If your family is headed to Ocean City this summer, obviously you are hoping for some sunshine. But what do you do if the weather is just too hot or it is raining? Good news, there are lots of options to keep everyone entertained and chill . . . here are some of our favorites.
Ripley’s Believe It Or Not
401 South Atlantic Avenue, Ocean CityIt is nearly impossible to miss the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not in Ocean City—just look for the giant great white shark thrashing his way through the corner building near Wicomico Street. That is one huge animatronic! A fixture for decades, the museum just reopened this past spring after renovations and is ready to amaze your family with everything from shrunken heads to visual illusions.
Housing over 500 artifacts and displays on two-floors, as each Ripley’s museum is unique—even if you have visited one in another town, you will experience new thrills in this one. The museum is also home to Ripley’s Marvelous Mirror Maze and Ripley’s Impossible LaseRace.
Ocean City Life-Saving Station Museum
813 S. Atlantic Ave., Ocean CityThe original Ocean City Life-Saving Station was built in the late 1800s. As the beach town grew, the station was relocated several times and eventually renamed the Ocean City Life-Saving Station Museum. Today its mission is to save history instead of shipwrecked mariners, as the original ”Surfmen” of the station had done.Located at the southern end of the Ocean City Boardwalk, the museum has plenty of exhibits for kids of all ages, including two 250-gallon saltwater aquariums, the “Sands From Around the World” exhibit, and the “Davy Jones’ Lockers” exhibit featuring unusual objects recovered from local shipwrecks.
DiscoverSea Shipwreck Museum at Sea Shell City
708 Coastal Hwy, Fenwick Island, Del.
Arrrggg . . . here marks the spot for nautical history buffs! The DiscoverSea Shipwreck Museum lies just outside of Ocean City on Fenwick Island, and is a treasure for the entire family to enjoy—and it’s free! Located above Sea Shell City on Coastal Highway, the museum offers an ever-changing exhibit of shipwreck artifacts recovered from the Delmarva Peninsula and beyond. On display you can find gold and silver bars, coins, daggers and firearms, pottery and china, and anything else that may have gone down with the ship. At any given time you can find about 10,000 artifacts from between 1541 and 1860 on display.
Salisbury Zoological Park
755 South Park Drive, Salisbury
A half-hour outside Ocean City is a 12-acre zoo that is not to be missed. Founded in 1954, the Salisbury Zoological Park is home to species both native to Maryland and beyond—from buffalo to otters, macaws and macaques, to wallabies and ocelots and everything in between.
Conservation is at the core of the zoo’s purpose and in late 2017 the zoo acquired Pinocchio, the Andean Bear from Ecuador. Keepers are hoping that he will make his acquaintance with Chaska, the zoo’s four-year-old female Andean Bear. Reproduction is key to preserving this species, the only bear native to South America. The zoo is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with the exception of Thanksgiving and Christmas. The zoo’s trails and walkways are stroller-friendly and are primarily in the shade.
—Joyce Heid
