These 3 North Carolina sites were highlighted on USA Today’s 10Best lists

The USS North Carolina spent 40 months in the Pacific Ocean, having participated in every major offensive engagement in that theater during World War II. It was the most decorated battleship to serve in the war.

And the U.S. Navy wanted to scrap it and sell the steel.

But thanks to several dedicated advocates, “The Showboat,” as it was known, was saved, The News & Observer previously reported.

Now open to the public as a floating museum in Wilmington, it’s one of several museums named by USA Today one of the best in the country.

Institutions that made the 10Best lists — for small-town and open-air museums and museum ships — were first nominated by a panel of experts and then voted on by USA Today readers.

Best small-town museums

One Western North Carolina institution made USA Today’s list of the top 10 small-town museums in the U.S.:

• No. 1: Concord Museum (Concord, Massachusetts)
• No. 2: Loudoun Heritage Farm Museum (Sterling, Virginia)
• No. 3: Shriver House Museum (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania)
• No. 4: Eureka Springs Historical Museum (Eureka Springs, Arkansas)
• No. 5: Beech Mountain History Museum (Beech Mountain, North Carolina)
• No. 6: Frontier Times Museum (Bandera, Texas)
• No. 7: Museum of the Big Bend (Alpine, Texas)
• No. 8: Allegany Museum (Cumberland Maryland)
• No. 9: Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center (St. Augustine, Florida)
• No. 10: Aiken County Historical Museum (Aiken, South Carolina)

Beech Mountain, a town with a population of 675 as of the 2020 Census, is a popular ski destination near the Tennessee state line.

Its museum (503 Beech Mountain Parkway) offers exhibits on topics including what life was like at the mountain before the ski resort, the Land of Oz amusement park and industries including logging and milling, according to a website dedicated to tourism in nearby Banner Elk.

The Beech Mountain Historical Society operates the museum during the warmer times of year. It’s open Thursday-Sunday from mid-June through mid-October.

Best open-air museums

• No. 1: Plimoth Patuxet Museums (Plymouth, Massachusetts)
• No. 2: Mystic Seaport Museum (Mystic, Connecticut)
• No. 3: Oconaluftee Indian Village (Cherokee, North Carolina)
• No. 4: Bodie State Historic Park (Bridgeport, California)
• No. 5: National Museum of Transportation (St. Louis, Missouri)
• No. 6: Conner Prairie (Fishers, Indiana)
• No. 7: Strawbery Banke Museum (Portsmouth, New Hampshire)
• No. 8: Colonial Williamsburg (Williamsburg, Virginia)
• No. 9: Jamestown Settlement (Williamsburg, Virginia)
• No. 10: Hagley Museum and Library (Wilmington, Delaware)

The Oconaluftee Indian Village recreates an 18th-century typical experience for the Cherokee living in the North Carolina mountains. Visitors can take guided tours and see artists demonstrating traditional crafting techniques.

The town of Cherokee is also home to the Museum of the Cherokee People and the Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual.

Best museum ships

The USS North Carolina, which floats off the coast of Wilmington, was decommissioned in 1947, The N&O previously reported. The most decorated battleship to serve in World War II — with 15 battle stars — it serves as a museum and memorial to the more than 10,000 North Carolinians who died during the war.

It launched in June 1940 from the New York Navy Yard and was commissioned nearly a year later, in April 1941, according to the Battleship North Carolina website.

The vessel served in every major naval offensive across the Pacific Ocean during World War II.

This story was originally published February 27, 2025 at 11:46 AM with the headline "These 3 North Carolina sites were highlighted on USA Today’s 10Best lists."

Renee Umsted

The News & Observer

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Renee Umsted is a service journalism reporter for The News & Observer. She has a degree in journalism from the Bob Schieffer College of Communication at TCU.