The Poe House is next door to the Museum of Cape Fear and that is where to sign up for your tour…read moreand where the tour starts. A volunteer takes you through the house of E. A. and Josephine Poe. Mr. Poe owned Poe Brick Company. The house is on the National Register of Historic Places. The house is currently getting some much needed maintenance and painting done so make sure to check in advance if it will be open the day you want to visit. The guided tour takes about an hour. The house is a Victorian Style and built from a kit. The wrap around porch and the intricate detailing outside is impressive. The inside of the house is in great condition and has tall ceilings; wide doors and the woodwork is very impressive. It gives a glimpse into early 20th century life. The house has two staircases one for the family and another for the servants. The servants were provided living quarters. The kitchen is detached from the house as the oven was on all day. I highly recommend visiting this beautiful house.

We visited the Poe house yesterday, and really enjoyed it. The house was beautiful, our tour guide…read morewas great even dressed the part. She was very knowledgeable. It was nice to learn how they lived and the family. Next door we visited the gift shop but didn't have time to visit the museum part. (Will have to come back) Also it was free, with donations welcome.

The New Bern Firemen's Museum is a great place to stop to learn about New Bern's history and also…read morefirefighting history. Admission is $7 for adults and $4 for children. The museum is two stories and you get a guided tour. My tour lasted about 75 minutes but that could vary depending on interest level. There are vintage fire trucks so you can see how firefighting evolved. There are steamers; wagons; ladder trucks. I was impressed with how intricate these vehicles were for their time. The hoses also varied and some needed to hang to dry. The Atlantic and the Button Companies occupied the same space in the fire station. They each were given half the space and their own pole. The rivalry between the two stemmed from their competitions and equipment. New Bern had a devastating fire in two neighborhoods that destroyed a third of the city in 1922. Those that lost their homes lived in tent city at the cemetery. There is an exhibit of the town with different colors to mark the areas destroyed by the fires. I highly recommend visiting this museum if in the New Bern area.

I always enjoy a good firemen's museum when I'm visiting a different town. I have nothing but…read morerespect for the men and women who run in, when others run out. Most firemen's museums are run by volunteers who used to be firemen, so the stories that they can share will keep you entertained during your entire visit. This museum is very unique, because it is quite literally split right down the middle between two groups. I can't even begin to explain the backstory on that, but you'll be able to see it as soon as you walk in, and throughout the tour. The old fire engines are great to observe and admire, and I was even able to find a patch from my hometown fire department on the wall in the back. The museum is well worth the cost of admission.

As I've seen a few Confederate things here and there lately including Beauvior (Jefferson Davis's…read moreretreat) in Biloxi https://www.yelp.com/biz/beauvoir-the-jefferson-davis-home-and-presidential-library-biloxi?hrid=BWsZt2A-u_ExRjKPtx8scQ and the Confederate Memorial Hall in New Orleans https://www.yelp.com/biz/confederate-memorial-hall-museum-new-orleans?hrid=8Yw80LszilMVhINuwhjdkw this was an interesting addition to the story of the Confederacy. You might not have known that the CSA had a brown water navy but they did. The Neuse (and two other ironclad ships) defended the rivers of the South from Union ships. The display here starts off with a ten to fifteen minute movie that tells the tale of the Neuse. And to be honest, if they hadn't hit a sandbar on the way to the battle of New Bern, they might have been able to have some affect on the Civil War. After the movie, you'll get to see what remains of this ship. And the first time i saw it, I was impressed with the size. I had no idea that it was this large! While all that remains is the below-the-waterline pieces, it is surrounded by memorabilia that tells the tale of the Southern side of the Civil War as well as what life was like on board the ship. Quite interesting and well worth the $5 entry fee. [Review 15477 overall, 981 of 2021, number 3020 in North Carolina.]

If you're interested in the history of the Lenoir county area - and especially the Civil War, this…read moreis a must see. Very interesting museum focusing on the history of Kinston area in the Civil War, with the CSS Neuse as the center piece. The relic of the old CSS Neuse is very interesting, but the museum is about more than the ship. Overall the museum has done a great job of making the history interesting and coming alive.

I went to the Christmas lights festival tonight? It was beautiful for $10/person. There was a lot…read moreto do and it was decorate beautifully. You were able to tour the main house, too. They did a really great job for this! Food trucks, bar, photo ops, etc. beautiful place!

I had a nice visit at the Poplar Grove Plantation after figuring out where to park. What was…read morewritten on the ticket in great detail was not correct. They changed the parking to the next street and you aren't to enter at the flags like the ticket directions told you. I took a guided tour and learned about the Foy family that had a peanut and sweet potato farm. But the more important part of the story was about the Gullah Geechee people. I had first learned about them when I was in Beaufort SC. But there is a corridor that goes from Wilmington to St. Augustine, FL to protect the Gullah Geechee culture. Poplar Grove was built by the Gullah slaves who were very skilled. 59 lived on the property. They took care of the construction; lumber milling; brick making; tending to the livestock and crops as well as domestic chores. They need to be the focus of the tour.

We had the best time at the children's museum in Jacksonville! My two boys, ages 2 and 4, had an…read moreabsolute blast. There were so many different rooms filled with interactive displays and hands-on activities--we easily spent the entire afternoon exploring and playing. It's clear this place is well-loved and well-maintained. The staff was friendly and constantly tidying up to keep everything clean and inviting. It truly feels like a hidden gem! There's plenty of parking, and I really appreciated that you can bring your own snacks and drinks to leave in the checked bag area--so convenient for moms! If we lived closer, I would definitely grab a membership. It's such a great value and a perfect spot for regular visits. My boys are already asking when we can go back!

It was great! It was clean, you get a LOT of value for the money, and the kiddos loved it!! We will…read moredefinitely be back :)

Very interesting and extensive museum! We were in there for 2 hours and still didn't feel we…read morecovered everything. Definitely worth the stop.

I took my Family to visit this museum a couple months ago and they loved it. My brother-in-law was…read morein the Army, and my nephew is in school to be a pilot, so i thought it would be right up their alley. We all walked around and looked at exhibits for several hours. It is put together really well, and all the immersive parts are really great. I think that anyone coming to Fayetteville would enjoy this museum. It is free, but they take small donations to keep up with all the maintenance ect. The gift shop is really impressive as well and you can find something neat for anyone!

The NC Museum of Natural Sciences was the perfect way to spend a very cold, wet, afternoon in…read moreRaleigh. It was a few miles from our AirBNB, so while we had to drive, there's a large parking lot right across the street. I'm not sure if parking is normally free, but it was on this particular Saturday. No one was monitoring the gate or could figure out how to pay, so we didn't. I *think* the sign said it was normally $5 on days they do charge or monitor. VERY reasonable. The museum itself is FREE unless you want to see an IMAX movie, which is reasonably priced. If you're into dinosaurs, plants, geology, or natural science in general, you'll enjoy yourself here, but the museum definitely adds a local flare and incorporates NC history and geography. While the museum is kid-friendly, it is not kid-focused. It is family focused and for all ages. My husband and I are child-free and had a great time. Of course, we are nerds and had science classes together in college. I do think this is a great museum for kids who are school aged and able to read well and ask questions. It is probably not the best option for toddlers or preschoolers when it comes to museums. The museum hosts birthday parties, and a group was there for that- what a fun idea! If you visit, plan to spend a morning or afternoon here- it definitely takes a few hours to see everything but not the full day.

I've lived in NC for almost 4 years and this was the first time I visited NCMNS! My friend had won…read more4 tickets to the whale exhibit and invited my husband and me to join. We met at 10am right when they opened. We easily found street parking and since it was on a Sunday, it was free to park. The museum is huge! I was so surprised by how large and open it was. All of the staff were friendly and knowledgeable here. We interacted with an employee in the whale exhibit and he was fantastic. The museum is incredibly clean and well maintained. There's so much to see and do. You can easily spend over 2 hours here. I especially loved the geology section, taxidermy/skulls room, and my favorite...the dueling dinosaurs!! It was SO incredible watching paleontologists work on this massive fossil. This part of the museum absolutely made it to be a wonderful experience. This is a great museum and it's free! I donated a little to the museum and also made a few purchases, one being a magnet and another being a beautiful $75 sulfite mineral. This was definitely worth our time and I'm so happy we finally visited!

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.

Small museum but full of interesting and interactive displays Great place spend an afternoon with…read morethe family to learn more about the ocean and coastal environments.

The Queen Anne's Revenge Conservation Lab is located in Greenville, NC. Once a month, on the first…read moreTuesday of the month, the lab is opened to the public for tours. Reservations are required for the free tours but it is easy to make a reservation on their website. In 1996, Queen Anne's Revenge which had been named La Concorde as it was a French slave ship was found off of the Beaufort inlet. The boat was 103 foot with 40 cannons and sunk on the Beaufort sandbar in 1718. In 2003, QAR Conservation Lab was formed in Greenville as they needed a bigger facility to work. Archaeologists work at the facility to uncover; preserve; clean; identify and catalog the artifacts. This is a very long process. Some of the artifacts took 9 years from when they started until it could be displayed at the museum. The artifacts are covered with concretion which is a mixture of shells, sand and debris that latch on. So they start with xrays to see what is inside. The artifacts need to soak in a tank to keep them wet. Then archaeologists have to use air scribes (it reminded me of a dentist drill) to remove the the concretion. The artifacts then need to soak to desalinate and this can take many years. Electronic reduction is used to help stop corrosion. Anodes get attached to artifacts to help the process. The warehouse has some parts of the hull structure; a 12 foot anchor that weighs over 2000 pounds; cannons; cannon balls; and much more. Some of the small artifacts were found in the sand. So far, 30 of the cannons have been recovered among the hundreds of thousands of artifacts. I had no idea how much was involved in getting items from the sea to the point they are ready for the museum. I have much respect for these archaeologists preserving history. I highly recommend taking a tour at QAR Conservation Lab as it is a unique experience.

I highly recommend I toured this museum when bi was a little girl and hageva picture on the…read moreoriginal Queen Anne Pirate Ship. Greenville has alot of historical places and history no one knows about.