Play a Role
The tour starts when you take on the role of a new worker in an 1880s textile factory along the Augusta Canal. Pay attention to the characters who will “train” you, taking you through the steps in how textiles are made, from cotton to cloth.
Ride a Petersburg Boat
A Petersburg boat captain will take you on the journey of bringing the cotton down the canal and to the textile mills. Listen to stories of his adventures.
Cotton to Cloth
Various characters will show you the process of turning raw cotton into cloth: preparation, spinning, weaving and finishing, including the workings of an authentic loom.
Child Workers
It was not uncommon for children to start work in the mills as young as age 7. Watch and listen as a 10-year-old boy explains his job of being a doffer, which was replacing full bobbins with empty ones on the spinning machine.
Earn Your Pay
As a “trainee,” you’ll earn $2 a week for working six days a week, 10 hours a day. Pay will be in “scrip,” which you may use in the Discovery Center Gift Shop at the end of the tour for a special discount.
See Power Being Generated
After you return to the present day, your guide will top off your experience with a behind-the-scenes visit to the hydroelectric powerplant at the Discovery Center, where you’ll see the two 1920s umbrella generators and the turbines turning to generate the energy that powers the Center. Then complete your experience with a visit to the Gift Shop.
The Details
The Canal to Cloth tour is offered two times a month, reservations are required – call 706-823-0440 x 4. The 90-minute immersive tour is $29 for adults, $27 for seniors 60+, students and active military.
Book now!
We thank Destination Augusta and Veneto Collaboratory for making the Canal to Cloth Immersive Experience possible and for choosing Augusta Canal Discovery Center as an Authentic Augusta Experience.
The Canal to Cloth Immersive Experience comes to life through a partnership with the actors of The Augusta Players and The Augusta Junior Players.
