Museum of the Sea

Janeth Alvarez

3 years ago

Great museum with lots of cool artifacts and information. I really enjoyed the chronological timeline of moving the lighthouse from its original location to its new location since 1999. There are two levels (upstairs & downstairs) with plenty to see and lots of history to view and read about. Enjoy! *not pet friendly but there is a porch with seating so members of the family can take turns viewing the museum while someone stays with the dog outside on the porch* Service dogs are welcome inside per their sign.

Owen Kusakabe

4 months ago

This museum is truly fascinating and offers a wealth of information. Chris provided an engaging and insightful tour, sharing valuable details about the lighthouse and the coastal region. I highly recommend visiting this remarkable place.

David L.

2 years ago

• We visited on a Thursday in late December 2023 (after Christmas). • There is a relatively large parking lot and we were there before they opened at 9AM. There was only 1 other car there with us. We explored the outside of the lighthouse and the visitor center/park store. • The bathrooms are located outside the visitor center in adjacent building. These were opened before the store or Museum was open. We didn't see any bathrooms near the museum. • We went over to the Museum of the Sea after the Visitor Center. This is where the park ranger was at the time, and they had the junior ranger booklets here as well as the visitor center (same junior ranger booklet as the Bodie Light Station). It’s also where to turn everything in to get your badge (same badge as the Bodie Light Station). The NPS Cancellation Stamps are also located here as well as in the visitor center. They also have a cool wall of NPS Junior Ranger badges from NPS sites all over the country in one big display. I’ve only seen one other park do this and that was Big South Fork in TN. Very cool to see and sad I didn't get a picture of it. • We explored all of the exhibits in all the different rooms of the house. It was really cool and you could easily spend an hour in there. There were very few people in the museum when we arrived around 9:30AM but after about 30 mins or so it kind of got really crowded. There is a room immediately to the left when you entered that looked to be a kids activity area. The kids spent most of their time here sitting at the table working on the Junior Ranger book. • If we had more time we could’ve explored more of the trails here and it would be nice to climb up the lighthouse at some point but it was not available at the time of our visit. One of the displays talks about how they moved the lighthouse previously from its original location and that they were planning to move it again.

Ray Er

3 years ago

The only museum within Cape Hatteras National Seashore, dedicated to life on the Outer Banks. This is the building where the two assistant lighthouse keepers and their families lived. This building known as double keepers quarters was "moved" in one piece to its current site. Very interesting exhibits and artifacts on outer banks history. It's a short walk from the Cape Haterras lighthouse and is worth a visit. it's also free.

Selena Nederhoff

3 years ago

I've taken family to the lighthouse but never took the trail beside the visitor center and missed the museum. First, if you like stamps for your Lighthouse Society or National Parks Passport, ask! There are nice displays and information about the area, focused on the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and its move in 1999.