Students can explore into interactive exhibits, dynamic multimedia, and live animal displays while exploring biodiversity, ecosystems, and scientific discovery. Hands-on programs and immersive experiences bring science to life for learners of all ages.
Explore the North Carolina State Capitol, a historic landmark of government and architecture since 1840. Students can learn about civic responsibility, state history, and the foundations of North Carolina’s government. Guided tours highlight the Governor’s office, former legislative chambers, and more.
A museum focusing on history that moves you - steam locomotion, boats, the Wright Brothers, and train rides! Middle and High School students can learn Morse Code, and forms of pre-telegraph communication.
Managed by the Eno River State Park, the Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area offers a quick escape into nature with trails winding through forests of mountain laurel and rhododendron.
North Carolina’s only presidential site, focused on our nation's 11 president and the issues that dominated his term: the Mexican-American War, settlement of the Oregon boundary dispute, and California's annexation. The family enslaved at least eleven known peoples of African descent.
The site of the first documented discovery of gold in North America that launched the country's first gold rush. Visitors can pan for gold today and explore the mine.
Step into history at Roanoke Island Festival Park, a 27-acre site where you can explore life as it was for the first English settlers in 1585. Costumed interpreters bring the Settlement Site and the Elizabeth II ship to life, while interactive exhibits at the American Indian Town and Adventure Museum offer a hands-on experience for all ages.
Somerset Place offers a comprehensive and realistic view of 19th-century life by interpreting the lives of enslaved and free persons on an antebellum North Carolina plantation. Originally, this unusual plantation included more than 100,000 densely wooded, mainly swampy acres bordering the five-by-eight-mile Lake Phelps, in present-day Washington County.
The 850-tree Southern Heritage Apple Orchard features more than 425 varieties of old southern apples, many of which are on the brink of extinction. These old varieties have been sought and collected throughout the south by dedicated "apple hunters" to stem the loss of this unique part of our agricultural heritage.
Thomas Day, a free Black man, came to Milton in the 1820s. There he produced furniture and other wood pieces for esteemed clientele. With help from the enslaved people on his property and free artisans living with him, his influence on other craftsmen is seen around the state.
Thomas Wolfe left an indelible mark on American letters and his mother's boardinghouse in Asheville, North Carolina. Now the Thomas Wolfe Memorial, has become one of literature's most famous landmarks.
For more than a thousand years, Indians lived an agricultural life on the lands that became known as North Carolina. About the 11th century A.D., a new cultural tradition emerged in the Pee Dee River Valley.
Explore daily life on an early 1800s plantation in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Step inside a 1790s slave dwelling and hear the stories of the women and men who were enslaved by the Vances. Take a tour through the reconstructed birthplace of Zebulon B. Vance to discover how the environment and society of Western North Carolina shaped his political career.