Cedar Wayfinding Signs for the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
Designs & Signs manufactured and installed many cedar signs at The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Maryland. The campus has seventeen similar wayfinding signs for visitors. Wayfinding signs help visitors navigate the large property with confidence. We join many cedar planks to make these large sign faces. Patterns ensure accurate placement of each letter. For more on dimensional letters, see our installation tutorial. A printer produced the circular sun logo, and we mounted it on PVC. A UV protective clear coat shields the letters from sunlight, which helps them last and keeps the colors bright after many years of service.
Why Cedar for Carved Wooden Signs?
Choosing a material for a carved wooden welcome sign is one of the first decisions you make. Wood looks natural and timeless. However, an outdoor sign needs wood that can handle weather without cracking or warping. Western red cedar is a popular choice for custom signs for a few reasons. It is dimensionally stable, so it is less likely to warp or crack than many other woods. It is also naturally resistant to decay, thanks to the oils in the wood. As a result, a cedar sign tends to stay straight and easy to read for years. Cedar also needs little care. With regular upkeep, such as fresh Sherwin-Williams paint when needed, a cedar sign keeps its good looks.
About the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
The photo above shows the Charles McC. Mathias Laboratory at SERC. The center grew out of the 368-acre Java dairy farm and other holdings along the Rhode River that Robert Lee Forrest left behind when he died in 1962. The farm and surrounding area offered a wide variety of land, wetland, and estuary habitats for field biology. The federal government established the center in 1965 as the Chesapeake Bay Center for Field Biology, and it later became the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC). Today SERC covers more than 2,500 acres, and researchers, technicians, and students work there and at field stations around the world. You can read more in the center’s history.
For more information, visit the official SERC website or their YouTube channel.
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Ready for cedar wayfinding signs? Send us a message through our contact form, or call (410) 798-5115.
