I stopped by the "one of a kind" Estuarium in Washington North Carolina this week. After a circumstance of work that took my to this part of the state I found myself here on a cold and rainy afternoon. The Estuarium tells the story of the Pamlico Sound and the surrounding estuary. I am not sure if it is a government project or private, but I would assume it is governmentally funded in some way. Private enterprises don't really build places like this. There were two other people there while I was there....the volunteer said they had about 15 other people that day, so they don't get too crowded.
I arrived about 2:45 and they were closing at 3:30, but that was plenty of time to see the whole place as it consists of a 15 minute movie, entrance sculpture explanation, and 4 large display rooms. Entrance is $5.00. As far as animals, they have a few tanks with small fish, two alligators, one turtle, two blue crabs, one corn snake/red rat snake, and a tadpole. I may have missed a few small inverts in the tanks as well, but that about covers it. There were also several taxidermy ducks and small mammals.
But this place is not really geared towards animals, its goal is to tell the whole story of the area including people and weather. If you were coming to see fish or animals then $5 would be a rip off, but as a whole museum it is not a bad price for what the place is.
The 15 minute movie was kind of worthless as it did not really explain anything, it was more about showing video of the whole area...which was OK, but the filming was done in 1997, and it felt that old. It really needs a refresh and narration to tell about the area.
The displays were all done really well. The tanks were....OK. They really need more fish in the fish tanks, I only saw three small fish (under 4 inches each) between the 3 tanks that supposedly had fish.
Overall, if you find yourself in this area for some reason it is not a bad stop. The displays were nice and the people working there were proud of the establishment. For reference, I went here the same day after going to the Sylvan Heights Bird Park, which is about an hour away.
I arrived about 2:45 and they were closing at 3:30, but that was plenty of time to see the whole place as it consists of a 15 minute movie, entrance sculpture explanation, and 4 large display rooms. Entrance is $5.00. As far as animals, they have a few tanks with small fish, two alligators, one turtle, two blue crabs, one corn snake/red rat snake, and a tadpole. I may have missed a few small inverts in the tanks as well, but that about covers it. There were also several taxidermy ducks and small mammals.
But this place is not really geared towards animals, its goal is to tell the whole story of the area including people and weather. If you were coming to see fish or animals then $5 would be a rip off, but as a whole museum it is not a bad price for what the place is.
The 15 minute movie was kind of worthless as it did not really explain anything, it was more about showing video of the whole area...which was OK, but the filming was done in 1997, and it felt that old. It really needs a refresh and narration to tell about the area.
The displays were all done really well. The tanks were....OK. They really need more fish in the fish tanks, I only saw three small fish (under 4 inches each) between the 3 tanks that supposedly had fish.
Overall, if you find yourself in this area for some reason it is not a bad stop. The displays were nice and the people working there were proud of the establishment. For reference, I went here the same day after going to the Sylvan Heights Bird Park, which is about an hour away.
