Coastal Carolina is endowed with museums, historical plantations and other attractions, including a handful of aquariums, which provide planners with plenty of interesting off-site meeting and event options.
SOUTH CAROLINA
Charleston
South Carolina Aquarium offers a range of event spaces, including its Great Hall, and has a capacity for up to 1,500 people.
Historic venues include Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, hosting banquets of up to 150 people; Legare–Waring House, accommodating 60 people for indoor banquets and 1,000 for outdoor events; Middleton Place Plantation, an historic attraction with gardens and a museum that also has a 53-room inn and 3,000 square feet of meeting space; and the Art Deco American Theater, featuring 13,000 square feet of meeting and event space.
Additionally, the Charleston Maritime Center is a waterfront special events facility that hosts banquets for up to 5,000 people, and the Charleston Visitor Center, located in a circa-1856 railroad depot, accommodates up to 150 people for seated functions and up to 1,600 people in its bus shed.
Myrtle Beach
Popular Grand Strand off-site venues include the House of Blues Myrtle Beach, Ripley’s Aquarium Myrtle Beach and Margaritaville Myrtle Beach.
House of Blues features a 300-seat restaurant, an outdoor deck accommodating 1,200 people for receptions or 250 for seated meals, a music hall, and various function rooms. Ripley’s hosts dinners of up to 300 people and receptions of up to 1,000 people. Margaritaville Myrtle Beach has several rooms with a capacity for 100 guests and handles up to 350 people for venue buyouts. Team-building programs are also available at Margaritaville.
Another option is the NASCAR SpeedPark, offering a range of options for corporate outings, cookouts and team building.
NORTH CAROLINA
Outer Banks
Several Roanoke Island attractions offer space for group events, including Roanoke Island Festival Park, which has an art gallery, an auditorium and a theater for indoor functions and hosts outdoor events for up to 3,000 people; the North Carolina Aquarium at Roanoke Island, which handles receptions for up to 1,500 people; and the Elizabethan Gardens, which has a hall for functions.
Other Outer Banks options include Mallard’s Marsh, a 3-year-old event facility near Nags Head that accommodates 450 people banquet style.
Crystal Coast
The North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knolls Shores, which reopened in May following a $24 million expansion that tripled its size to 93,000 square feet, has a conference room, a multipurpose hall and a new 170-seat theater.
Wilmington
The Battleship North Carolina, commissioned in 1941, has a theater and function space for groups of up to 60 people and hosts groups of up to 350 people on its fantail. Larger events can be held at its riverside park.
The North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher accommodates up to 1,000 guests for after-hours events.
Among the destination’s other off-site venues are Poplar Grove Plantation, Bellamy Mansion and Cameron Art Museum.
NORTH CAROLINA
Outer Banks
Elizabethan Gardens 252.473.3234
www.outerbanks.com/elizabethangardens
Mallard’s Marsh 866.332.3475
www.ncaquariums.com
North Carolina Aquarium at Roanoke Island 877.699.9200 www.nascarspeedpark.com
Roanoke Island Festival Park 252.475.1500
www.roanokeisland.com
Crystal Coast
North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knolls Shores 866.294.3477 www.ncaquariums.com
Wilmington
Battleship North Carolina 910.251.5797
www.battleshipnc.com
Bellamy Mansion Museum 910.251.3700
www.bellamymansion.org
Cameron Art Museum 910.395.5999
www.cameronartmuseum.com
North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher 866.301.3476
www.ncaquariums.com
Poplar Grove Plantation 910.686.9518
www.poplargrove.com
