Batlleship NC
1 Battleship Road, Wilmington, NC 28401
(910) 399.9100
Admission: $6-14
Take a self-guided tour through the WWII Battleship’s nine levels of living spaces, mess decks, gun turrets, powder storage, and sick bay.
Bellamy Mansion
503 Market Street, Wilmington, NC 28401
(910) 251.3700
Tour the exquisitely restored 10,000-square-foot antebellum mansion and re-created grounds and changing exhibits.
Cape Fear Museum of History & Science
814 Market Street, Wilmington, NC 28401
(910) 798.4370
Admission: $5-8
Explore the area’s culture at North Carolina’s first history museum. Investigate the hands-on Space Place, experience the Michael Jordan Discovery Gallery, see a 20-foot-tall Giant Ground Sloth and enjoy educational programs for children and families throughout the year.
Wilmington Railroad Museum
505 Nutt Street, Wilmington, NC 28401
(910) 763.2634
Admission: $5.50-9.50
This museum has an eclectic collection of displays, which adults and children alike will find fun and educational including a Thomas the Tank Train play area, a life-size caboose, retired boxcar, 100-year-old steam locomotive, and a model train display.
Wrightsville Beach Museum of History
303 Salisbury Street W, Wrightsville Beach, NC 28480
(910)256.2569
Admission: Free
Visitors will find a scale model of Wrightsville Beach circa 1910, exhibits featuring the early days of the beach and some exquisite art housed in the turn of the century Myers Cottage.
Cameron Art Museum
3201 South 17th Street, Wilmington, NC 28412
(910) 395.5999
Admission: $8-10
This museum has 6-8 annual rotating exhibitions in addition to outdoor works including the park property that is a historic Civil War Site. The museum school offers ongoing classes for all ages.
Poplar Grove Plantation
10200 US Highway 17 North, Wilmington, NC 28411
(910) 686.9518
$5-20
This 1800’s historical site offers an 1850 home, tenant house, blacksmith shop, weaving and basket studios, farm animals, exhibits, gift shop, picnic and playground area, annual events, weekly farmers market, and access to the Abbey Nature Preserve.
Fort Fisher State Historic Site
1610 Fort Fisher Boulevard S, Kure Beach, NC 28449
(910) 251-7340
www.nchistoricasites.org/fisher
Visit the site of the Civil War’s largest land to water battle, the remaining portion of the gigantic Fort Fisher earthworks, along with a restores palisade fence and impressive seacoast gun. The Visitors Center and Gift Shop includes a video, exhibits, and artifacts recovered from sunken ships.
Children’s Museum
116 Orange Street, Wilmington, NC 28401
(910) 254.3534
Admission: $8.75-9.75
Explore three historic buildings joined by an atrium and courtyard offering 17,000 square feet that will stimulate children’s imagination, curiosity and love of learning through interactive science, math and art activities.
Missiles & More Museum
720 Channel Boulevard, Topsail Beach, NC 28460
(910) 328.8663
The Assembly Building which is on the historic register, was the research and testing site for Operation Bumblebee, the top secret missile program operated by the Navy on Topsail Island from 1946-1948. The museum preserves artifacts and data for the Topsail area with various exhibits.
NC Maritime Museum
315 Front Street, Beaufort, NC 28516
(252) 504-7740
www.ncmaritimemuseumbeaufort.com
The North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort reflects coastal life and interprets lighthouses and lifesaving stations, the seafood industry, motorboats, and more. Studies in marine life, science, and ecology are available for all ages. The Beaufort museum is the repository for artifacts from Blackbeard’s wrecked flagship,Queen Anne’s Revenge, among them cannons, grenades, belt buckles and beads. The Harvey W. Smith Watercraft Center teaches boatbuilding for all ages.