Mann Museum Opens in Opelika

17-Mar-2000 OPELIKA-AUBURN (AL) NEWS
Brett Buckner

After months of planning, years of work and more than a decade of dreams, the Mann Museum and Outdoors will become a reality by opening its doors to the public Saturday with a 10 a.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony featuring Lt. Governor Steve Windom as well as other state and local offficials. Housed in a 35,000 square foot facility, the Mann Museum is a study in natural history and conservation with its wide variety of animals placed in their natural environments with tremendous care to detail. Every piece of stone, plant life and ground covering featured in the display is indigenous to the animal’s region. The concept behind the true-to-life displays is to give museum visitors a window into a world they may never see in person, said museum founder George P. Mann. “The Mann Museum and Outdoors offers the opportunity to come face-to-face with animals and environments most people would never otherwise see,” he said. The life-activity exhibits at the museum include the full North American families of deer, bear, skunk, quail, duck and wild turkey. Other featured animals include fox, lynx, moose, bobcat, beaver and otter. North American waterfowl are included with a display on the waterfowl of Kodiak Island, Alaska. Fish include freshwater and saltwater species of Alabama and game fish of southeast Alaska, including salmon, trout and char.

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