The facility is tailored to accommodate Grandfather’s growing education and habitat teams, providing more collaborative spaces, break rooms and private offices, while enabling keepers to provide the highest level of care to the animals that call the mountain home.
There's a commercial kitchen where you can prepare healthy meals for Grandfather's animals, a dedicated area for fun, interactive enrichment to ensure the animals have the best possible life, a room for our mountain ambassadors, a little vet check-up, laundry service and extra storage space.
The inauguration ceremony for the new building was held in July.
Ginny Barton has long expressed her grandfather's love for the animals (including regularly bringing them treats) and her appreciation for the people who care for them, and made a generous donation to help build the facility.
“I am incredibly honored to be a part of this project and to have my name attached to Grandfather Mountain, one of the most beautiful places on Earth and one of the places I most want to visit,” Burton said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
In addition to the Wilson Nature Discovery Center, which opened in June 2022, the Grandfathers Conservation Campus currently includes the Mildred the Bear Environmental Habitat, Covey Botanical Gardens filled with native plants, and the Williams Outdoor Learning Space, which features an amphitheater with terraced seating and a pavilion built around the existing natural landscape adjacent to the Wilson Center.
“The Ginnie Barton Education and Animal Shelter is a testament to our dedication in protecting, conserving and educating our animals,” he added. “This facility is more than just a building; it is a symbol of our ongoing commitment to making Grandfather Mountain the best place it can be in every aspect of the park. We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to Ginnie Barton.”
Pope also expressed gratitude to donor John Crosland III, who provided funding for the conservation and education department offices on the second floor.
Christy Tipton, animal habitat curator for Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation, called the new building a “dream come true.”
“This facility is just revolutionary for us,” she said. “Words can't express how excited we are.”
Meanwhile, Lauren Farrell, interpretive and education programs manager for Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation, is excited to have a space where her education team can more easily collaborate on developing new programs and enhancing current educational offerings, as well as a suitable place to store all the materials they’re creating.
“We have a great staff of park guides, environmental educators, zoo educators and other full-time staff who have developed thorough and excellent interpretive materials,” Farrell noted.
“These two departments have an important role to play in not only changing the way people think about conserving the natural world, but also changing people's lives by coming here and learning about all that it has to offer,” John Kaveny, director of conservation education for Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation, said of the education and habitat staff who now work together in the new building.
“We really want Conservation Campus to be a transformative learning hub for the people who come here, and I think we're on track to achieve that goal,” Caveney added. “We intend to do big things with this new space.”
Gordon Warburton, chairman of the board of directors for Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation, echoed many of the sentiments employees shared about the Ginnie Barton Educational and Animal Care Facility.
“This has real purpose, real meaning and impact,” he said. “We're grateful to the donors who made this project possible. So many people have a real passion for mountain animals and educational work and we're grateful.”
For more information about the Wilson Center and the surrounding Conservation Campus, visit www.grandfather.com/wilson-center For details about booking a behind-the-scenes tour to visit the animal shelter, visit www.grandfather.com/experiences/animal-habitats-vip-tours
The nonprofit Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation seeks to inspire conservation of the natural world through education, exploration and example. For more information, visit Grandfather.