Press
Information
Contact: Marci Bencze
518.359.7800 X111
[email protected]
THE
W!CENTER
LD
Wild Center, New State-of-the-Art Interactive
Natural History Museum Now Open
The Wild Center, a new natural history museum for the Adirondacks opened for its first complete year. in
2007. The museum is located in Tupper Lake, New York. The town is in the center of the Adirondack Park,
the largest park in the United States' contiguous 48 states.
Designed by world-famous architectural firm Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum (HOK), the Museum helps
visitors see the natural world in fascinating new ways. It includes a number of features that mix the indoors
and outdoors in unusual new ways, including a river flowing around the inside of the Museum's main Hall of
the Adirondacks, a wetlands exhibit connecting directly through a giant glass window to a living marsh outside, an indoor waterfall, a towering glacial ice wall, high-definition interactive films, a wide-screen theater,
and an indoor trail leading from an Adirondack Lean-to in the Museum's Great Hall to a replica of the summit of a mile-high mountain. The Museum is set on a 31-acre campus that includes frontage on one of New
York's wild and scenic rivers. The trails serve as outdoor Museum “Halls” with their own changing labels that
reflect the sometimes daily changes outdoors.
Living exhibits contain river otters, amphibians and fish, while high definition state-of-the-art technologies
enable visitors to explore the Adirondack environment with a depth and richness not normally available.
The Museum's programs are aimed at families with children, outdoor enthusiasts enjoying everything the
Adirondacks has to offer, students on field trips, and museum goers looking for a new experience. In short,
all ages and interests can benefit. Its mission? To provide a world-class, enjoyable, interesting, hands-on
venue where visitors can add a significant new dimension to their understanding of the natural systems
critical to the future of life on earth.
"The Museum is set in the center of the subject it covers," says Stephanie Ratcliffe, the Museum’s managing
director. "The interior exhibits actually connect to the world right outside so visitors can take what they've
learned, and use new tools they pick up in the Museum to explore and understand the natural world outside.
The only way we're going to do a better job of coexisting with the rest of the natural world is to have more
people know more about how it works. We have worked for eight years to make this Museum one that
stands out and is worth coming back to. Nature changes every day, and the Museum is designed to reflect
and explore those changes."
NATUR
Wild Center, Brand New State-of-the-Art...cont.
Please note - The Adirondack Park's 9,375 square miles are larger than Yellowstone, Yosemite, Glacier, Great
Smokey Mountains and the Grand Canyon National Parks combined. The Adirondacks are larger than the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts and attract nine million visitors annually.
Available for Interviews:
Donald K Clifford, Jr., President
Don "Obie" Clifford served on the Board of the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). A graduate
of Yale University and Harvard Business School, he was a Director with McKinsey & Company management
consultants until 1984. He co-authored "The Winning Performance," focused on management of big-growth
mid-sized companies and, since 1984, has been the President of Threshold Management, Inc. He is an
Honorary Trustee and formerly on the Executive Committee of the AMNH; Honorary Trustee and former
Vice Chairman of Sarah Lawrence College; and Executive Committee Chairman of Quebec-Labrador
Foundation. A former President of the Harvard Business School Club of Greater New York and Chairman of
the Yale Alumni Fund, he is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. His forebears founded and
managed the Santa Clara Lumber Company in the Tupper Lake area in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Don is married to the former Mary Harris Lawrence and lives in Mt. Kisco, New York.
Stephanie Ratcliffe, Director of Programs and Museum Operations
Stephanie Ratcliffe brings more than 20 years of experience working in interactive science museums to The
Wild Center project. She holds a BA in Art Marketing/Museum Management and a Master's in Museum
Education from George Washington University. Stephanie contributes her expertise in informal education,
interactive exhibit strategies, evaluation and program development. Stephanie has embraced the notion of translating any science topic to the exhibit floor in an engaging and understandable way. She believes science is not
just for scientists, but something that should be a part of everyone's daily life and way of understanding the
world. Prior to joining The Wild Center team, Stephanie worked for the Maryland Science Center, Brooklyn
Children's Museum and the Smithsonian Institution.
Howard M. Fish , Exhibit Content
Howard Fish holds an MS from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He brought together the
original team that won the bid to produce the Museum’s Master Plan and subsequently designed the Museum.
Howard worked on the Museum’s communications, shaping elements from the otter symbol to the mission statement. Fish helped design and outline the Museum’s exhibits, and wrote all the exhibit content for the Museum.
David Gross - Curator
David is the person to talk with about the Museum’s animal collection. He’s had a hand in everything from
stocking the Museum’s 3 million gallon outdoor Blue Pond to the the fish collection, birds and river otters.
David does animal presentations and looks after this diverse and growing live exhibits.
Wild Center, Brand New State-of-the-Art...cont.
Museum Facts
Name: The Wild Center (Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks)
Address: 45 Museum Drive, Tupper Lake, NY 12986
Phone - 866.765.7800 Local Phone - 518.359.7800
Email address: [email protected]
URL address: www.wildcenter.org
Snapshot Description
Designed by the same firm that designed National Air & Space Museum in Washington. The new $30 million
Center features live animals, including river otters; an indoor waterfall and river, towering glacial ice wall,
high-definition films, and wide-screen theater. Set on a 31-acre trail-filled campus that includes a pond and
frontage on the Raquette River.
Dates of Operation
Museum opened July 4, 2006.
Memorial Day - Columbus Day - 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m., Seven days per week
Columbus Day - Memorial Day - 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Thursday -Sunday
*Closed Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year's Day
*Special Holiday Hours - December 26 - December 31 - 10:00 a.m. -5:00 p.m.
*Closed month of April for exhibit installations
Rates
Senior Ticket $12 (65 plus)
Adult Ticket $14 (15 - 64)
Youth Ticket $9 (4 - 14)
Under 3 is free
Memberships for individuals start at $40 and include free admissions
Memberships for families start at $75 and include free admission for up to 2 adults and 2 children.
Advance Group Tour Rates Available.
Handicap accessibility
Interior space is ADA compliant, as are some outdoor trails and the new Bird Skywalks and Skytowers.
Food and Beverage, and Museum Shop
The Wild Center houses a Waterfront Café with indoor and outdoor seating and
The Wild Supply Co. retail store.
Wild Center, Brand New State-of-the-Art...cont.
Driving directions to Museum
From NYC and Albany, NY
Take the New York Thruway to Albany, then Route 87 (The Northway) to Exit 30. Turn left on Route 73 to
Lake Placid. Stay left at the fork a few miles prior to Lake Placid right past the Ski Jumps, on Old Military Road,
which dead ends at Route 86. Turn left onto 86 West toward Saranac Lake. In Saranac Lake, merge with Route
3 at the first light. Continue on Route 3 to Tupper Lake. As you enter Tupper Lake, turn left on Hosley Avenue,
(opposite the big white Sunmount buildings. Museum entrance is 500 yards on left.
From Syracuse and Watertown, NY
Take Route 3 all the way to Tupper Lake. Stay on Route 3 through Tupper Lake village and continue, turning
right toward Saranac Lake. As you leave the town on Route 3, Hosley Avenue is on your right (opposite the big
white Sunmount buildings). Museum entrance is 500 yards on left.
From Plattsburgh, NY
Leave Plattsburgh on Route 3 and travel on Route 3 West/Southwest all the way to Saranac Lake and through
Saranac Lake to a dead end and traffic light at Lake Flower. Turn right at this junction, still on Route 3, and
proceed to the next light, which is at the corner where the landmark brick Town Hall with a clock tower and a
bridge directly across the way are both visible. Still on Route 3, proceed straight, crossing the bridge and continuing on Route 3 to Tupper Lake. As you enter Tupper Lake, turn left on Hosley Avenue, (opposite the big
white Sunmount buildings). Museum entrance is 500 yards on left.
From Burlington, VT
Take the ferry to Plattsburgh. Go straight on Route 374, which connects to Route 3 just west of Plattsburgh.
Take Route 3 West/Southwest all the way to Saranac Lake and through Saranac Lake to a dead end and traffic
light at Lake Flower. Turn right at this junction, still on Route 3, and proceed to the next light which is at the
corner where the landmark brick Town Hall with a clock tower and a bridge directly across the way are both
visible. Remaining on Route 3, proceed straight, crossing the bridge and continuing on Route 3 to Tupper Lake.
As you enter Tupper Lake, turn left on Hosley Avenue, (opposite the big white Sunmount buildings). Museum
entrance is 500 yards on left.
From Lake Placid, NY
Leave Lake Placid on 86 West toward Saranac Lake. In Saranac Lake, merge with Route 3 at the first light.
Continue on Route 3 to Tupper Lake. As you enter Tupper Lake, turn left on Hosley Avenue, (opposite the big
white Sunmount buildings). Museum entrance is 500 yards on left.
N AT U R AL HIS T O RY MUSEUM OF THE ADI RONDACKS