Museum of Coastal Carolina

The Museum of Coastal Carolina at Ocean Isle Beach is a natural history museum. Programs include educational programs for school groups, an outstanding monthly lecture series, and outdoor classroom activities on the island in fall, spring, and summer. The Museum is often the first stop for familes on their summer vacations. Summer programs include afternoon children & family programs for geocaching, ocean reef residents, surf & sand smarts and the firetruck, megabites, touch tank feeding & shell identification. Evening programs include Discovery after Dark and Snakes Alive.
The Museum has seven themed galleries including Changing Tides, Waterways, Green Swamp, Sea Shore, Ocean Reef, Barrier Island, and Coastal Plain. Each gallery has exhibits and hands-on activities that relate to its theme. The Museum is well known for its dioramas depicting coastal creatures and their habitats. The Ocean Reef Gallery, a walk-through exhibit complete with life-size models of turtles, sharks and sea creatures, represents the ocean several miles offshore. The Green Swamp diorama depicts fresh water wetland and forest and features dozens of species including alligators, bobcats, and foxes. All species of ducks and geese of the Carolinas are displayed in the Waterfowl diorama in the Coastal Plain Gallery. The Touch Tank contains live sea creatures that live along the coast, marsh, and tide pools. Live non-poisonous snakes and a bird aviary complete the live animal habitats.
The Museum also boasts a Native American collection with pottery, projectile points, dugout canoes, and reproductions of ancient tools. Of special interest are some underwater archaeological Civil War relics.
Ingram Planetarium has an 85 seat domed theater. The theater programs provide learning experiences for school groups and the general public about astronomy, energy, navigation, and space exploration. The Paul Dennis Science Hall exhibits and displays feature math and science activities to engage children and adults. Sky event programs, telescope viewing, and holiday laser music programs round out the Planetarium’s activities.
For educational and entertaining gifts and toys, visit Nature’s Treasures Gift Shop at the Museum or Galaxy Gifts at the Planetarium.