North Carolina Maritime Museum

The North Carolina Coastal Region is steeped in maritime history and nautical mystery. The barrier islands

hold secrets of sunken ships and lost colonies that have fueled the imagination since England's fleet set sail in 1584 to establish a New World colony on Roanoke Island that mysteriously disappeared without a trace by 1590. Today, the avid sea faring history buff can hoist the family mainsail and set an educational course to explore this fascinating past at the Maritime Museum located in the town of Beaufort, North Carolina.

The North Carolina Maritime Museum is one of the jewels in North Carolina's nautical crown where these repositories of history explain and entertain families in search of an educational and exciting vacation experience.

As you enter the museum lobby in Beaufort you are greeted by a visual feast of nautical artifacts including a copper navigation light used in the early part of the 20th Century to help ships keep a steady course in the shallow waters offshore. A large clam with open shell greets visitors and contains free sea shells for the taking. In the film "Jaws", the monster shark lunged at the stern of the boat in one scene and Roy Schieder said "We're gonna need a bigger boat". To prove it there is a mold of a Great White shark that was taken in the Atlantic not far from Cape Lookout.