Alright Atlantans, listen up. You don't have to be a tee-head to visit Augusta. Okay? Sure, the competition and spectacle of the Masters is quite a compelling reason to visit, but it's a perfectly good idea to come to The Garden City at times of the year other than April. It has a number of nice things going for it, including the Canal National Heritage Area , the city's beautifully be-gardened riverwalk , several historical and art museums and more. Return visitors should know that several new reasons to visit have popped up recently or soon will.
On Saturdays from mid-February through March, visitors to the Augusta Museum of History will have the opportunity to solve the historical mystery regarding suspicions that famed photographer Margaret Bourke-White, wife of noted author Erskine Caldwell, might have been a communist who was aiding the dastardly Soviet Union. You'll have 45 minutes to decipher the clues, solve the puzzle and gain your freedom from the Museum Escape room. At all other times, the museum is an engaging compendium of exhibits displaying the city's interesting history.
Augusta Museum of History, 560 Reynolds St., Augusta, 706-722-8454, www.augustamuseum.org/MuseumEscape
The first brewery in Augusta since before the Prohibition opened last spring. River Watch Brewery has four core brews – pilsner, brown, amber, IPA – along with seasonals and other limited releases. The brewery is in a re-purposed warehouse and brewery tours run Friday and Saturday afternoons from mid-afternoon into early evening. River Watch Brewery is located just south of downtown Augusta in the heart of a historic industrial area.
River Watch Brewery, 813 Fifth Avenue, Augusta, 703-919-1679, www.riverwatchbrewery.com
Active Climbing opened an indoor climbing facility just outside Augusta, in Grovetown, that includes a Ninja Warrior training center. The bouldering room at the new facility has 16 competition-style sections on an elevated stage. The main rope-climbing section is 30 feet tall and more than 100 feet long, with 30 top-rope lines and nine lead-climbing lines. For the truly athletically gifted, and those under the misimpression that they are, Active Climbing's Ninja Warrior training center allows participants to undertake strenuous maneuvers inspired by the popular TV show, "American Ninja Warrior." Participants are given a quick introduction course and then attempt to deal with obstacles like the Warped Wall, a tall, concave wall one must reach the top of; the Jumping Spider that requires successfully climbing smooth parallel walls by wedging oneself between them, and similar off-the-floor athletic challenges.
Active Climbing, 643 South Old Belair Road, Grovetown, 706-922-1054, activeclimbing.com
