North Carolina’s “Butterfly Room” has reopened after a three year hiatus.  Also known as The Living Conservatory, the popular exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh had been closed since the beginning of the pandemic.

Although it’s popularly known as the “Butterfly Room,” The Living Conservatory goes much deeper than that.  The exhibit transports visitors to a Central American tropical dry forest, inhabited by butterflies, turtles, tarantulas, snakes and even a two-toed sloth.

Museum officials shut down The Living Conservatory in 2020 because of social distancing concerns during the pandemic.  Curators were also worried about potential effects of the virus on inhabitants of the exhibit.  It reopened May 27 and is expected to open for selected hours through Labor Day.  The “Butterfly Room” is open Tuesday through Sunday 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.  The North Carolina Museum of Sciences is located at 11 West Jones Street in Raleigh.  Admission is free.

Check the museum site for any last-minute changes.

North Carolina Museum Makes List Of Most Unique

• National Corvette Museum Sinkhole

  This is crazy.  Nine years ago in February of 2014 and ENORMOUS sinkhole (40-foot-wide, 30-foot-deep) emerged in Bowling Green, Kentucky.  Not just in the town, but in the National Corvette Museum.  It swallowed eight rare cars.  The hole, of course, has since been fixed, but you can check out the cars that drew the black bean that day.  Definitely one of the most unique museums around.

• Museum Of Broken Relationships

  Okay, granted this one’s gonna take some travel.  And it’s probably not going to be all that interesting to the kids, but as far as unique museums go, you HAVE to include The Museum of Broken Relationships in Zagreb.  The founders, artists Olinka Vistina and Drazen Grubisic are a couple no more.  However, when they called it off, they created this spot where mementos of their time as a couple would remain together, even as they were not. As the years have gone on, other couples have donated their past relationship memorabilia.

• International Cryptozoology Museum

  If we’re talking fun ideas when it comes to unique museums, then this one will have to be on your list.  You into things like Bigfoot, the yeti, and the Loch Ness monster?  Then you will be all in on the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.  It’s got more mysterious objects from mysterious unknown creatures than anywhere else in the world.

• The Atomic Museum

  Who says Vegas isn’t for kids?  Mom, now you can kill two birds with one stone.  You and the hubby can have some fun on the Strip, while enriching your kids with one of America’s most unique museums.  Quick history lesson, Las Vegas, Nevada, was once the epicenter of watching weapons of mass destruction explode (ie atomic bomb testing). The Atomic Museum (previously known as the National Atomic Testing Museum) is a memorial to that glorious time.  The museum has more than 12,000 artifacts that paint the whole bomb testing picture from the 1950s and 1960s.

• Asheville Pinball Museum

  Okay, so it’s not the Vegas Strip, but if you were going to pick one city in North Carolina with similar moral sensibilities, it would have to be Asheville, North Carolina.  And this city’s contribution to our list of unique museums is the Asheville Pinball Museum.  Back in the day, to play pinball and video games required a roll of quarters.  Once those ran out, you were done.  Not anymore.  According to their website, just $15 gets you unlimited play on 35 pinball machines and 35 classic video games.  Woo-hoo Mom!  Keep the kids occupied and engaged for hours less than 2 hours from Charlotte!

Sign me up for the Country 103.7 email newsletter!

Members get exclusive insights into new music, music news, contests, quizzes, and more!

First Name *

Last Name

Email *

Subscribe

By clicking "Subscribe" I agree to the website's terms of Service and Privacy Policy. I understand I can unsubscribe at any time.