[piano intro] -[Deborah] Next, on "North Carolina Weekend," join us from The Museum of Life and Science in Durham, as we feature family favorites.

We'll visit Island Farm in Manteo, grab ice cream in Union Grove, and explore Nags Head Woods Preserve, coming up next.

- Funding for "North Carolina Weekend" is provided in part by Visit NC, dedicated to highlighting our state's natural scenic beauty, unique history, and diverse cultural attractions.

From the Blue Ridge and the great Smokey Mountains across the Piedmont to 300 miles of Barrier Island beaches.

You're invited to experience all the adventure and charm our state has to offer.

[upbeat music] ♪ - Welcome to "North Carolina Weekend" everyone, I'm Deborah Holt Noel, and this week we are highlighting family favorites around our state.

I'm at The Museum of Life and Science in Durham.

Located on an 84-acre campus, this family favorite includes a two-story science center, a zoo, one of the largest butterfly conservatories on the East Coast, and interactive outdoor exhibits, we'll learn more about it throughout the show.

But first, let's head to a real, living, history site with Rick Sullivan on the Outer Banks at Island Farm.

- It's a game of catch, you toss the hoop back and forth using your sticks to throw and catch the hoop and just by crossing and sliding the part.

- [Rick] More than a century and a half ago, this farm on Roanoke Island, owned then by the Etheridge family might have had a game of catch or graces being played in the yard, but the family also had crops to tend and livestock.

- His name is Charlie.

- [Rick] Hey Charlie, don't you mess up my land.

- [Rick] And they're always chores to do, pretty much the same things that still go on here every day.

- This is a type of rug called a toothbrush rug, that's one of the names for it, and it would be from an toothbrush where the bristles had come down or come off and then you would file it down, and make the hole a little bigger and that becomes your needle, and make it work.

[hammer clanging] - There's always something you have to repair, always something that, you know, breaks, always something that you just have to make, it's like, "Oh, we need that."

- [Rick] Back in 1847, there was no local hardware store.

So in this historic working farm, they continue to do things in the old fashioned ways.

- This is a hand-sewn doll and it's called a Topsy-Turvy, they were popular in the 19th century and it was so an African-American child could play with a Caucasian child just by flipping the skirt around.

- [Rick] Gene and Charlene Staples are the Site Managers for Island Farm, and they are totally immersed into the 19th century mindset in a region, where the prominent history occurred centuries earlier, when the Lost Colonists arrived and perished without a trace.

- And when the early colonists came, they had not too much interaction with Native Americans, so they weren't introduced to corn.

They couldn't even grow a carb, you could live off of bread and water, but if you can't grow wheat to have flour, to make bread, but by this time, these families had figured out how to make it here in this harsh environment.

- [Rick] Gene and Charlene still worked the farm, successfully, just like the Etheridges who prospered.

- And so we are portraying daily life here as it was in the late 1840s, 1850s, we have all the out buildings they would've had, had been reproduced.

We grow a lot of the same crops, we have all the same livestock represented that were recorded here by the 1850 Census of the United States.

- There's nothing roped off, you can pick up things, and touch things, and you don't get that too often at a lot of living history sites.

So it almost feels like you're visiting family or visiting a grandparent's farm, and that's what we want, we want people to feel like that, you know, they have just come and stepped back in time, but yet can interact with it.

- [Rick] North Carolina has a rich history and much of it happened within a few miles of this location.

It's possible to see and learn quite a bit about the Outer Banks without traveling far from here, but Island Farm is a worthwhile visit to link it all together.

- You know, we have a live oak tree that's estimated to be over 400 years old.

We're kind of a connecting rod between the Lost Colony and the Wright brothers, the things that the Outer Banks are known for, we have that tree that may have been alive here when the Lost Colony was here, and one of the grandsons buried in the family graveyard was a witness to the Wright brother's flight.

We make it as close as possible to stepping back into that time, seeing, feeling, and smelling, tasting, in some cases, exactly what it was really like to live on a farm on Roanoke Island in the 1840s and 50s.

- [Deborah] Island Farm is at 1140 US-64 in Manteo, and it's open Tuesday through Friday, from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm.

For more information, give them a call at [252] 473-6500, or go online to obcnc.org and search for Island Farm.

[upbeat music] The Museum of Life and Science offers one of a kind, educational experiences inside and outside of the classroom.

This marks the Museum's 75th anniversary.

For almost a century, The Museum of Life and Science has been a place of lifelong learning, where people of all ages discover the scientist within themselves.

[bell dings] I'm here with Matt Pusateri, of the Museum of Life and Science.

Matt, what can a family enjoy out here at the museum?

- Well, there's really a whole day of activities in the museum, everything from our treehouse is here, that kids can climb and explore, we've got dinosaurs just over there that people can explore, we have one of the largest butterfly conservatories anywhere in the East Coast, we have an exhibit with a 18-foot waterfall and climbing structures, we've got an insectarium that has over 200 species of insects that are there to discover, we have some of the largest exhibits of NASA artifacts right here in the main building of the museum, where people can discover all kinds of incredible facts about our trips to the moon, the Apollo program, and all kinds of artifacts from outer space.

- Tell me about the train ride.

- Right, the train is one of the most popular exhibits we have at the museum.

It takes you on a circle around campus, where people get to explore and see a lot of the highlights up on campus, and there's a tunnel where kids can scream and be as loud as they want to be on the way back.

I think the thing that families love about our museum, that I certainly loved as a visitor, is that as an indoor-outdoor experience, it's for all ages.

We've got everything from indoor science exhibits, to hands on interactive outdoor exhibits.

We are an AZA Accredited Zoo with animals, we've got bears, wolves, lemurs, right here on campus, we have a farm yard with beloved animals that people- It's often their first stop when they come to the museum.

So a lot of our experiences are not just stuff that you look at and observe from the distance, people can really get in and get their hands on things.

We encourage people to explore, and discover, and try things out.

At Earth Moves, one of our newest exhibits, we've got an 18-foot waterfall, but we also have huge areas where you can build arches and build structures, explore stream, move rocks around, so we really encourage people to come here, discover science, not just by learning and watching stuff, but getting their hands in and around everything here.

- And I really love that butterfly house, what happens with the butterflies?

Can you actually go inside?

- Yes, you go inside, it's a immersive experience where you kind of walk through a beautiful space that's filled with live plants, there's birds in there, and there's thousands of butterflies, and we don't encourage you to try to handle them, but if you stand still and your patient, butterflies may land on your shoulder, they may land on your hand, and you can really get up close and get a real up close look at butterflies that we bring in from all around the world.

- So you guys are heading toward your 75th anniversary, tell me a little bit about that and how many visitors come per year.

- Right, so the Museum actually opened up a few blocks away from here 75 years ago.

So we've been part of Durham for almost eight decades now, and we've grown over the years.

We started as a little tiny house, just down the street.

Right now, we welcome almost 600,000 guests every year.

- Matt, thank you so much, I can't wait to see more of The Museum of Life and Science.

The Museum of Life and Science is at 433 West Murray Avenue in Durham, and they're open from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, Tuesday through Sunday.

For more information, give them a call at [919] 220-5429, or check them out online at lifeandscience.org.

The little community of Union Grove has long been known for its Bluegrass Festival.

Now, ice cream has been added to the list of reasons to visit this charming community, and not just any ice cream, I'm talking about amazing concoctions, like their extreme milkshake by Mason's Sweet Shop, and it's served, of course, in a mason jar.

[upbeat music] ♪ - Union Grove, it's just a unique, cool, little town.

- Everybody comes together to support each other.

- It's just a little quaint city, where everybody knows everybody.

[laughs] - You know, we have no stop lights and it's just a small town with an elementary school, and some restaurants, and a hardware store, just your typical small town in the South.

- [Narrator] Thanks to Erica and Josh Goodnight, Union Grove now has a sweet shop, along with everything else that's going on in town.

Folks travel from miles to taste their delicious treats.

- This was my wife, Erica's idea, I was the skeptic.

- Posted a Facebook question, "What does our town want?"

And I listed a few options and overwhelmingly, the response was an ice cream shop, I think it was over 90%, and so I said, "Well, here we go," and I have no idea about ice cream, but we jumped in head first and here we are.

- Hi, welcome to Mason's, what can I get for you today?

- So we decided on the name Mason's because of where we are.

Everything tastes better in Union Grove when you drink it from a mason jar, and we, of course, serve our signature shakes in a mason jar, and those jars go home with the customers, it's included in the price of the extreme shake.

- [Narrator] Those shakes are the talk of the town.

- My children go crazy, yeah.

My children go crazy about that, especially their music.

Lord have mercy and say, "Daddy, when you get outta work, please get us-" I said, "Daddy can't afford to stay two hours."

[laughs] - [Narrator] The extreme milkshake they called the coma, definitely hits the sweet spot.

It all starts with the Ashby Sterling Ice Cream Erica imports from Michigan.

- The Ashby's Ice Cream has 18% butter fat, and so it's creamy, it's- The flavor profiles that they create are very good on their own, without us having to put additives in them.

So we chose them because it is just the top quality that we could find.

- You want it to be creamy, not too thin, not too thick either, just a good consistency for the customer, so now it looks perfect.

- All of the shakes that we create were just the brain child of us thinking about some cool concoctions, but the chocolate coma is a chocolate based ice cream, and then it is rimmed with chocolate sprinkles, the jars has chocolate sprinkles on the rim, and then there's skyhigh whipped cream with hot fudge poured on top, and then a nice Amish baked, gooey brownie plastered right on the side.

So if it's not enough chocolate for the chocolate lovers, we're not sure what is.

- [Narrator] On any given day, the lines outside of the shop could be long, that just translates into satisfied customers.

- It's the biggest, best ice cream.

- Mm, I love the chocolate in there.

- Anniversary cake, cakey, that's cake inside of it.

- Oh Lord, have mercy and the mess with ice cream right here I believe that's the number one ice cream.

[upbeat music] ♪ - Well, first of all, it's very exciting and it's brought a ton of happiness to Union Grove in a time when we needed it.

- They are saying they've never seen anything like this before, they enjoy- They love the ice cream, they love everything about it, they have no complaints.

- I love seeing the kids, they come in here and order 'em, and they just- Their eyes get huge, and they try to drink all that shake, and eat the cupcake on top, and it's just a blast watching them.

[upbeat music] - Mason's Sweet Shop is at 1475 West Memorial Highway in Union Grove, and they're open daily.

For more information, give them a call at [704] 681-2828, or find them on Facebook.

If your family is into collecting fossils, boy, do we have the place for you.

In a little town on the coast called Aurora, a giant phosphate mine, has revealed a treasure trove of fossils and prehistoric artifacts, and it's a great place to spend the day with the family.

- [Rick] Eight year old, Lyla Faith Williams, and her family, dig the Aurora Fossil Museum.

- Mostly, just so much fun.

- [Rick] Fun to find treasure.

- I knew we found like a lot of mako teeth, this is mostly my biggest one.

- [Rick] Her brother, AJ, is digging up treasure too.

- I got lots of sand tigers, snaggle tooth, which is right here, they are- These tooth's are cool, but I got my mako shark tooth, got a dolphin tooth somewhere.

- [Rick] These piles of fossilized material came from the nearby nutrient phosphate mine.

The sprawling mine complex is in Beaufort County on the Southern shore of the Pamlico River, phosphate was discovered here in the late 1950s.

- In the 60s, mining progressed and they discovered fossils as a byproduct of extracting the phosphate.

- [Rick] The mining company partnered with the nearby town of Aurora to create a fossil museum, it opened in 1978.

The main museum contains displays about ancient Marine life like whales, and sharks, and fossils from five to 15 million years old.

- [Cynthia] It's a self-guided tour.

- [Kid In Blue Sweater] Look.

- [Cynthia] It's very kid friendly and family friendly, and so people can walk around, and understand, and learn about science.

- [Rick] The museum's biggest draw is the megalodon, which is the North Carolina state fossil.

- [Cynthia] It was a humongous shark that roam the ancient seas, estimates of about 50 to 60 feet long at its maximum.

- [Rick] The museum displays megalodon teeth and a replica set of its jaws.

- This would probably be a 40-foot shark, which is about the size of the length of a school bus.

- [Rick] Most of the fossils on display in the museum, were donated by private collectors, who dug them up at the mine when it was open to the public decades ago.

- This is unique that we have a museum in North Carolina that champions the fossil collector, and it's used for education throughout the United States.

- [Rick] In addition to fossils, the museum displays the area's geology and the mining process that uncovers the fossils.

There are also displays of Native American artifacts.

Across the street from the museum is the Learning Center.

It displays fossils and minerals from all over the world.

- We spent these several summers at Harbor Creek, we recovered some 10,000 artifact.

- [Rick] The Learning Center also host lectures and other educational programs.

Across the street from the Learning Center and museum is the popular Fossil Park, where kids like Lyla and AJ can dig.

- [Cynthia] We have families, and school groups, and all kinds of organizations that come to the Fossil Park to hunt and dig for fossils, and a lot of times when you look around in the park, you don't see a lot of cellphone use, other than maybe a selfie to post.

They disengage from that technology and they engage in science.

- It's very awesome, it's better than Minecraft.

- They love it, they're very independent, so, of course, when they find something versus find something, it means more to them.

- We always look for opportunities for the kids to learn and if they can be interactive while they're learning, I think they retain it better, and they have fun.

- [Rick] Pretending to be an archeological idol.

- Harrison Ford.

- [Rick] You're like Harrison Ford?

- Yes, sir.

- He wants to be Indiana of Jones, but who doesn't.

- [Rick] Visitors come from all over the US and world.

Marlely Cifueltes moved from Mexico city to Greenville, 12 years ago.

Today, she brought her uncles and aunts from Guatemala to see the museum.

- There is so much things to do and see in North Carolina that is worth showing.

- [Cynthia] I want people to enjoy their time in Aurora, and at the museum, and engage with science.

I would like their takeaway to be, "Wow, I can't wait to come back."

- [Deborah] The Aurora Fossil Museum is at 400 Main Street in Aurora, and they're open Tuesday through Sunday, from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm.

For more information, you can call the museum at [252] 322-4238, or visit them online at aurorafossilmuseum.org.

I'm in the butterfly house here at the Museum of Life and Sciences, and I'm holding a paper kite, which was flown in from the Philippines.

Over the next several weeks, "North Carolina Weekend" is gonna be partnering with the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources on a new initiative called PATH, or Parks and Trails for Health.

It's all about finding wellness by getting outside into nature, and if your family is in the Outer Banks, there's a really fun hike that you can take at the Nags Head Woods Preserve.

- [Brian] My name is Brian Boutin, I'm the director of the Albemarle-Pamlico Sounds Program for the Nature Conservancy out here on the Outer Banks.

- [Rick] This is Brian Boutin's office, a place on the Outer Banks called Nags Head Woods Preserve.

- [Brian] We have about 1400 acres of deciduous maritime forest here, this is the best example of deciduous maritime flowers that we have on the East Coast of the United States.

- [Rick] That's one reason the Nature Conservancy worked with the towns of Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head to purchase land here in 1978 to create the preserve.

The Conservancy grew the preserve over the next several decades.

- This area is also a historical, important place for the Outer Banks.

There used to be a community back here, and we worked with that community to really preserve the integrity, both culturally and the natural heritage of this place.

Basically, we are bound on two sides by some very large sand dunes.

To the north is Run Hill and to the south is Jockey's Ridge, and those two sand dunes are what makes this place possible.

- [Rick] The two big dunes help protect these woods from the beating they might otherwise take from hurricanes and nor'easter.

Smaller dunes in between are the forest foundation.

- And so we've got a mix of swamp forest in some areas, we've got some tree species that you don't see anywhere else outside of Piedmont in here.

- [Rick] The woods are home to 500 species of plants, 50 species of birds, 28 species of reptiles, 15 species of amphibians, and a few warm blooded creatures, like bobcat and deer.

There are lots of ponds in the preserve, some carpeted with duckweed and some not.

- There's a little bit of everything in these woods, and you get a lot of topography, which is something that you don't get much on the Outer Banks.

We've got 14,000 people who register as a visitor here every year, and we've got countless others that use it.

We've got visitors that come from pretty much all 50 states in about, you know, 20 or so countries every year.

Most people come for a hike, we've got some regulars around here that run every day, we've got seven miles of trails, they're open dawn till dusk, seven days a week, 365 days a year, and we have both pet friendly trails, as well as some more strenuous trails, some that actually kind of feel like you're in the mountains, and when you're walking up and down the sand dunes.

- [Rick] There are ADA accessible trails too.

- I bring my dog here with my family a lot, we like to go down to the end of the Roanoke trail, and he likes to play around in the water, my son fishes, and some of our ponds here.

- [Rick] They are experiences most people don't expect to find at the Outer Banks.

- [Brian] Everybody comes here for the beach, and this is one of those hidden gems that shouldn't be so hidden.

- [Rick] Boutin says, people who find this gem are often surprised.

- It's almost a daily occurrence for visitors who come into the preserve, they say, "Oh wow, I never knew."

- [Rick] Well, now they do, and Boutin wants them to enjoy Nags Head Woods Preserve as much as he and his family do.

- [Brian] I just want people to be able to come and enjoy this place, and get a little sense of serenity out here in the hustle and bustle of all that goes on, on the Outer Banks.

So I want them to see that this is what the Outer Banks used to feel like.

- [Deborah] The Nags Head Woods Preserve is in Kitty Hawk on the Outer Banks.

The trail is open from dawn to dusk, for detailed instructions on how to find the trail, visit the Nature Conservancy's website at nature.org and search for Get Involved.

Well, that's it for tonight's show.

We have had a terrific time out here at the Museum of Life and Science, it is a super fun family favorite if you're ever in Durham, and if you've missed anything in tonight's show, just remember, you can always watch us again online at pbsnc.org.

Have a great "North Carolina Weekend" everyone, good night.

[upbeat music] ♪ - Funding for "North Carolina Weekend" is provided in part by Visit NC, dedicated to highlighting our state's natural scenic beauty, unique history, and diverse cultural attractions.

From the Blue Ridge and the great Smokey Mountains across the Piedmont to 300 miles of Barrier Island beaches.

You're invited to experience all the adventure and charm our state has to offer.

[piano outro]