5 Best Sights in The North Carolina Coast, North Carolina

The fossilized skeleton of a 1.5-million-year-old giant sloth (20 feet long, 6,000 pounds) makes a great photo backdrop as you enter North Carolina's oldest continuously operating museum, founded in 1898. The chronological Cape Fear Stories exhibit includes a room-sized diorama of colonial Wilmington and traces local history from early Native Americans through the Civil War to the 20th century. There's also an interactive model of the International Space Station, a case of mementos from basketball star Michael Jordan, and a kid-friendly nature-based wing with an oversized Venus flytrap and a beaver dam children can crawl inside. A rotating exhibit space displays photographs and items on loan from the Smithsonian Institution.

Adjacent to the visitor's center and ferry to Cape Lookout, this towering wood structure feels like the private hunting lodge of a well-to-do club of duck hunters, and you're invited to relax in the library stocked with books by outdoor enthusiasts and to browse the collections of duck decoys, patterned quilts, and Harkers Island ephemera. Be sure to walk to the top of Lookout Tower for views across the sound to Shackleford Banks and South Core Banks. A gift shop features local art built from driftwood and seashells.

An exhibit about the infamous pirate Blackbeard includes artifacts recovered from the discovery of his flagship, Queen Anne's Revenge, near Beaufort Inlet. Other exhibits feature coastal culture and the state's rich marine science history. You'll see model ships of all sizes, fossils, duck decoys, and a full-scale shark lunging out from the wall. The associated Watercraft Center, across the street, has lectures and classes on boatbuilding, and you can see various projects under construction.

This small museum and gift shop is located in a restored American Foursquare house built more than 100 years ago, containing photographs and artifacts illustrating the island's lifestyle and history. On display in the backyard is a round-stern fishing boat from 1934.