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We've compiled the best of the best in Central North Carolina - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
On the west side of Raleigh, the NCMA houses more than 5,000 years of artistic heritage, including one of the nation's largest collections of Jewish ceremonial art. The museum hosts touring exhibitions of works by such artists as Caravaggio and Rodin. There are gallery tours offered daily, and on Saturdays at 10:30 you can catch a guided tour of the surrounding park. The 164-acre park features nine monumental works of art, which visitors can view on foot or by bike.
The permanent holdings at this impressive museum include 20,000 works, with one of the Southeast's strongest collections of Asian art. There's an outstanding selection of drawings, prints, and photographs as well as Old Master paintings and sculptures. The museum hosts regular lunch panels, film forums, and guest lectures. Be sure to say hello to the museum's namesake, William Hayes Ackland, whose modernist tomb is on-site.
In the center of Raleigh's Warehouse District, the Contemporary Art Museum hosts a rotating display of art exhibitions and cultural events. The glass-enclosed, folded-roof design nods to the neighborhood's train depot and industrial loading docks, welcoming visitors to its intimate galleries. First Fridays stay open late for a local vendor market.
NC State has one of the country's top public-university design programs, and this free museum gives a taste of the creativity and innovation that has fueled the college. Selections from the museum's 54,000-item collection of textiles, decorative arts, ceramics, photography, and folk art rotate in a semipermanent exhibition, while the other galleries display several shows a year on everything from inflatable sculpture to metal jewelry to biotechnology. Behind the museum is a pollinator garden designed by horticulture students.
This unique museum on the southern edge of Old Salem showcases the furniture, painting, ceramics, and metalware used in the area through 1820. The bookstore carries hard-to-find books on Southern culture and history.
A highlight of any Duke visit, this museum displays African, American, European, and Latin American artwork. The collection includes works by Henri Matisse, Kehinde Wiley, and Pablo Picasso. The museum offers a steady stream of engaging events throughout the year.
The front yard of this home, built by Camel cigarette founder R. J. Reynolds and his wife, Katharine Smith Reynolds, seems to extend to the horizon. It's the first of many moments of grandeur at the 1917 dwelling that's now an art museum filled with paintings, prints, and sculptures by Thomas Eakins, Frederic Church, and Georgia O'Keeffe. There's also a costume collection, as well as clothing and toys used by the Reynolds children. The home is adjacent to the 134-acre Reynolda Gardens that include flower fields, wooded trails, and a nursery. Next door is
The always-changing exhibits at this tucked-away museum near the Wake Forest campus showcase artwork—including large-format sculpture displays—by nationally and internationally known artists. The attached historic Hanes House has been renovated with contemporary designer furnishings comfortable for attending a Fireside Chat, reading an art magazine, or just enjoying the view of the grounds outside.
Set on the campus of UNC-Greensboro, the museum is known for its permanent collection, which includes lithographs and bronzes by Henri Matisse and more than 400 Japanese woodblock prints. There's an outdoor sculpture garden, and ever-changing exhibitions of 20th-century and modern American art.
