There is no natural history museum in the Southeast that can compete with the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences (NCMNS) in Raleigh, North Carolina. When it comes to museums in North Carolina, none are older than the Raleigh Museum. With nearly 1.2 million visitors in 2013, it easily surpassed all other museums and historic sites in the state. There are a total of six buildings across five campuses that make up the museum. These include the Nature Exploration Center and Nature Research Center on Jones Street in downtown Raleigh, the Prairie Ridge Ecostation satellite facility and outdoor classroom in Northwest Raleigh near William B. Umstead State Park, the former North Carolina Museum of Forestry in Whiteville, and the former Grifton Nature & Science Center in Grifton. The Greenville location of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences was announced in 2020 and opened to the public on September 18, 2021. NCMNS can be found at the state’s Natural and Cultural Resources Administration. The four-story, 80,000-square-foot Nature Research Center (NRC) is conveniently located directly across the street from the Nature Exploration Center. The NRC and NEC are connected by a covered walkway. On April 20, 2012, 70,000 people showed up for the opening. Visitors to the NRC can take part in a number of interactive experiences, including watching scientists at work in one of the center’s four research labs. The museum also takes advantage of distance learning to offer in-state courses to students located across the state. Each year, NCMNS hosts a wide variety of events. Several notable cases include: Sir Walter Wally makes his annual springtime forecast on Groundhog Day, February 2. Sir Walter is well-known all around the country due to his 58% success rate as a predictor. The middle of September also sees the return of BugFest, a one-day free festival celebrating all things insect-related. Every year, around 35,000 individuals attend this gathering. BugFest South is a smaller, more intimate version of the festival that takes place in Whiteville every May or June.NCMNS participates in First Night Raleigh annually on December 31. In 2012, First Night saw 80,000 people in the streets around the museum. The Dueling Dinosaurs are a Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus fossil found in Montana, and they may have been locked in combat. After unearthing the fossil in 2006, its discoverers spent the following decade unsuccessfully trying to sell it to museums and private collectors. In 2016, the museum reached out to them and is currently in discussions to purchase the fossil using funds raised by the nonprofit Friends of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.Although the negotiations were delayed by legal concerns, the museum eventually announced in 2020 that it would be purchasing the fossils for its permanent collection. The fossils will shortly be on display at the Nature Museum. Due to construction concerns, the Dueling Dinosaurs exhibit has been postponed until 2023.
The Contemporary Art Museum, Raleigh, NC
Water Destruction Masters