There’s Gold in Them Thar Hills!
Dahlonega Gold Museum, GA
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources hired Signature Design to overhaul exhibits at the Dahlonega Gold Museum, a treasured historic site and centerpiece of the City of Dahlonega tourism experience.
Services
Interpretive Planning
Exhibit Design
Graphic Design
Content Research & Writing
Construction Administration
Design Approach
The 4,000-square-foot Dahlonega Gold Museum State Historic Site has housed exhibits that tell the story of Georgia’s 1829 gold rush since 1967. In 2015, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and Georgia Parks engaged Signature Design to redesign exhibits and work with the museum’s staff and historians to define a new direction for the museum.
Exhibits focus on three themes: the Dahlonega gold rush, the Dahlonega branch of the federal mint, and the Lumpkin County Courthouse. We designed exhibits to appeal to all ages by creating interactive elements and filling the walls, dropping objects from the ceiling, and wrapping content around artifact cases, which feature period artifacts.
Exhibits on the first floor bring to life the gold rush story from 1829 to the 1840s during the peak of Dahlonega’s gold rush and mint operation. The experience continues upstairs with a comfortable theatre for large groups. A series of exhibit stations show mining methods over a 100-year period, including a mock dynamite detonator. A recreated courthouse experience allows visitors to imagine activity in the Lumpkin County Courthouse from courtroom, to jury box, to judge’s chambers. For those captured by the allure of gold, the 1.3-million-dollar display of the museum’s collection is the prize.
