The Museum of Coastal Carolina has several themed galleries with outstanding dioramas and exhibits about the natural history, environment, and culture of the Coastal Carolinas.
Ingram Lobby
- Portrait of Stuart and Louise Ingram, founders
- Carolina Gold exhibit
- Civil War rifles and underwater archaeology artifacts
- Ringo exhibit — Cross-section of a local tree that demonstrates how to count tree rings and identify the events in the life of the tree
Changing Tides Gallery
- Fossilized Skeleton of Herman the Sperm Whale
- Megabites exhibit — Features shark teeth found in North Carolina
- Dig for shark teeth in the Museum’s outside fossil pit
- Shark jaws
- Model ships
- Wave machine that shows wave action during high and low tides
- Tide machine that demonstrates how the position of the sun, moon, and earth affects tides
- The Shore is Shifting — An interactive exhibit about inlet migration and hard structures on a barrier island system
For more information about tides, visit
http://www.physicalgeography.net
Waterways Gallery
- Streams to the Sea exhibit — Explains how storm water runoff pollutes streams and rivers from higher ground as it flows to the Carolina coast
- Litterbug Hall of Shame exhibit — Demonstrates how beach litter can affect the beauty and integrity of the beaches
- North Carolina River Basins exhibit
- Diorama — Large habitat featuring animals and plants found in the Green Swamp of North Carolina
- Live non-venomous snakes
- Exhibit showing how to identify venomous and non-venomous snakes that live in North Carolina
- Insect collection with magnifiers to give an “‘up close and personal” look
For more information about North Carolina river basins and non-point pollution, visit
http://www.eenorthcarolina.org/public/ecoaddress/riverbasins/riverbook.pdf
http://www.epa.gov/owow/NPS/whatis.html
For more information about North Carolina’s Green Swamp, visit
http://www.byways.org/explore/byways/12824/
http://www.wildlifesouth.com/Featured/2009/GreenSwamp.html
Sea Shore Gallery
- Touch tank with live sea animals
- Animal relationships and habitat
- Shell collection featuring over 200 different shells
- Fossil collection
- Display showing what minerals are found in one cubic yard of sea water
For more information about Coastal Carolina sea shells, visit
http://www.visitnc.com/journeys/articles/fun-at-the-coast/2/discover-nc-s-spectacular-sea-shells
http://www.North-carolina-sea-shells.blogspot.com
Ocean Reef Gallery
- Diorama – Walk through a reef that might exist 65 miles off the North Carolina coast. See life-size models of whales, sharks, sea turtles, rays, etc.
For more information about oceans, visit
Barrier Island Gallery
- Toddlers can play with a puppet playhouse and puzzles
- The Legend of the Loggerhead exhibit — Model of a sand dune with a mother loggerhead turtle laying a nest and hatchlings emerging from a nest
- Walk through the dune to view the nest from the interior
- Watch a video filmed on Ocean Isle Beach about the life cycle of loggerhead turtles
- Shipwright’s tools
- Navigation equipment
- Wooden strip boat made in Brunswick County
Click on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1A28jiLFz8 to see a new video produced by the Brunswick County Tourism Authority. The video features the Ocean Isle Beach Sea Turtle Protection Organization along with the Holden Beach Sea Turtle Patrol. Some of the content of the video was filmed at the Museum of Coastal Carolina’s Barrier Island Gallery!
For more information about loggerhead sea turtles in North and South Carolina, visit
http://www.dnr.sc.gov/seaturtle
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/turtles/loggerhead.htm
http://www.sunsetbeachturtles.org
Coastal Plain Gallery
- Diorama – Waterfowl habitat
- American Bald Eagle
- Shorebirds
- Diorama — Backyard birds, bird nests, and John Reid’s excellent bird egg collection from the 1860′s
- Animal pelts with similar and different textures
- Dugout canoes
- Native American tools and pottery
For more information about shore birds, visit
For more information about Native Americans in North Carolina, visit
