The North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort is a state-funded museum that is dedicated to care, display, and interpretation of our state’s rich maritime heritage. The public funding allotted provides for many basic needs. Public funding, however, is not enough to make the museum great.

The reason the museum can go above and beyond in producing and sustaining such a great variety of programs and exhibits is exclusively because of support from the Friends of the Museum.State funding makes the museum possible.The Friends of the Museum and its membership support is what takes the museum to the next level.