NC
Historic Downtown Washington: 
Walking Tour    N C Estuarium     
Atlantic Coastline Railroad Depot

Step back in time as you enjoy this walking tour through Washington’s Historic District including 18 antebellum buildings.

• Self-guided. 
• Takes approximately one hour.
• Begins and ends at the old Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Depot on the corner of Main and Gladden Streets, where the Beaufort County Arts Council and the Washington Civic Center are now located.
• 1.9 mile route through part of the Washington Historic district, known as the "Cradle of the City" and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
• The tour visits some two dozen sites. 

Obtain your free printed guide with a map from:

Washington Tourism Development Authority's Visitor Center at: 

• Washington/Beaufort County Chamber of Commerce    102 Stewart Parkway
• Beaufort County Arts Council  108 Gladden Street 
• BHM Regional Library  158 N. Market St

Also available at the above locations, as well as at sites along the tour:

A visitor's guide to Historic Downtown Washington listing shops, restaurants, lodgings and other services available within the area generally covered by the walking tour. 

Historic Washington is part of the Historic Albemarle Tour.

Science, art, nature and history where the rivers meet the sea at the 
Pamlico/Tar River estuary. 

• Situated on the Pamlico River waterfront in historic downtown Washington.
• Tells the story of North Carolina's many coastal rivers and sounds.
• As an example, the estuarium uses the Pamlico/Tar River Estuary, the second largest in the nation behind Chesapeake Bay.  
• More than 200 displays.
• 55 seat auditorium in the 12,500 square foot metal-roofed building, designed to evoke the days when the waterfront held shipping wharves and warehouses. 
• Symbolically follow the path of a raindrop from the state's Piedmont down to the coast through an interactive sculpture by local artist Whiting Toler
• Featured are living aquariums, environmental artworks, historic artifacts from the region and antique boats.  
• The museum offers a 10 minute film about wildlife and nature-oriented products and books -some locally made - and other activities.  
• Operated by the Partnership for the Sounds, a multi-county organization, created to promote eco-tourism in the Albemarle-Pamlico Region.
• Seasonal river tours are available.  Groups are welcome.  Reservations suggested.

Contact:  
Estuarium of North Carolina
223 Water Street
Washington, N.C. 27889
Telephone: 252-948-0000

Atlantic Coastline Railroad Depot

Dating from about 1904, the train station was built in an era when railroads and other land-based transportation began to rival the local waterways as an efficient means to ship trade goods and to transport passengers.

One of the largest and best-preserved railroad stations in eastern North Carolina.  Architectural elements of note:

• hip roof
• metal crest rising above the gray brick exterior walls of the depot 
• arched openings
• clerestory windows of the warehouse.

The depot currently serves as headquarters for the Beaufort County Arts Council. The freight warehouse is home to the Washington Civic Center and art gallery.

Hours: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and weekends during special events. Located at 110 North Gladden Street.
NCNC

Historic Bath

Meander the streets of this historic waterfront community,  home to Blackbeard the Pirate and the oldest church in North Carolina.  

• Although no part of the town of Bath is without historic structures, the actual historic district encompasses the area bounded by King Street on the east, Bowen Avenue on the north and Bath Creek on the south and west. 
• Managed by the State of North Carolina since 1965, the Historic Bath State Historic Site is the centerpiece of the town's treasures of the past including several firsts.
• The first incorporated town in what is now North Carolina, colonial Bath played an important role in the early political, economic and social growth of the province.
• The first public library in the colony (and, for a while, only)  was established in Bath with the delivery in 1701 of 1,000 books to St. Thomas Parish.
• Guided tours are available from the visitor's center.

Contact:

Bath State Historic Site
207 Carteret St.
Bath, N.C. 2780
252-923-3971

Email: historicbath@tri-countynet.net      Website:www.ah.dcr.state.nc.us/sections/hs/bath/bath.htm

Bath A.M.E. Zion Church

• Archaeological site along the Bath Bay waterfront in Bath.

Contact:

Bath State Historic Site
207 Carteret St.
Bath, N.C. 2780
252-923-3971

Historic Albemarle Tour

• Historic Albemarle Tour, or HAT, is the state of North Carolina's oldest consortium of historic and cultural sites.
• A self-guided regional tour.  
• Organized in 1974 and incorporated in 1975 to serve seventeen northeastern counties.
• Currently, 22 member sites offer the visitor a variety of activities from state and private historic sites and museums to an outdoor drama, an aquarium, and a magnificent garden. 
• The entire region features a kaleidoscope of heritage tourism opportunities. Visitors can enjoy local traditions, history and culture. 
• Historic Albemarle Tour sites in Beaufort County include the Aurora Fossil Museum, Historic Bath, the Belhaven Museum, Historic Washington, and the N. C. Estuarium.

Free brochure, available from: 

Washington Tourism Development Authority's Visitors Center at:

Washington/Beaufort County Chamber of Commerce  102 Stewart Parkway
Beaufort County Arts Council   108 Gladden St.
BHM Regional Library   158 N. Market St. in Washington
or at any HAT site

Contact:

Historic Albemarle Tour
1-800-734-1117

Website: www.albemarle-nc.com/hat

Aurora Fossil Museum

Discover prehistoric man, ocean life fifteen million years ago and geological formations.  

• Fossils tell the story of the formation of the Coastal Plain from the birth of the Atlantic Ocean to the present.  
• The museum boasts a large collection of fossils from the nearby PCS Phosphate mine and allows visitors to see fossilized bones, teeth, shells and coral.
• Find your own fossils, after completing their tour.  Sift through course phosphate material and search for fossils. Prehistoric sharks' teeth are one of the favorite finds.

Contact:

Aurora Fossil Museum
4th &Main St.,  PO Box 352  
Aurora, NC      
252-322-4238      

Website: www.pamlico.com/aurora/fossils

Bennett Vineyards

• Muscadine and scuppernong grapes.
• The largest muscadine and scuppernong vineyard in the Carolinas.
• Colonial grant land provided a 138 acre tract for this vineyard.
• Located east of U.S. Highway 17 between the Neuse and the Pamlico rivers. The vineyard is 22 miles from Washington and only three miles off the route between the Aurora and Minnesott ferries.

Contact:

Bennett Vineyards
6832 Old Sandhill Road
Edward, N.C. 27821
252-322-7154

Email: ncwine@newbernenc.com
Website: www.ncwines.com

Belhaven Memorial Museum

• Better than browsing in Grandmother's attic, this museum was begun as the private collection of Mrs. Eva Blount Way around the turn of the century.
• From an assortment of buttons, this collection grew to include dressed fleas, old coins, shells, early American kitchenware, coffee mills, furniture, old farming tools, Civil War guns, World War I helmets, boots, and much more.
• Located in the Belhaven City Hall, which has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. 
• Open daily except Wednesday, from 1:00 to 5:00 PM, and other times by appointment.

Contact:

Belhaven Museum
P.O. Box 220
210 E. Main St.
Belhaven, N.C. 27810
252-943-6817

Website: http://www.beaufort-county.com/Belhaven/museum/Belhaven.htm

Goose Creek State Park

Nature beckons you to experience the mysterious wonders of marsh and swamp along the borders of the Pamlico River and Goose Creek.

Visitors can canoe the unhurried creeks, fish on the shores of the Pamlico River or learn morea bout wetlands at the Environmental Education Visitor Center.

Birders and hikers are welcome.  There are over eight miles of well-marked hiking trails, allowing visitors to wind their way through the park and view nature at its best.

Free admission.

For more information call (252) 923-2191 or visit their website at www.ncsparks.net . 

Goose Creek Gameland

• Owned and managed by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission
• The 7,000 acre Goose Creek Gameland is a series of waterfowl impoundments, each about 200 acres in size on a peninsula on the south side of the Pamlico River between Aurora and Hobucken in Beaufort and Pamlico counties.
• Wildlife management areas include shallow pools of freshwater surrounded by marshes.
•  Impoundments support large numbers of wintering and migrating waterfowl and shorebirds.

Contact:

Goose Creek Gameland
919-733-7291 or 252-514-4737