if you touch the screen it says it will move but it doesn't work, everything else in that room is just reading/writing (made for tweens and up) and not very fun or engaging. Then there's a room full of rocks behind glass displays, not very exciting or hands on for kids (even as an adult, I felt like it was boring). There's one little section in the room where the kids can brush sand off rocks, but it was nothing special. The room with the bikes is the coolest room, but it's very small and like I said there's barely anything to do. You can look at different bikes on display, they have like 2 or 3 interactive things you can do to learn about how bikes work which take a minute to do. The there's a tiny jungle gym kind of thing that's sub-par, a water play area that's also sub-par and a sand pit where you can look for fossils which I guess would have been fun if my child was a bit older, but for little ones like mine, there wasn't much. He had a very tiny section in the corner he could play with and then he got bored. I guess I'm a bit spoiled because we live in the Triad and we have 3 of the best children's museums. It's guess it's a good thing to do to kill time if you literally have nothing else to do with your kids in Asheville but if I knew what it would be like I probably wouldn't do it again.

We went awhile back to see Charlotte and were sorely disappointed. Hearing of her death today…read morereminded me I had forgotten to write a review. This location is privately run and not for educational purposes. More like going to a friends house to see their pets. Please consider going to an aquarium run by scientists for educational purposes.

I want to say this has been one of the highlights of my family trip. When your 16 yo his 17 yo best…read morefriend and wife all agree on this fact it says something. As adults we have this tendency to say "if I knew then what I knew now, I'd have paid more attention in school!" Well here's your chance. This tiny aquarium will impart more knowledge in a short visit than you probably take in most months if you take advantage of it. The interns and owner (a former teacher) are committed to answering questions. The things they are studying and sharing are amazing. If you go in and you want to learn and ask questions this will be an experience you won't forget. Think of the best science teacher you ever had, having an opportunity to show the world what she loves to talk about... and that is what you have here. Do yourself a favor, go, enjoy and learn!!