People of the Estuary Exhibit Taking Shape
by Claudine Payne
Right now it’s just an outline in masking tape on a concrete floor. But it won’t be long before construction begins on the Florida Museum’s People of the Estuary exhibit. Bill Marquardt, the exhibit’s chief curator, and Darcie MacMahon, the exhibit coordinator, have spent much of the last year raising money to build the 6,000-square-foot permanent exhibit. They are now about halfway toward their goal of $1.4 million and are looking for a major sponsor such as a corporation for the remainder of the funding.
Planning has been completed for the exhibit, which will be housed
in the Hall of South Florida People and Environments at the new
FLMNH Education/Exhibition Center on Hull Road. 
(Photo by W. Marquardt)
Today the Hall is dim and barn-like, the taped outline of walls and exhibit areas obscured in places by wooden packing crates and museum paraphernalia. By 2000, however, the Hall will be transformed into a mangrove forest and sea-grass estuary, a larger-than-life underwater environment, and a Calusa shell midden and thatched structure. Interspersed among these walk-through experiences will be exhibits on south Florida habitats, fishing heritage, and the Native American legacy.
Construction will begin this fall on the first phase of the exhibit. The second phase will get underway as soon as the remainder of the funding is committed. In the meantime, chief designer Dorr Dennis is working out construction specifications, and artist Russell Bethea is preparing detailed drawings.
We’ll keep you posted as work progresses.
PO Box 117800
Gainesville, FL 32611-7800
