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Waynesboro: Natural history museum delayed; ‘unable to secure’ construction funding

Crystal Graham
Virginia Museum of Natural History
Courtesy of the Virginia Museum of Natural History.

Waynesboro leaders remain “confident” that a proposed campus of the Virginia Museum of Natural History will become a reality despite being left out of the state’s budget once again this year.

The funding for construction of the museum was included in the Virginia budget in 2020, but funds were later reallocated to support the COVID-19 response in the state.

Despite efforts since then to get the construction costs back into the budget, the project has remained on the backburner.

As a result of unsuccessful efforts to garner funding, groundbreaking was pushed from 2023 to 2024 to 2025 to …

After the latest setback, museum officials would not give a projected date for the groundbreaking or opening of the Waynesboro campus.

“The museum is committed to finishing the design work required by the Commonwealth and look forward to working with all of our community partners to achieve groundbreaking for the VMNH-Waynesboro campus,” said Joe Keiper, executive director of the Martinsville-based VMNH, when asked for anticipated dates for both.

Partners for the project, including the City of Waynesboro and VMNH, had been working with the governor’s office and Virginia General Assembly members to secure funding through the budget amendment process this year without success and chose not to submit a capital request or seek a budget amendment this session.

“While it was disappointing that we were unable to secure the budget amendment, or inclusion in the governor’s budget, the museum project continues to enjoy support in the General Assembly and in the executive branch,” Waynesboro City Manager Mike Hamp told AFP.

“A number of factors, some political, some economic, and some electoral probably created the headwind that we were unable to overcome,” Hamp said.

The VMNH Foundation and museum together have secured approximately $2.5 million in cash and commitments in recent years for the natural science interpretation facility downtown. The price tag for the museum is estimated at approximately $25 million.

While the funding is in limbo, the museum will focus on final design elements including the building layout and a preview of the exhibit experience to continue the forward momentum of the project.

“In the coming months and beyond, VMNH and city staff will continue to do the work necessary to make the case for construction funding in the next session of the General Assembly,” Hamp said. This November, elections will be held for members of the Virginia House of Delegates as well as governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.

The 2.5-acre lot for the museum, at the corner of Main Street and Arch Avenue, will soon be transferred to the museum, Keiper said. Construction will take approximately two years to complete.

Both the city and VMNH remain optimistic state funding for construction will come through at some point in the future.

“We are grateful to our partners at VMNH, and we remain confident that the vision of the museum will become a reality,” Hamp said.

VMNH Waynesboro campus timeline


  • 2011: Planning for the museum in Waynesboro dates back more than a decade, to 2011.
  • 2020: Funding for the museum was included in the state budget in 2020, but state funds were ultimately reallocated to support the COVID-19 response in the state. At the time, Greg Hitchin, the director of economic development and tourism, told AFP that he was “pretty confident” that the project would move forward some time in 2023 with a projected opening in 2025.
  • 2022: Museum officials announced they had selected the Richmond-based Glave & Holmes Architecture to create designs for the facility and to see the construction project through to completion. The groundbreaking was projected in 2024.
  • 2023: In October 2023, the construction start date was pushed back to 2025 as museum officials waited to hear if the project was included in the state’s capital planning fund. Hitchin told Waynesboro City Council that the 28,000 square foot campus could be open as early as 2026. While the museum awaits potential funding from the state, a mobile display unit was put in place in Constitution Park in 2023 to help the museum establish a presence in Waynesboro.
  • 2024: In May 2024, City Manager Mike Hamp told AFP that “it will be necessary to adjust the timeline for the project” after the construction funding was not included in the budget for Virginia.

Project details



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Crystal Graham

Crystal Graham

Crystal Abbe Graham is the regional editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1999 graduate of Virginia Tech, she has worked for 25 years as a reporter and editor for several Virginia publications, written a book, and garnered more than a dozen Virginia Press Association awards for writing and graphic design. She was the co-host of "Viewpoints," a weekly TV news show, and co-host of Virginia Tonight, a nightly TV news show on PBS. Her work on "Virginia Tonight" earned her a national Telly award for excellence in television.