3 Best Sights in Central North Carolina, North Carolina

With seven floors of immersive exhibits spread across two buildings connected via sky bridge, this museum is the largest of its kind in the Southeast. Exhibits and dioramas celebrate the incredible diversity of species in the state's various regions. There are enough live animals and insects—including butterflies, snakes, and a two-toed sloth—to qualify as a midsize zoo. Massive and rare whale skeletons hang from the ceiling. The pièce de résistance, however, is the Terror of the South exhibit, featuring the dinosaur skeleton of "Acro," a giant carnivore that lived in the region 110 million years ago. The impressive bones are the world's most complete Acrocanthosaurus dinosaur skeleton. In the Nature Research Center, visitors can have live conversations with scientists.

At this expansive park designed to fascinate children at every turn, you can roam through a room filled with dinosaurs, see tigers and red pandas in the 24-acre zoo, meet a penguin or shark in the aquarium, and soar through the treetops on the SKYWILD high ropes course. The grounds include a petting zoo, a reptile and amphibian house, a carousel, and a 3-D theater.

The original Apollo astronauts trained here, at one of the largest planetariums in the country. A $9.2-million renovation, completed in 2020, expanded the exhibition areas. You can see planetarium shows, science demonstrations, and interactive STEM exhibits for children and adults.