You’ll Want To Plan A Day Trip To North Carolina’s Magical Butterfly House

Magic Wings Butterfly House is not just home to butterflies found from the Philippines to Central America, but is also one of the largest butterfly houses on the East Coast.

You'll be surrounded by lush greenery, butterflies darting past, and even 250 species of tropical plants known for their nectar and pollen source for the butterflies. You'll see fruit and spice trees like coffee and cacao greeting you at the entranceway. Once inside, unique firespikes and pentas further the belief you've been transported away into a magical land.

If you hear a chirp or see something larger and faster than a butterfly dart by, it might just be one of the many resident birds at Magic Wings. Different species contribute different but necessary things to the butterfly house, to help manage soil pests, Crested Wood Partridges peck around and maintain. In a tropical environment, ants are a given; Oriental White-Eye birds control leaf pests and ant populations. Magic Wings is also where you'll find the Bayer Insectarium. As one of the top destinations on the east coast to admire entomological life cycles, interactive and up-close exhibits allow you look at a rare assortment of exotic insects found across the world.

There's a daily butterfly release and you can ask the museum's Lepidopterist (a scientist who studies butterflies) any questions you might have. When entering, grab a butterfly identification guide to keep track of the ones you spot and where they're from. The "Mary Martha Uzzle Emerging Wonders Window" lets you have an up-close look at the butterfly's lifecycle from caterpillar, to cocoon, to spreading beautiful new wings.

Standing in a glass enclosure as butterflies delicately fly past you? That's something both children and adults will remember forever. The Museum of Life+Science in Durham also offers so many amazing exhibits you could spend a whole day (or weekend).