Outer Banks community celebrates the grand re-opening of the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum

The Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum celebrated the completion of a years-long renovation project with a ribbon-cutting ceremony that was held on Thursday afternoon, May 16.

With an official and public re-opening date of May 20 on the horizon, community members and organizations who were part of the renovation process – as well as the initial establishment of the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum more than 20 years ago – had an early opportunity to tour the museum and the transformation at Tuesday’s event.

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 work officially began in the winter of 2022/2023.

Interim Director of the North Carolina Maritime Museums System Maria Vann, who joined the project in 2023 prior to the retirement of Director Joe Schwarzer, attested that the many moving parts were a team effort, and the end results presented an entirely new experience for museum-goers.

“Once you go in there, you’ll see a lot more interactive exhibits,” said Vann. “We have holograms, where certain characters throughout history will tell you their story, there are a lot of touch screens, and you can even learn to navigate from the stars. We wanted to make it experiential.”

The new design also allows museum curators to rotate the many exhibits on display, allowing treasured artifacts from the secure and on-site storage area to be brought to light on a regular basis.

“We can very easily take out different cases and refill them with different stories at different times,” said Vann. “There are so many different stories in this area, and we’re really just touching them in this main core exhibit, but moving ahead, we can do a lot more, and add temporary exhibits to really expand on some of these stories.”

The footprint of the museum, which includes 7,000 square feet of lobby space, remains more or less the same, but the exhibits and displays themselves have evolved, with an eye-popping and towering layout that draws museum-goers in from the start.

Riggs Ward Design was contracted to create the comprehensive design plan, and the team collaborated closely with exhibit designers, collections specialists, and historians at every step of the lengthy process. The centerpiece of the museum – a towering statue of a U.S. Life-Saving Service crew navigating through crashing waves in an authentic surfboat – took 14 months to complete alone.

“When we were designing that [exhibit,] we really wanted it to look like the surfboat was in motion,” said Riggs Ward Design’s Creative Director Bob Riggs. “These crews conducted rescues in the worst possible conditions, so it didn’t make sense for the boat to look like it was floating in calm waters.”

Additional new and notable highlights include a redesigned welcome desk, a wave of video displays combined with authentic artifacts, and a new home for the original first-order Fresnel lens of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, which required a team of unique specialists to move and reinstall.

The end result is a fully transformed gallery space, and even seasoned museum visitors at Thursday’s event were surprised at how the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum suddenly felt brand new.

And as the large crowd of contributors and volunteers on Thursday signified, the re-opening of the museum was definitely a team effort.

“When I was talking with some of you all, it was very heartwarming to hear your excitement and enthusiasm at the re-opening of this museum,” said Dr. Darin Waters, Deputy Secretary for the North Carolina Office of Archives and History, prior to the official ribbon cutting.

The original opening of the museum in 2002 was a community-wide effort that took years to accomplish, and speakers at the May 16 ceremony recited a long list of stakeholders who made the museum come to fruition, starting in 1984. (An excerpt is below.)

“I hardly know where to begin, to thank the hundreds of individuals and entities who this important cultural facility would not be possible without them, and their sacrifices both personal and in their livelihoods,” said Danny Couch, President of the Friends of the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum. “Thank you all for what you have done to make this happen.”

“Maritime history is such an important element of North Carolina history, and the three Maritime Museums do such a great job of educating people about so many instances of courage and tragedy and discovery,” said Dr. Reid Wilson, Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. “And here, even when you’re on vacation – especially when you’re on vacation – we are close to the beach, and close to a ferry, and this is such a great convenient stop-off point. And this renovated museum with its artifacts and exhibits, and interactive [elements]… it is amazing.”

For more information on the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum:

The museum will reopen to the public on May 20 at 10 a.m. Operating hours will be Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free (donations appreciated and directly support museum operations).

For more information on upcoming summer events and other museum details, visit the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum’s website at https://graveyardoftheatlantic.com/.

An excerpt of the ribbon-cutting ceremony speech from Danny Couch, with a list of contributors who helped make the original – and renovated – Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum come to life, is below:

“[Let’s] go back to 1984 – yes, 40 years ago, time does indeed fly – and let’s start with some people who had the vision of what this facility could do to preserve and sustain the island’s compelling maritime history and heritage, and for the greater recognition of North Carolina’s place as a major player in this country’s maritime culture, history and heritage. 

“Belinda Willis [and], her husband Virgil; Katie Oden and her husband Jeff; Cathy Parsons, her husband Fred and their families; Dale Burrus who we absolutely would not be here today without his many contributions, Joe, Melanie, Franklin and William Schwarzer, Irene Nolan, Chris and Eleanor Larsen, Helen Wilson, Ray Smith, Tom Curtin, Kevin Duffus, Earl O’Neal, Dixie Burrus Browning, Miss Jo Oden, Tim Midgett, also we would not be here today without his years behind the scenes, his father and mother, Stocky and Libby; his uncle Anderson and their families; Drew Pullen and his passion for history, who wouldn’t let the project fail; Ernie and Lynne Foster; Sen. Lauch Faircloth, an amazing guy, Representative Martin Lancaster, Senator Marc Basnight, Bobby and Sarah Owens; RV and Julie Owens and their families; Lisa Owens Hooper; Natalie Perry Kavanagh; Governor Roy Cooper and his wife and daughters Governors Mike Easley, Bev Perdue, Jim Martin, all our volunteers, friends, so many of whom I can’t possibly name.

“Lastly, the Dare County Tourism Board, the Dare Co. Bd of Commissioners, Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, the North Carolina General Assembly, the Albemarle Commission, the Outer Banks Community Foundation, the Hatteras Village Civic Association, Hugh Morton, Dr. Bill Friday and those patriotic North Carolinians of the “The Save Cape Hatteras Lighthouse Committee;”  the Percy and Elizabeth Meekins Charitable Trust; the United States Coast Guard; the National Park Service past and present administrations nationally and locally; the NC Dept. of Natural and Cultural Resources; and appreciably our capable and valuable sister maritime museums and their staffs, volunteers and leadership in Beaufort/ Carteret County and Southport across the Cape Fear in Brunswick Co.

“If I’ve overlooked your involvement and contributions, forgive me – you do matter and you do make a difference and please know that we love and appreciate you – this day belongs to you as much as anybody or anything.”