Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum (Hatteras, NC)

One of the things I wanted to do when we were in Hatteras over Mothers Day weekend was stop by the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum. The Outer Banks of North Carolina is one of the deadliest areas in the world for shipwrecks, and the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum is dedicated to giving a closer look at the shipwrecks and maritime history of this perilous area.

Highlights of our visit included seeing an Enigma machine (which washed up in OBX from a torpedoed German submarine in WWII) and the original Fresnel lens of the Hatteras lighthouse (which was lost after the Civil War and then rediscovered in a government warehouse over 100 years later). Turns out lighthouse lenses are beautiful up close, glass carved into hundreds of facets and rainbows shimmering everywhere.

Anouk enjoyed the scavenger hunt, too -- she found every single thing on the list and was awarded with a prize. She had to think of a word to describe each item and some of them were really funny -- she described the pirate Blackbeard as a "mean guy" which I think is pretty spot on (kids who are into pirate lore will be in heaven at this museum).



But overall, I think our favorite part of the museum was the exhibit showing some of the things that have washed up from shipwrecks over the years, from silver tea sets that became family heirlooms to portraits of mysterious strangers that somehow survived the waves. In the 1990s, a container ship of Doritos foundered off the coast and island residents had a heyday scooping up the hundreds of bags that washed up on shore! The photos of the beach littered with bags were striking.

The museum is right across from the ferry landing to Ocracoke, and also from Ramp 55, which leads to a part of the Hatteras National Seashore frequented by tons of  kite-boarders. We wore our bathing suits under our clothes and after we left the museum, spent an hour or two watching them swoop around and soaking up some rays. Not a bad way to spend a day at all.