Summer comes and the school doors close on another year. No matter how old, everyone likely remembers what those long weeks of summer were like: moments of excitement and adventure, interspersed with rainy days, days when nothing was happening, where the phrase, “I’m bored,” might have been uttered a time or two.

Perhaps back then, depending on one’s age, outside of the imagination, there might not have been readily available solutions for “nothing to do.” That’s not the case anymore. Look to all corners of the county and there’s something to do, every day.

For example, in Washington, there’s the newly opened Washington Waterfront Underground Railroad Museum. The museum is housed in an old caboose, renovated to display Washington’s role in the Network to Freedom, as escaped slaves made their way from the southern states to places where they could live freely. Down West Main Street, and onto to Market Street, there’s the Historic Port of Washington Museum, which celebrates Washington’s maritime history, where goods came and went by boat from a bustling waterfront, to and from destinations across the world.

But the area’s history doesn’t stop there. At the Historic Bath State Historic Site, there is plenty to be learned about the state’s first town, what children’s lives were like in the colonial era, as well as Bath’s very own infamous pirate, Blackbeard. Still farther east, is the Pantego Academy Historical Museum, which documents the rural eastern North Carolina life, as well as the historic school built by the families of Pantego to educate their children. Down U.S. Highway 264 to Belhaven, the Belhaven Memorial Museum can be found. Displays here cover everything from centuries-old clothing to uniforms from several wars; from a rural doctor’s medical equipment to oddities of nature, captured in jars — and in time.

Cross the river, and children can explore in even further back in time, back to an era where dinosaurs roamed the earth and eastern North Carolina was covered by seas where the mighty shark megalodon hunted. At the Aurora Fossil Museum, children can search for their own fossils and learn about the creatures that existed long ago.

Wherever one lives in the county, a museum is just a short drive away. Education doesn’t have to stop come summertime. There’s plenty to do. More importantly, there’s plenty to learn about this place they call home.