Is a beautiful museum on beautiful grounds well curated properly taken care of and the café is the…read morecherry on top of everything. The food there is amazing.

Summary: 4.0 - Free and art go hand-in-hand here. If you like both, NC MoA is worth your time…read more Free admission to the NCMA to see art and history is a gift. If one doesn't mind the West Building (although new, it felt old to me), the different galleries containing historical art pieces (new and old, and very old) organized by continents are educational and surprisingly full of variety. The East Building (original one) hosts both permanent and limited-time collections. I've enjoyed a car exhibit, but my favorite limited-time exhibit featured Academy Award winner Ruth E. Carter's costumes for the movies "Black Panther", "Selma", "Amistad", and others. Her showcase exhibit was well worth the price of admission. A huge museum park provides miles of trails and places for picnics. If one plans accordingly, a series of trails connects all the way from the museum to downtown Raleigh! MISC Opened in 1956. Has pieces that originate from about 5,000 years ago (but thankfully it doesn't take that long to go through the museum). The museum is accessibility-friendly. A museum store and café are onsite. Tours are available. Outdoor concerts are on hiatus at the time of this review for "facility improvements." Be sure to check the museum's website for updates.

This museum is at the same location as the one hour train ride you can take. They have many cars to…read moreview and a gift shop to browse. I recommend going when it's not as hot out to stay longer. All the employees are so nice and friendly and they all volunteer. It's a nice activity with kids.

The North Carolina Railroad Museum is part of the New Hope Valley Train and only open on ride days…read more You can stop in and visit the museum before or after your train ride. This museum is a little different than traditional museums as it is in old railway cars. One of the museum railway cars is a post office and baggage car from 1922 that has been fully restored. Another was a USO car. If you enjoy trains and their history, the volunteers here will share their knowledge with you.

The Henderson County Heritage Museum is located inside the Historic Henderson County Courthouse in…read moredowntown Hendersonville, NC. The building was constructed in 1904 and is a classic revival style. Admission to the museum is free, but they do collect donations. I only explored the first level of the building, but there may be more exhibits on the upper floors. More signage would be helpful. The museum covers local history and military history. They have artifacts and uniforms of all the wars. One room is dedicated to the area's railroad history. The model trains were not working when I was there, though. There is a memorial to "Big Jim", the world's largest pig. Back in 1941, the pig weighed 2415 pounds and was four feet 8 inches tall and ten feet 8 inches long. If you are in Downtown Hendersonville, this museum is worth a visit. There is a small gift shop as well.

Cute museum that was very clean and had a inviting staff plus nice restrooms! The information they…read morehad displayed was great and my whole family enjoyed it. It's free and a nice change from the shopping on main st.

Such a great place to take the kids or as an adult go wander through…read more Staff and volunteers were super friendly and helpful. The museum is mostly free- if you want to extra stuff (the movie or special exhibits) there is a charge. There are two buildings each 4 floors- plenty to see and do. If you want to park close the is a pay per hour parking garage

The NC Museum of Natural Sciences was the perfect way to spend a very cold, wet, afternoon in…read moreRaleigh. It was a few miles from our AirBNB, so while we had to drive, there's a large parking lot right across the street. I'm not sure if parking is normally free, but it was on this particular Saturday. No one was monitoring the gate or could figure out how to pay, so we didn't. I *think* the sign said it was normally $5 on days they do charge or monitor. VERY reasonable. The museum itself is FREE unless you want to see an IMAX movie, which is reasonably priced. If you're into dinosaurs, plants, geology, or natural science in general, you'll enjoy yourself here, but the museum definitely adds a local flare and incorporates NC history and geography. While the museum is kid-friendly, it is not kid-focused. It is family focused and for all ages. My husband and I are child-free and had a great time. Of course, we are nerds and had science classes together in college. I do think this is a great museum for kids who are school aged and able to read well and ask questions. It is probably not the best option for toddlers or preschoolers when it comes to museums. The museum hosts birthday parties, and a group was there for that- what a fun idea! If you visit, plan to spend a morning or afternoon here- it definitely takes a few hours to see everything but not the full day.

The Randleigh Dairy Heritage Museum is just up the road from Howling Cow Creamery. Its hours are…read morelimited, so check before trying to visit. Tours of the campus and facilities are offered. I've taken both the walking tour and the tram tour. The museum honors William Rand Kenan, Jr. He was a UNC-Chapel Hill graduate and a North Carolina resident. He had a passion for dairy farming. So how did these cows end up at NC State and not UNC-Chapel Hill? In Kenan's will, he left his dairy farm, 78 Jersey cows, and an agriculture education endowment to the University of North Carolina System. The university system chose NC State as it had the College of Agriculture, pastures, and animal husbandry programs and students who could handle the cows. So NC State owned these cows and the farm in Lockport, NY and needed to transport them to Raleigh. Thankfully, the endowment was $2 million. This fund allowed for their care and dairy research. The museum came about in 2016 and officially opened in 2018. From the outside, it looks like a dairy barn. Inside, it is a hands-on museum with many storyboards as well. You can hear how cows "moo" in other parts of the world. You can learn how food moves through a cow's digestive track. You can try churning some butter. You can learn about Kenan and the cows, too. On this tour, I opted for the 30-minute tram tour, where you can see the cows from a distance, the new arrivals, the fields where their food is grown, and the milking bar from the tram. It gave a good overview without needing the biohazard gear. Corn, Hay and Sorghum Fields grow their food. There is a grain mill on site. Animal nutrition students ensure that the cows have a scientifically formulated diet with vitamins and nutrients so they remain healthy and produce the ultra-rich milk that makes the ice cream so good. The butterfat is used for the Howling Cow ice cream, the milk is distributed for on campus dining and markets, and the surplus goes to the state hospitals and prisons. Howling Cow Creamery opened in 2020 and made this agritourism possible. Kenan's legacy is in every bite of Howling Cow ice cream. If you get an opportunity to check out this mostly-student-run operation, I highly recommend it.

Very interesting for all ages. Great use of the natural landscape for animal enclosures and…read morehabitats. My personal favorite was the butterfly house. Especially loved the pollinator garden outside the insect building. Climbing feature was well loved by the little in our group. The digging for artifacts and fossils was appreciated by the teen in our group. Red wolf exhibit was awesome once we spotted the mom dad and baby on video. Also appreciated the sensory room.

Amazing place to visit with your family. Lots of place for the kids to get busy and roam around…read more The place isn't that hot on a sunny day since it is surrounded by tall trees.

Beautiful gardens with plenty of shade to explore. Loved what I could see of the rose gardens…read more Great spot for this wanting to get married there. Terrain wasn't too rough for anything who wants a casual stroll.

The arboretum was gorgeous! Highly recommend to be there for photography or even just a picnic!…read moreWalking with the puppers too! Our group got such amazing photos there during golden hour!

Whether you're a Tar Heel fan or just love basketball, this compelling tribute to one of the…read moresport's most iconic teams is definitely worth a visit if you have some time to spare in Chapel Hill. The free exhibit starts with an brief but inspiring theater presentation in which current and past UNC players explain what it means to be a Tar Heel. You then move into a large hall filled with display cases of Carolina basketball mementos, from jerseys to signed team basketballs. Don't miss the marks on the floor, showing how far some of the team's most iconic shots were taken from the hoop. There are displays dedicated to Dean Smith, Roy Williams and, of course, the GOAT. Michael Jordan isn't nearly as prominent a presence in the museum as you would expect, but you can still see his signed 1981 Letter of Intent, his travel bag and a couple other historic items. His jerseys, however, are strangely absent, indicating the lack of connection the Wilmington phenom has had with the University since being drafted by the Bulls in 1984. The last hall in the exhibit contains the dizzying collection of awards won by Carolina over the decades, including their six NCAA Championship and 18 ACC Conference trophies. If you didn't walk in as a Tar Heel fan, you'll probably be one by the time you leave. A visit takes about an hour, and you can wander in and out of each exhibit room at your leisure. It can be tough to find parking nearby (especially on game days), but the location (next to the Dean Dome) is a short, downhill walk from the center of campus. The Carolina Basketball Museum is a MUST for every UNC student, and anyone who loves college basketball.

The website stated there is parking across the street but be warned it is only a few spots not the…read moreentire parking lot. Be sure to parking in the first 8 spots by the road toward the left of the lot looking at the buildings. Parking is a minimum 3 hours for $6. Museum is free. Only the men's team is represented. There is nothing on the woman's team in this museum. You can spend about 30 minutes to an hour. It is well done but unless a huge fan not a must do in the area. I was the only one in it on a Monday afternoon. Only open until 4pm.