Andy Griffith Museum

It’s a small museum in Mount Airy, NC about actor Andrew Griffith’s life. He grew up in the town and filmed the Andy Griffith Show here, which is where Mayberry is based on. It’s mostly on the Andy Griffith Show with the original courthouse signs, desk, and clothes, but there Read more

City of Raleigh Museum

The museum in North Carolina’s state capital occupies the ground floor of the city’s first high-rise building. There’s a lot on black history such as black businesses of the 19th century, how the oldest black university—Shaw University—was founded by Dr. Tupper in 1870, and racial exclusion in American politics. There Read more

North Carolina Museum of History

Established in 1818 as the state capitol Raleigh’s first museum, it has a wealth of information on state industry on the first floor. For example, in 1840, the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad stretched 200km and was the longest in the world, famous pirate Blackbeard blockaded Charles Town with 19 captured Read more

North Carolina Museum of Art

Just on the outskirts of the state capital Raleigh, the museum was founded in 1965, so it’s mostly a contemporary and modern art museum. The East Building has mostly black art and the West Building has everything. There was an interesting exhibit on Afrofuturism in fashion design, especially when represented Read more

WWII Pacific War Memorial Hall

Of all the nations that fought the second world war, Japan remains the only country whose government systematically denies the atrocities it had committed until this day. The memorial hall is less of a museum and more of a collection of stories of the war against Japanese aggression from Chinese Read more

Walt Disney Family Museum

The Disney Family was from Normandy in France originally called d’Isigny with the family name anglicized when they moved to to Britain. The family with infant Kepple Disney moved to Ireland before settling in Goederich in Ontario. Kepple married Mary Richardson in Goederich before moving to California during the gold Read more

USS Hornet

Constructed in just 16 months, the USS Hornet aircraft carrier is the eighth and final ship to bear the name. It recovered the Apollo 11 crew after they landed in the ocean and performed it’s final mission retrieving the Apollo 12 crew. It’s permanently docked at the same pier the Read more

SS Jeremiah O’brien

The US made 2,710 liberty ships to carry supplies across the Atlantic Ocean during the second world war. It only took 60 days to make one, which helped because they needed to make ships faster than he German U-boats could sink them. This one moored in San Francisco is only Read more