What's Happening?

Moth Night at the Cowan Museum

Saturday, July 19, 2025

8:30 PM - 11:00 PM

The 2025 NC Moth Week is part of National Moth Week and will take place Saturday, July 19 through Sunday, July 27. 

At the Cowan Museum, we will hold a special FREE Moth Night event in the botanical garden and grounds. The event will include:

• Identification stations in the historical park with fun facts.
• Museum staff will provide information on and assistance with ecoEXPLORE and iNaturalist.
• Painted "moth bait" trees in the garden with recipe handouts.
• Free stickers and prizes!
• Snacks and insect decorations in the general store.
• A movie in the one-room schoolhouse (Nocturnes, 2024, 1 hr, 22 min.)
• Moth Disco.
• Moth finger puppet-making activity.

What to Expect

• Wear comfortable, closed toe shoes.
• If necessary, put on insect repellent before entering the grounds.
• Moths are sensitive to both light and sound. If you bring your own flashlight, try not to flood too much light on the observation stations if others have light already focused on the moths. You'll still be able to see your new moth friends!
• Outside our main building will be science. Inside the Kelly-Farrior House will be a little silliness.

Event Details

For more information about Moth Week, please check out: MOTHS .

Haunted Museum and Trick-or-Treat

Friday, October 31, 2025

6 PM - 8 PM

The museum will be open after-hours for trick-or-treaters and others who would like to see the historical park buildings and the Kelly-Farrior House at their scariest.

Candy will be handed out to our Halloween guests.

Saturday, March 22, 2025

11 AM - 2 PM

Informational displays, demos, hands-on activities, and games related to climate change and climate resilience will be aimed at all ages. 

Presenters:

*WNCT 9 Weather

* Cape Fear Botanical Garden

*Core Sound Waterfowl Museum

* Duplin County Beekeepers Association

* Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue 

and Rehabilitation Center

*North Carolina Estuarium

*Sturgeon City Environmental Education Center

*North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences - Whiteville

*James Sprunt Community College

Plus:

*Food & Drinks from:

Master Blend Family Farms

- and -

Sippin’ Sunshine

*Games and activities for 

kids and adults

*Prizes

*Plants for sale by Nahunga Creek Tropicals

A Journey Through Deep Time: 

Dinosaur Bones, Rocks, and Fossils 

In our renovated "Rock Room" gallery, see some of the fossils in the museum's collection and loaned specimens, such as an Allosaurus bone, Triceratops frill, and an American mastodon tusk.

Choosing to Participate

October 4, 2024 - January 10, 2025

Choosing to Participate  is a poster exhibit developed by Facing History and Ourselves and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES). The exhibit is sponsored by Duke Energy.

Included in the exhibit:

• A slide show with photographs of people and events in Duplin County, including Kenansville's outdoor dramas.
• Material on display from Duplin County Home Demonstration Clubs and the Stanford School.
• A voting booth provided by the Duplin County Board of Elections for you to cast your vote on what you’d like from the Museum.
• Artifacts donated by community members on display for the first time.
• Vinyl recordings of some of the most influential speeches in history.

The Duplin County Beekeepers Association has put up an apiary with two beehives located near our tobacco barn. The hives are not close to the main outbuildings and botanical garden. 

However, the bees are certainly busy with all the flowers we have on the grounds, so please be aware of their presence and that they are doing important work as pollinators.

The North Carolina Science Trail (NCST) is a STEM collection of about 60 partners across the state of North Carolina. The mission of the NC Science Trail is to inspire exploration of NC’s varied science landscape all year long. NCST aims to build awareness of science processes, cultivate appreciation for the role of science in our everyday lives, and encourage care for the natural world. 

https://ncsciencetrail.org/

The Joann Cowan Brown Botanical Garden is a HotSpot in the ecoEXPLORE program! 

ecoEXPLORE (Experiences Promoting Learning Outdoors for Research and Education) is an incentive-based citizen science program for children in grades K-8. Developed by The North Carolina Arboretum, this innovative program combines science exploration with kid-friendly technology to foster a fun learning environment for children while encouraging them to explore the outdoors and participate in citizen science. 

(July 1 - August 31)

 Entomology is the

study of insects!

Fun Fact:

The North Carolina state butterfly is the Eastern tiger swallowtail.

Complete challenges to earn a badge and share observations of wildlife belonging to this season for a bonus point! 

Source: https://www.ecoexplore.net/