Imagination Station: Come For The Herpetarium

The Imagination Station lets you get hands on with reptiles, fitness and world events. Stay away from the 3rd floor! The historic building has ben revitalized to become a communal centerpiece but still has some work to go.

Wilson’s Museum of Choice

The Imagination Station is off of Nash Street in downtown Wilson. The building was the former post office and court house for the city before it was remade into the museum. As a result, the building is very central to most of the town.

Parking is a little tricky. Some parking lots in Wilson are pay lots and others are free. I parked in a pay lot on Nash street before realizing there were other options. Check out Wilson’s official parking map before you visit to get the most up to date information.

Wilson is one of many Eastern NC towns that appears to be in a positive transition. That being said, do be careful where you park. There are some areas that are a little rough. If you do not feel comfortable in the one of the parking areas, drive to the next.

Welcome to Fun!

The building is old but it does have a wheel chair entrance on the side. My friend James and I came with a wagon and 3 kids so we took advantage of the ramp. The main entrance has a very… quirky foyer. They have done little here to alter the original architecture of the building. The salmon walls combined with the black and white tiles, has an almost “fun house” esthetic. There is a front desk here where you pay admission of a few dollars.

Get Physical

On the first floor you will find a really interesting assortment of global engagement and physical fitness education. I say global education because it covers a wide variety of items including global warming, a massive globe and…..a kaleidoscope? Not sure why that here. Anyway. Globe and the global warming exhibits we’re interesting but we move past them quickly.

In the back are you will find a gym for kids. No, really. This area has several physical fitness educational games and activities. The kid friendly climbing wall is really neat but was a little advanced for the toddlers we had with us.

Madilyn really liked the running track. You select an animal by pressing one of the buttons and the lights on the side light up showing you how fast they would be. This lets you attempt to “race” these animals. There is also some kid friendly equipment that is akin to gym machines. The idea seems to be to educate the kids on health and wellness in a way that gets them excited.

The Petting Zoo in the Court Room

On the second floor you will find the Herpetarium (A.K.A the reptile and animal area). As with most of the building, little has been done to alter the original structure. The second floor was where the court room was/is. In the waiting area for the courtroom is now where this exhibit lives.

The reptiles are all in home-made enclosures of various sizes and dimensions. We were lucky enough to catch the co-director (Tala) for this exhibit out and about caring for the animals. She told us that most of the enclosures were made by the local boy scout troops and the animals themselves were mostly rescues or voluntary surrenders.

They clearly have done a lot to make a decent life for these guys. Every enclosure is designed to be approachable for kids and adults alike. The non-dangerous reptiles have open tops enclosures and are low to the ground. As someone with a toddler I appreciate having these things at her height. Additionally, the co-director offered to take out just about anything in there to see it up close (save the baby alligator).

There is an area in the back with a few bunnies and a hedgehog too. This is only accessible if a staff member is there or by reservation. Madilyn has not had the chance to interact with rabbits so it was fun to see her have this first experience.

Like I mentioned earlier, the old courtroom is still there. They now use the space for events and different activates. They also let the rabbits run around here regularly to get some energy out. The quirky yet personable exhibits made this floor my favorite. Shout out to Tala Brown for giving us a great impromptu tour of the 2nd floor.

The History Part?

This is probably the most lack luster part of the whole experience. On the 3rd floor is the history part of the Imagination Station Science & History Museum. To be frank, this is the reason I ranked this a 3 star and not a 4 star.

Again, I understand that the building architecture and general features have been preserved but this floor seemed to just not make much effort. There are several partial walls (like old cubicles?) that make this very disjointed. The walls have some blurbs about different local history. I was disappointed by the life size picture of a musket and the fake campfire display. I understand it takes a bit of money to make really good history exhibits but this was embarrassing. We did not stay long and quickly moved on.

We were able to see behind the scenes of the Herpetarium because of our friend Tala. I think the 3rd floor is better used as additional space for the engaging animal experience rather than this sad exhibit. Just my two cents.

Overall

The Imagination station is fun local museum with a lot of character. There is significant room for improvement on the 3rd floor history exhibit. A great place to get hands on with some reptiles and learn about fitness. Worth checking out if you’re in the area with a few young kids.

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