Exhibits & Experiences
At the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum & Heritage Center our goal is for visitors to always feel as if they have "experienced" Down East. Whether through the stories our exhibits tell, the fellowship of community night or a gathering to celebrate one of our many cultural traditions, we hope everyone who visits will leave with a better understanding of this heritage.
Current Exhibits
JEAN DALE RESTORATION
On September 16, 2000 the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum received an important addition to its collection, one that reflects the heritage and tradition of the Core Sound people, the 4O foot fishing vessel Jean & Dale. This boat has a long, storied past, a tale worth telling...
The "Jean Dale" is more than a wooden boat; she is the story of Harkers Island. Encompassed in the fine craftsmanship and artistry of Brady Lewis' design are the essential elements that defined life on Harkers Island in the mid-1900s.
Much has been said about the flare bow of Harkers Island boats. Writers and boat builders have come from across the country to marvel at the engineering that its structure exemplifies. They are amazed at how the shape of the bow worked the shallow waters of Core Sound and the way the soft juniper wood would make the angle of the curve. How could a man with only an innate knowledge of the water and a natural talent for working wood develop such a design? The answer is simple; he knew what was needed and he built it. The boat's beauty is the culmination of that understanding. 
Brady Lewis' boatyard around 1940. Picture taken by Ann Rose.
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The launching of the Jean Dale. Photo courtesy of Patty-Jean Taylor.
Willow Pond
The Core Sound Waterfowl Museum & Heritage Center’s Willow Pond restoration and surrounding interpretive trails has given a new generation of young and old alike the opportunity to enjoy Willow Pond again, but for a much different purpose ... to learn! 
Now, with increased appreciation for waterfowl and the changes in environmental conditions along the coast, the new focus for Willow Pond will be education, beauty, and providing a "safe harbor" for migrating waterfowl and shorebirds. This natural, freshwater pond allows the museum's interpretive programming to include the complete story from live ducks to decoys, the importance of providing clean and safe areas for our wildlife, and work toward increasing knowledge and appreciation for our natural coastal communities.
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DAVID'S ROOM
David Lawrence - carver, artist and friend - was one of the founding "fathers" of the Core Sound Decoy Carvers Guild and the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum & Heritage Center.
"David's Room" today is dedicated to his memory and his great talent, and is where carving demonstrations take place among his art, carvings and tools.
We hope you will take time to sit down in David's room and visit with our carvers to learn more about David, his craft and his heritage while you are here.
Read more about David ...
Community Exhibits
Communities Share Their Stories Through Museum Exhibits
Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center was established in 1992 to support and preserve the way of life of coastal maritime communities in the “Down East” region of eastern Carteret County, North Carolina. The CSWM&HC interprets the history of the communities of Cedar Island, Atlantic, Sea Level, Stacy, Davis, Williston, Smyrna, Marshallberg, Gloucester, Straits, Harkers Island, Otway and Bettie. It also embraces the ancestral ties to the communities of Salter Path on Bogue Banks and the Promise Land in Morehead City, as well as the historic communities of Portsmouth Island and Diamond City on Core and Shackleford Banks.
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NC Heritage Awards
NC Heritage Award Recipients →
Since 1989, the North Carolina Heritage Award* has honored our state's most eminent folk artists. Recipients of the Heritage Awards range from internationally acclaimed musicians to folks who quietly practice their art in rural and family settings. A dozen North Carolinians have gone on to receive the National Heritage Fellowship Awards presented by the National Endowment for the Arts. These awards deepen our awareness of the rich and diverse cultural traditions of people in North Carolina. The Heritage Award has become one of the most important and influential programs developed by the Folklife Program of the North Carolina Arts Council.
Recipients receive a cash award and are honored in a ceremony that highlights their achievements. The Award ceremonies are a notable celebration and educational event for North Carolinians, drawing large and enthusiastic audiences.
From the Award's beginning, the Folklife Program of the North Carolina Arts Council engaged talented photographers -- Rob Amberg, Cedric N. Chatterley, Mary Anne McDonald, Roger Haile and Bill Bamberger -- to document the artistry of award recipients. Their images and the program book articles celebrate and commemorate the skills, values, aesthetics, and meaning of traditional arts in North Carolina.
Carteret County Baseball
Reliving the Dream --- Baseball: More Than a Game ... by Joe Boy Willis
May 21, 2005 was a special day in the history of Carteret County baseball; a day filled with stories that will be told for generations to come. It will be remembered by all the people, some two hundred plus, that attended. The air was full of the smell of hot dogs and fresh cooked pig. The atmosphere was one of excitement, spirited and energetic. It felt like we were at a “Morehead - Beaufort” or “Straits/Harkers Island - Atlantic” baseball game.
I arrived before the program was to begin and the first thing I saw when I walked into the Museum on Harkers Island, standing there in the middle of the community-based Carteret County Baseball Exhibit, was John Hamilton. John, a favorite of the 1953 Atlantic Championship team of the Salt Water League, was demonstrating to Dallas Arthur, Sr., of Bettie, who came along during the 1940s Tidewater League days, how he got three hits at Campbell College, in the same inning, with the bat he was holding.
Oral History Reading Room
The Core Sound Waterfowl Museum & Heritage Center is honored to be home to the Cape Lookout Reading Room – dedicated to the memories of Capt. Josiah Bailey and Les & Sallie Moore. This research room will be a fitting tribute to the work of all three individuals who worked tirelessly in gathering the history, artifacts and stories of Ca’e Banks and her people.
The Cape Lookout Reading Room will serve as a public archive for oral histories that have been collected through this institution and partnering agencies relating to the cultural traditions, natural history and people of coastal North Carolina. In the Cape Lookout Reading Room visitors, students and researchers will have direct access to oral history recordings and transcripts that have been gathered over the past 25 years from partnering agencies such as Cape Lookout National Seashore, Outer Banks History Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Southern Oral History Program and other regional repositories for oral history research.
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Museum Library
Core Sound’s Library Planning and Gathering Underway
The Robert T. Monk Library at Core Sound is home now to more than 400 books with the capacity to grow to 20,000 volumes. Many of our books will be available for checkout to our members in early 2011.
Book donations are now being accepted for the museum’s library. Please note that our subjects will include all the topics that are part of our mission: local history, waterfowling, hunting, birding, carving, boatbuilding, commercial fishing, environment, natural resources, hurricanes and folklore, art, and photography as it relates to Core Sound. We are also especially looking for books on these subjects that are out-of-print but are needed for our reference collection./We have a committee that is developing the catalog system and will be organizing volunteers to help maintain and manage our collection.
We are also organizing a “wish list” of titles that we know we need, so if you would like to make a book donation, we encourage you to talk with us. We can either get you a list of books we need or you can make a cash donation specifically for the library and we will use to secure those books we need. Books can be given in honor of and in memory of friends and family./We extend our thanks to Emily Monk Davidson for her generosity and commitment to this most important part of our new museum gallery. [The book suggestion list will be posted here in the next few weeks.]
Our thanks to everyone involved with the Robert T. Monk Library including our library committee – Carol Southerland, Carolyn Mason and Lisa Frivance. Look for more news and announcements from the library coming soon.
Gathering Room
"A place to visit ..." That's what the Gathering Room is all about, and that is what happens here every day.
Designed in the style of hunt clubs that once lined the Outer Banks, this beautiful room is dedicated to the Museum's founding board chairman - Billy Smith - whose leadership and stature in the community, state and country helped lay a foundation upon which the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum & Heritage Center was built.
Given in loving memory by his family who continue to work on behalf of the CSWM&HC and this community, this Gathering Room is filled with all the stories of Billy's life - and the life of Core Sound. Decoys, model boats, tools and memories of a way of life that this Museum seeks to preserve and protect.
Our thanks to Billy, his family and all who followed his lead in helping build this Museum for the people of Down East.
People's Gallery
The People's Gallery hosts constantly changing exhibits featuring art, photography, community exhibits and other special presentations. Recently, "Raising the Story of Menhaden Fishing" brought together family photos and models from the Menhaden fishing community. Here is where the NC Wildlife Art Society presented their first exhibition in the summer of 2010 and also where the Harkers Island community boatbuilding presentations have been displayed.
Upcoming events in the People's Gallery include the "2010 Snow Photo Competition & Exhibition" coming December 2010 featuring local photographers' favorite photos of the beautiful snow that fell in eastern NC in February 2010.
Lookout Tower
"From here you can see forever!" That's how you will feel when you take the elevator to the Lookout Tower's magnificent view of Core Sound, Back Sound, Barden's Inlet and the Cape Lookout Lighthouse. And Core Banks to the east and Shackleford Banks to the west will remind you how close the great Atlantic Ocean is to our Down East communities.
It is the closest you can possibly get (without boarding a boat) to experience Cape Lookout's beauty and history. We hope you will visit often!
Future Exhibits
CORE SOUND COMMUNITIES - Past, Present and Future
Overview of the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum & Heritage Center Exhibitions Plan
EXHIBIT DESIGN: Main Gallery Exhibition
The principal exhibit space at the museum will serve as a preview to the communities of Down East Carteret County past and present. This area includes the main exhibition, an information desk area, library, public archive reading room for oral histories and a museum gallery featuring the work of local artists, carvers and writers, and supplemented by the second floor mezzanine dedicated to the interpretation of community by community displays featuring artifacts, photographs and audiovisual presentations.
more details →