Fort Charlotte will close next month for a $350,000 make-over that will include new exhibitions, artifacts and safety features.
Director of the national museum of the Bahamas, Dr. Keith Tinker, said the fort will close for the first and major phase of a three part development plan in the second week of November and will remain closed until December 20.
Staff at Fort Charlotte will be sent to other areas of the museum sector, including research.
The upgrade was developed in the last 18 months and “will produce a brand new experience,” Dr. Tinker said.
The second phase will include a visitors centre in front of Fort Charlotte and some final improvements to the fort which are too expensive for the first stage. During the second phase Fort Stanley, which is connected to Fort Charlotte will also be improved. It is estimated to cost $500,000 and should beging sometime in January – February at the latest, Dr. tinker said.
There are also plans at this stage for a new straw market at the fort.
The third and final phase of the development is also estimated at half a million dollars and will include improvemnets to the Botanical gardens, the surrounding environment and Fort D’Arcy, the fort above the soccer field. The second and third phases are more expensive because they are more expansive, said Dr. Tinker.
Malone Displays, a planning and production company based in Georgia, has been and will be an important part of all the planned renovations.
By Dominic Duncombe, The Tribune
