Cultural Enrichment Ideas for the Crystal Coast
Welcome to the Crystal Coast. This area is made up of multiple small beach/port towns: Atlantic Beach, Beaufort, Pine Knoll Shores, Morehead City, Emerald Isle along with smaller communities Down East. Many people from the Carolinas visit Wilmington and Myrtle Beach, but fewer visit this area. The Crystal Coast offers a different culture than those two areas. Each of these towns are small, but each of them have their own culture and character.
Obviously you can take a walk down the beach. However, if you’d like to explore some of the culture in this part of the state, below are some suggestions. We strongly suggest your SGA explore at least one of the following (most are free and close by) to get a better feel for what this part this part of our state is like.
North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores: The aquarium features a very large variety of wildlife from North Carolina’s waterways (freshwater and saltwater). One of the highlights is the 306,000 gallon ‘Living Shipwreck’ which features sand tiger sharks, sea turtles and hundreds of fish swimming around a replica of a German U-Boat found off the coast. This aquarium has been voted the top aquarium in the state by the reviews on Trip Advisor.com. It is well worth the visit----especially anyone interested in the natural sciences.
This aquarium normally has a $11 fee to enter. However, the aquarium had decided to let students from our N4CSGA conference in for free if you tell them you are with the “Carteret Community College Group.” Please visit “Visitor Services” when you arrive and tell them you are with the CCC group. Price: Free Distance from hotel: 1 mile.
Fort Macon State Park: Not only is there a historic landmark to explore, but there are 3-4 miles of nature trails and a public access to the beach. This is a state park there is about 2-3 miles of beach with no hotels or private property. For those who love history, the fort is worth exploring. It is free and from the top of the fort it gives you nice views of Shakleford Banks, the Atlantic Ocean and Beaufort. Standing on top of the fort is a great place to take pictures. From hotel: 7 minutes. Price: Free
Distance from Hotel: 4 miles
Cape Lookout National Seashore: Visiting Cape Lookout is one of the top attractions for both tourists and locals. This stretch of beaches is popular mainly because no one lives on this island other than the lighthouse keeper. Cape Lookout is an undeveloped barrier islands. On the ferry out to Cape Lookout, you will see wild horses on Shakleford Banks. This is truly a trip for the adventurous and nature lovers. However, if you decide to go on this trip to explore, this is minimum a 3 hour trip.
The ferry is in Harker’s Island which is a 50-minute drive from the Double Tree hotel. Please visit islandexpressferryservices.com to find out the location and ferry times to Cape Lookout. You will need to pay a $16 ferry fee to get to Cape Lookout since there are no roads on the island. It is a pedestrian ferry that takes 15 minutes to get to the island. It is also $8 to visit the lighthouse.
Beaufort Waterfront: Travel and Leisure magazine ranked Beaufort #1 in “America’s Favorite Small Towns.” Much of this is because of the historic preservation that the city intentionally maintains and also the views you’ll experience on Front Street. Many locals prefer to “drive” into Beaufort and dock their boat to walk around. According to legend, the famous pirate Blackbeard would visit this area coming in after anchoring his ship and rowing into the town to stay at the Hammock House. Price: Free Distance from Hotel: 15 minutes
Old Burying Ground/Beaufort Ghost Walk: This is a graveyard that has many old weathered tombstones that date back to the mid-1700’s. The tombstones have a wide variety of shapes and sizes, but best of all there is a self-guided tour map that explains stories of people buried there. Wouldn’t October 29th be the ideal time to walk through a graveyard? The Old Burying Ground is located at 400 Ann Street in Beaufort.
If you would like a guided “ghost tour” through Beaufort that includes the Old Burying Grounds along with other details about the house Blackbeard, visit this website to book a tour: Beaufortghostwalk.com. The tour is guided by a storytelling pirate who knows about Beaufort history. The tour is an hour and 20 minutes long. Please call at least by Friday, October 28th at 5pm if this is something your SGA group is interested in. To visit the Old Burying Grounds is free. To book a tour for the “Beaufort Ghost Walk” it is $15 per person. The graveyard is 15 minutes from the hotel.
NC Maritime Museum: This popular stop tells of Eastern NC’s relationship with the surrounding seas. Blackbeard’s ship “The Queen Anne’s Revenge” sunk only a few miles off the coast of Beaufort. This museum displays some of the artifacts from the shipwreck. Price: Free Distance from Hotel: 15 minutes
Contact: Please email CCC SGA advisor Nathan Branson with any questions: . Or email our SGA officers at
We would be happy to answer any questions leading up to the conference in October.