Located on the largest museum campus in the United States behind the North Carolina Museum of Art, the Cloud Chamber for the Trees and Sky is a unique work by British artist Chris Drury, which was commissioned in 2003 by the museum itself. It mixes fairy tale design with medieval technology to create one of the most unique spaces in the world. The work has a 14’ interior diameter and is built of dry stone with a notched, octagon domed log roof which is turfed on the outside. Inside, the walls and floor are rendered in white cement and, via an aperture in the ceiling, the image of the surrounding trees are projected across the walls and floor upside down. The trees have the look of roots hanging down inside the dark underground chamber. There is a single wooden door leading into the chamber which becomes light-tight when the door is closed. The only illumination in the room comes from a small hole in the roof of the chamber, which acts as a camera obscura; a medieval optics trick that ends up projecting a mirror image of the area on the lit side of the camera. The Cloud Chamber for the Trees and Sky ultimately allows visitors to virtually walk among the clouds and the treetops using a technology that requires nothing but sunshine. How charming. Today there are approximately 50 public camera obscuras in the world, five of which are in the United States.
In order to claim a find:
occasionally the door will be locked, mainly when it's raining or closed. (As much as you want to, please do not climb on the roof). Open Hours are 7:30am to 5:00 pm. I highly recommend calling the museum at 919-839-6262 to be sure the door is unlocked, although you don't have to enter the chamber for the required photo to claim a find. The best time to visit is around noon. Logs without the required answer will be deleted.
Virtual Reward - 2017/2018 This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between August 24, 2017 and August 24, 2018. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards at Geocaching Blog.