The Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum celebrated the completion of a years-long renovation project with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, May 16, and Island Free Press videographer Rory Kelleher was there to capture the milestone event.
On Thursday, 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.
The 7,000-square-foot footprint of the museum 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 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.
For more information on the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum:
Read more about Thursday’s grand re-opening of the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum here.
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/.
