We showed up at 10:30 on a Saturday during business hours and the museum doors are locked and no…read moreone is there .....

This was a cute place to spend an hour or so. There's a variety of exhibits, several of which are…read morehands-on or interactive for kids. There are taxidermy specimens and some live animals--fish tanks, a few snakes, seahorses, and a turtle. There's also a touch tank with urchins, horseshoe crabs, sea stars, and hermit crabs. Some of the urchins and sea stars looked in bad shape. I've also been told before that sea stars are very sensitive and their suction cups are easily damaged, not to mention repeated stress can be deadly to them. The staff was friendly and knowledgeable and I enjoyed my visit as a solo adult.

The Fort Johnston-Southport Museum & Visitor's Center is a great way to start your exploration of…read moreDowntown Southport. Admission is free. The museum part provides good background information on the town and its history. One room contains all the films made in the area and also has some memorabilia from those films. The Visitor's Center has many brochures and maps and the ladies working the day I was there were very helpful about parking and about my ferry ride the next day.

Extremely friendly and helpful staff!!! Very interesting historical place. The view is amazing. If…read moreyou are visiting the area stop here first. If you have any questions the staff can help you out!

Smooth, well-funded, well maintained and located inside an old, brick, 2 story schoolhouse…read more in Horry County/ Myrtle Beach for an "ancestral discovery" trip when we stumbled upon the facility. We were very pleasantly surprised and spent about 1.5 hours perusing the exhibits and saw several of our relatives in the displays. While informative and well displayed, I found most items generic and would have been more interesting if more specific human interest was attached to them. Additionally, there is ample display area for more exhibits such as geologic survey of Horry county, historical developmental / land use of the county as well as future growth and use trends. Overall, a great little, local museum in Conway worth checking out.

The Horry County Museum was one of the highlights of my day trip to Conway when visiting the Myrtle…read moreBeach area. Built in a former school, it's a treasure trove of local county history, complete with pictures and artifacts. Being a free museum, I went in with low expectations thinking I'd be in and out within 15 minutes, but spent quite a bit of time appreciating everything they have on display over the 2 floors of exhibits. I don't like niche museums that hit you with history overload, but Horry County Museum does their displays just right where you can walk through at your own pace, spending a little more time on those that catch your eye and interest you. The only thing which I felt was a little out of place was the aquarium type set up with fish they had by the spiral staircase leading up to the 2nd floor. While not a world class museum, I felt it was perfect for a small town like Conway, and I recommend a visit if you're in the area and have some free time. It's a perfect rainy day activity to consider if you like museums and are visiting Myrtle Beach.

Old Baldy is North Carolina's oldest standing lighthouse. Admission for adults is $8 and gives you…read moreaccess to the lighthouse and Smith Island Museum of History. To reach the top of the lighthouse you have to go up 108 stairs and 5 landings. It could be considered challenging for some. The views at the top are worth it and were beautiful. If you are on BHI a trip to Old Baldy is a must.

$6 for admission to Old Baldy? Hell yeah…read more This attraction is run by a non-profit, and I suspect they do a pretty solid job of not making so much of a profit. I'd like to come back during peak season sometime to get the fully-fledged 2-hour history tour, but even without doing that, you'll get plenty out of just visiting the lighthouse and its one-room history museum. The lighthouse itself is rad. The view is fabulous. The setting can't be beat. A no-brainer if it's your first visit to the island. (And if it's open.)

Whenever I go back up to the Northeast to visit, I like to pickup something coastal for the…read morekiddies, this is my go to spot!! Not only am I supporting the Southport Maritime Museum programs (all gift shop proceeds are returned to the museum) but encouraging an appreciation and lessons of our local maritime history for their future visits!! Not to mention the shop is filled with adult books on local maritime lore. A hidden Southport treasure!!

The North Carolina Maritime Museum is a very modestly sized free museum located behind the visitors…read morecenter in Southport. Though it's only one large interior room, it packs a lot of local maritime history within. I'm not a big history buff, so I breezed through in less than 10 minutes, but found it fits in perfectly for a small town on the water like Southport. It also helps that it's right behind the visitors center and just off the core of the historic business district of Southport. I'd recommend a visit if you had some free time in Southport or if you're interested in the maritime history of the area. There's a small gift shop near the entrance and adjacent restrooms.

The Old Smithville Burying Ground is a beautiful old cemetery. Smithville was the original name of…read morethe town now named Southport. It is thought to be the oldest cemetery in Brunswick County. The oak trees and shrubs make this a peaceful place to wander and explore history. The gravesites go back to the 1700s and include Revolutionary War soldiers to those lost when a steamship sank to those working on the Cape Fear lost at sea to those that helped make Southport what it is today.

This was cool place to explore. Very welcoming and friendly staff and super entertaining place.read more

The Museum of the Bizarre is located in downtown Wilmington. The museum itself is on the smaller…read moreside, but the general admission price is just $3, and you can add on a mirror maze for $2 more. The museum has excellent air conditioning, which is a major plus on a hot day, as well as a clean restroom. Photos were only allowed in specific areas, but it wasn't entirely clear what you could photograph there, so I might have taken photos of things they didn't want me to take! While I usually like quirky museums, this one seemed too crowded, and the exhibits didn't appeal to me. This was a very quick stop that took under 30 minutes. Honestly, I found the building's history much more interesting than the museum itself. The original 1869 building was a naval stores warehouse used to store tar, turpentine, and pitch extracted from the area's pine forests. It stands today as the last remaining structure related to Wilmington's naval stores history. In 1925, the site was modified for heavy metal manufacturing. For almost a century, the Wilmington Iron Works Machine Shop operated here, where workers manufactured gears, engines, saw blades, structural doors, iron fences, and heavy steel parts for passing locomotives and steamboats. The ironworks finally closed in 2000, and the building housed a few different things before being saved from demolition and repurposed into a tourist attraction. I did attempt the mirror maze while I was there, and they thoughtfully have you wear plastic gloves so you don't leave fingerprints on the mirrors. I found the visual illusion incredibly disorienting and claustrophobic, so I would highly recommend skipping the maze add-on if you are sensitive to tight spaces or prone to panic attacks!

Amazing! These machines are well kept, clearly with love. They're clean and smooth and work really…read morewell. The selection is excellent and has something for everyone. This is a WONDERFUL activity for the cost. Hands down the best thing I did in town. Definitely recommend.

This was so much fun. We went and a blast. Even better the money is donated to children. Pinball…read moremachine are changed out so there is always a new experience.

This site had escaped my notice on numerous visits to the area, but I found a reason to stop in…read more The weather was rainy, but it actually wasn't the worst decision to visit, as rain without wind was reasonably manageable with an umbrella and the precipitation was effective in suppressing the bugs and heat that I would have otherwise experienced. There were no alligators in sight though, so what I got out of it was a historical visit. And I have to say, it's an impressive historical site. It has both a colonial and a Civil War history. One distinction I find hard to explain is that I don't hear a ton about pre-Revolution America in a lot of places I visit in DC, Maryland, or Virginia, but the Carolinas emphasize this period a lot more in their sites. This place has a museum, which includes such artifacts as a confederate flag that was apparently presented to Abraham Lincoln as a trophy of Union victory, leading to some interesting turns in history. The outdoor experiences include a walk through some excavated ruins and around the old earthen fort, as well as a nature trail. Notably, a memorial to the Africans who were brought to the area was affecting. For those visiting the area from afar, North Carolina does not charge for entrance to state park sites, unlike most other states. The location is not terribly far in absolute driving time from Wilmington, but it will transport you to another time.

Beautiful grounds, with very interesting ruins. The staff is also very friendly and helpful. We…read moreloved all of the fox squirrels!

This is a fairly small outdoor garden area- maybe an hour walk through. Very attractive although…read moremany plants are not labeled so that a person can ID the plants new to them. Found groundskeeper for inquire easily available. A pond, various H20 features, a Japanese garden area, and apparently they do a plant sale often on 3rd Sat of the month- nice if you see arrangements you'd like to start at home yourself. Came end of September. I'm sure Spring and other special times of year there's more blooming in progress. I enjoyed it.

What an amazing, beautiful and peaceful place! I could come here every single day. Everyone should…read morecome and see this magical place. Some of what I saw: Roses - all types Honeysuckle Banana Leaf St. John's Wort Camelia plants Pros: Accessibility friendly No stairs to climb Tons of greenery Some areas of the garden smelled so sweet Lots of plants to see Very well maintained gardens Cons: None! None! None!