The 78,632-square-foot (7,305.2 m2) museum had galleries, two theaters, classrooms, a demonstration kitchen, a restaurant, a rare book library, and a 3.5-acre (1.4 ha) vegetable and herb garden; there it hosted wine and food tasting programs, exhibitions, films, and concerts.

Proceeds from ticket sales, membership and donations attempted to support Copia's payoff of debt, educational programs and exhibitions, but eventually were not sufficient.

Its library was donated to Napa Valley College and its Julia Child cookware was sent to the National Museum of American History.

The college opened its campus, the Culinary Institute of America at Copia, which houses the CIA's new Food Business School.

A $300 million flood management project around the turn of the 21st century to widen the Napa River and raise bridges prompted building developments.

Copia and the nearby Oxbow Public Market were two large developments also constructed around that time to increase tourist and media focus on the city of Napa.

At the time the site was constructed, it was part of Rancho Entre Napa, a large land grant given while California was a Mexican province.

[1] Italian immigrant Giuseppe Vallerga later purchased the property and farmed it to supply his produce stand and delivery service.

[1][b][8] In 1996, the city of Napa's Cultural Heritage Commission published a staff report which described the site as being eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

The commission described the site as an "important part of the Italian presence and heritage in Napa County" and recognized the garden as an authentic representation of Italian landscape organization, a distinctive feature of the city's cultural landscape, and an influence on the city's agricultural development in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Subsequently, the "Founding Seventy", supporters from Napa Valley and the surrounding Bay Area, made substantial donations.

[23] Attendance figures had never reached either original or updated projections, causing the facility to operate annually in the red since its opening.

[25][26] The closure was without warning; visitors who had arrived for scheduled events found a paper notice at the entrance that the center was temporarily closed.

The next days' events involving chef Andrew Carmellini and singer Joni Morris were also abruptly cancelled;[27] the museum later stated that it would reopen on December 1.

Potential tourists were left feeling unsure whether they were visiting a museum, a cooking school, or a promotional center for wine.

By late 2010, local chefs had revived the center's garden and the parking lot had become the location of a weekly farmer's market.

[35] In an April 2012 auction, most of the center's fixtures, furniture, equipment, wine collection (around 3,500 bottles), dinnerware, displays, artistic items, and antiquities were sold.

[39] The company planned to build up to 187 housing units, 30,000 square feet of retail space, and underground parking for 500 cars.

The college opened a campus, the Culinary Institute of America at Copia, which houses the CIA's new Food Business School.

Within a year of the center's closing, the items were sent to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, where they are included in the Julia Child's kitchen exhibit, which up until that point was only missing that portion.

[48] The gardens had fruit orchards, a pavilion with a kitchen and large dining table, and a small vineyard with 60 vines and 30 different grape varieties.

The museum's opening art exhibition was called "Active Ingredients", and had new works related to food by eight notable artists.