Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum will reopen on May 20 after a years-long renovation project

May 13, 2024 | Island Features | By: Joy Crist

Photo by the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum.

After a years-long renovation project, the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum in Hatteras Village will reopen to the public on May 20, 2024.

A new exhibit at the Museum. Photo by Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum.

“We can’t wait to welcome you into our new space, which includes a completely redesigned lobby and gallery with state-of-the-art features and interactive elements that bring our coastal history to life,” stated an online update.

“The public reopening will include a ribbon cutting at 10 a.m. with special programs and activities scheduled throughout that opening week. See you soon!”

Though the prospect of a remodeling project had been floating around for some time, in May 2021, the museum received a $4.1 million grant from the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources to conduct an overhaul of the Hatteras village site.

Months later, Dare County and the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau stepped in with an extra $500,000 in funds, which the state then bolstered with an additional $400,000, resulting in a total of $5.1 million to bring the remodeling project to life.

Construction bids started in late 2021, and a contractor was selected in June 2022, with the work officially beginning in the winter of 2022/2023.

The footprint of the museum, which includes 5,500 square feet of gallery space and 2,000 square feet of lobby space, remains the same. but the exhibits and displays themselves have evolved in a way that will effectively double the number of artifacts that can be shown in any given year.

In the new design, exhibits can be rotated every six months or so, with treasured artifacts coming out of the on-site storage area to be showcased in interactive displays. Additional exhibits have also been added to the museum, which includes the installation of a World War I German cannon – or Lyle Gun – on the museum’s front porch.

The original 6,000-pound bronze and crystal first-order Fresnel lens from the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse also has a new location in the museum, as a team of specialists was hired to take apart the more than 170-year-old fixture, and reinstall it in the new gallery space.

In essence, visitors will enjoy a whole new experience when the museum opens in May 2024, and in the meantime, the public can learn more about the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum and the renovation project on the museum’s website at https://graveyardoftheatlantic.com.