History You Can Touch.

Museum Hours:

Monday - Saturday 10:00am-5:00pm

Sunday 2:00pm-5:00pm

Willow Pond Loop Trail Hours: Dawn-Dusk

On Your Way

Whether coming from the east by ferry or from the north, west or south by highway, your trip to Harkers Island will bring you over creeks, marsh, maybe even a river, past communities of working people who love this place we call Down East. So, be sure to take it all in on your way here and we will make sure that your trip "to the end of the road" is an experience you will want to share with others over and over.

Ward Brothers Decoys come to Core Sound

Lem and Steve Ward of Crisfield, MD, collectively known as the Ward Brothers, are arguably some of the most recognized decoy makers in the world.  From humble beginnings as barbers and carvers, they rose in prominence and artistic skill to not only produce decoys but poetry and flat works of art.

Early carvings from the Ward Brothers Decoy collection from the Ward Museum in Salisbury, MD are currently on display at the CSWM&HC. 

Learn more...

While You Are Here

Visit the Cape Lookout National Seashore. Learn more at http://www.nps.gov/calo/index.htm

Information on climbing the Cape Lookout Lighthouse

Core Sound Waterfowl Museum & Heritage Center's Taste of Core Sound Featured on North Carolina Weekend

Watch the video at http://video.unctv.org/video/2197767100 

The Museum is featured in Chapter 3.

Core Sound Waterfowl Museum & Heritage Center Featured on Tarheel Traveler

Harkers Island is known for duck decoys

Duck hunters set out decoys to attract real ducks. But the decoys have also attracted national attention. Collectors often come to the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum in Carteret County.

Willow Pond's wildlife a wonder in Harkers Island

Tar Heel Traveler Scott Mason visits Willow Pond in Carteret County, a fresh water pond behind the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum in Harkers Island.

Ship wreckage off NC coast tells chilling tale

Underwater archaeologists believe they've found one of North Carolina's most legendary shipwrecks in the waters off Carteret County. The Crissie Wright sunk in the frigid Atlantic in January 1886.

Core Sound Yearbook: Annual Report 2010

It's a trip you don't want to miss ...

Leave the mainland behind and come to the most romantic byway in North Carolina -- the Outer Banks Scenic Byway of the barrier islands. Tour its beautiful beaches, thriving wildlife preserves, historic towns, and well-known lighthouses. Travelers make plans to come back even as they leave.

Read More →

NC Rural Center Innovative Economic Development Grant Update - October 2010

NC Rural Economic Development Center Grant awarded Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center in June 2010

• Purpose - To catalyze job retention, supplemental income generation, and small business development in natural resource-based sectors, especially the commercial fishing and eco-/heritage tourism industries
• Focus – unincorporated communities along the Outer Banks Scenic Byway
• Amount - $350,000 ($200,000 to implement community projects; $150,000 for educational programs, workshops and research); grant will cover two years of planning and development for the three areas of Hatteras Island, Ocracoke and Down East Carteret County.

Learn More...

Be sure to learn more from our community planning resource guide at www.saltwaterconnections.org

 

Membership

As a member of the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum you will be an important part of preserving these things. You will help build a bridge from centuries of skilled watermen to future generations who will know, understand, and appreciate this heritage.

$15/Junior (Ages to 21) or Teacher

$30/Individual

$50/Family

$75/Business or Organization

$125/Bronze*

$500/Silver*

$1000/Gold*

$3000/Lifetime* (Call the Museum at 252-728-1500 to learn more about this membership option.)

Learn More …

Membership Benefits

• Core Sound Waterfowl Museum & Heritage Center membership card
• Window decal with museum logo
• 10% discount on Museum Gift Shop purchases
• Annual Membership Print*

Membership Options

Junior (ages to 21) : $15.00USD - yearly Teacher : $15.00USD - yearly Individual : $30.00USD - yearly Family : $50.00USD - yearly Business/Organization : $75.00USD - yearly Bronze : $125.00USD - yearly Silver : $500.00USD - yearly Gold : $1,000.00USD - yearly

VOLUNTEERS make it happen at Core Sound 

WILL YOU JOIN US?

Every non-profit organization depends on their volunteers to do important work for their organization, but NO ONE has the kind of volunteers we have at Core Sound.  “Hard work and commitment” would be understatements of the time, resources, energy, patience, talent and perseverance of our volunteer force. 

From daily greeters, to cooks and dishwashers, master gardeners, interpreters, researchers, photographers, quilters*, parking attendants, repairmen, carpenters, maintenance and housekeeping, our folks literally “keep the doors open and the programs going strong.”

Our thanks to every one of our volunteers who share in the vision AND the reality of the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum.  YOU ARE THE BEST …      Thank you – CSWM&HC Staff

Learn More about our Volunteer Opportunities...

Summer Volunteer Opportunites for High School and College Students! 

Learn more...

Volunteer Application for High School and College Students

It is Good to Remember ...

Since the Museum's founding, an amazing progression of individuals and families have come to be part of what we call our "Core Sound Family." Whether folks have been involved from the beginning, or just recently gotten on board, we believe everyone will agree that we have brought together quite a host of characters that have contributed in all kinds of ways to the Museum's own traditions and memories. Remembering and honoring those folks - both here and gone before - is the reason for the memorials and honorariums program.

Every year in our yearbook those contributions made in memory and in honor of these special people are recognized with a special listing.  The Core Sound Waterfowl Museum & Heritage Center is grateful to those who have made contributions to this program over the years. Thank you for saying "I Remember" with your gift - a true honor that lives on and on.

If you would like to make a general donation to the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum & Heritage Center, please use the "Donate" button below.

Honorariums & Memorials

If you would like to make a contribution in honor or memory of someone important to you and the Core Sound community, please call the Museum at (252) 728-1500 x21 for details.

CSWM&HC Gift Shop

Visit our online Gift Shop

..."where your purchases help support documenting and sharing our Down East heritage."

New in the gift shop: "Core Sound Child" by Gay Mason and illustrated by Lena Ennis

Online items include: 

Bland Simpson and Scott Taylor's new book

Crab Pot Christmas Trees of all sizes

"Jean Dale" prints in two sizes

Carteret Catch t-shirts and hats

And books, music and "everything Core Sound."