Stuart Ingram and his wife, Louise, founded the museum and later founded the Ingram Planetarium. Jim Hoffman is executive director of both, and on this page, he’ll tell us more about the museum, and on the next page, about the planetarium. “Stuart Ingram was surf fishing near his vacation home in Ocean Isle Beach and had a bucket full of different types of fish for his efforts. A young boy peered in and asked, ‘Hey Mr., what type of fish is that?’ The questions kept coming, and hours later, the seed of the idea for the museum was planted. The Museum of Coastal Carolina opened in 1991, as an educational and fun tribute to our coastal environment.

It’s a magical place, designed to inspire curiosity. We have three saltwater aquariums, and a live touch tank, which is the highlight of a lot of vacations. We have traditional dioramas, including one called the Ocean Reef, that is spectacular, and puts you on the ocean floor. We have an exhibit in conjunction with the National Children’s Museum that includes characters from Nickelodeon and teaches kids how to be action heroes for the environment. And we have daily programming in our Hayden O’Neill Lecture Hall, including Sea Tales, where we read a book and then do an associated craft.

Our virtual reality program offerings include hurricane and sea turtle experiences. We want everything we do to be social, so after a brief orientation, we give the headset to the youngest member of the group first. Then they get to tell the others what it’s like before they try it, which they love!

Three years ago, we started doing a Pirate Week, and the first year we had a pirate named Captain Jack in full regalia with archival stuff on display. A young man, maybe 5 years old came in, and his jaw dropped. Sparrow challenged him to a duel with foam swords, the young man held his own and defeated Sparrow! He’s never forgotten that and comes back every year.

One of the greatest compliments we get is when grandparents bring their grandkids here for an hour or two and tell us that they had as much fun as their grandkids! And grandparents tell us all the time that we’re their grandkid’s favorite place to go. And when you visit the museum, you can visit the planetarium for $5. Come visit us, the schedule and programming can be found at Museumplanetarium.org. It’s fun, and we’re going to sneak up on you and teach you something!”