The North Carolina Museum of Natural Science (NCMNS ) is located in Raleigh, North Carolina and is the oldest established museum in the North. Carolina and the largest museum of its kind in the southeastern United States . About 1.2 million people visit it each year, and as of 2013, it was the state’s most popular museum or historical site among visitors.
The museum has four facilities on three campuses: the Center for Nature Studies and the Center for Nature Studies on Jones Street in downtown Raleigh, the Prairie Ridge Ecostation satellite facility and the outdoor classroom in northwest Raleigh near William B. Amstead State Park and the former North Carolina Forestry Museum in Whiteville . NCMNS is a division of the state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources .
The North Carolina State Museum was created in 1879 by combining the state’s two existing collections of geological and agricultural specimens. The museum was originally located in the Briggs Building on Fayetteville Street. The collections, outreach programs and status of the museum grew over the next 60 years under the leadership of H.H. Brimley . As part of the Department of Agriculture, the State Museum moved in 1887 to a former hotel on Edenton Street across from the Capitol Building. An addition was added in 1899, but the entire building was replaced by a purpose-built building in 1924. The facility was later renamed the North Carolina State Museum of Natural History.
In the 1950s and again in the 1990s. Educational changes further expanded the museum’s holdings as universities transferred their collections to the state. In 1986 it became the North Carolina State Museum of Natural History.
A new building opened later, and NCMNS became the largest natural history museum in the southeast. Also in 2000, the museum expanded with a new location: the Whiteville Forestry Museum was added as a satellite campus; that site was later renovated and reopened in 2015 as the North Carolina Natural Science Museum in Whiteville. Another site was added in 2004 when the Prairie Ridge Ecostation was opened for wildlife and education. In 2012, the museum expanded its downtown campus with the addition of the Center for Nature Studies.
The North Carolina Museum of Natural Science in Whiteville, formerly known as the North Carolina Museum of Forestry, is an adjunct institution of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Science, located in Whiteville, North Carolina . Its mission is to celebrate the natural history and cultural heritage of North Carolina’s forests through exhibitions, educational programs, and the preservation of natural and man-made materials that demonstrate the ongoing connection between forests and people.