The ships at Patriots Point are
USS Yorktown (CV-10),
USS Laffey (DD-724), and
USS Clamagore (SS-343). I'd definitely recommend going as there's discussions off and on about sinking
Clamagore to be an artificial reef, which would be a shame because she's the only surviving example of her type of sub.
Laffey is somewhat famous as "The Ship That Wouldn't Die," sustaining damage from 4 bombs, 6 kamikaze crashes, and numerous strafing runs from Japanese aircraft.
Yorktown, meanwhile, recovered the astronauts from
Apollo 8 and was used in the filming of
Tora! Tora! Tora! and
The Philadelphia Experiment. Patriot's Point relies heavily on admissions and donations to continue preserving these ships (which is one of the reasons they've had to sell/get rid of other ships in their collection and are considering the sale/disposal of
Clamagore - they get money from the state, but not enough to keep the lights on, as it were.
Correct.
As for Durham places to go, I'd recommend Viceroy (Indian), Geer Street Garden (Southern/New American), Jack Tar and the Colonel's Daughter (Southern/New American), Watts Grocery (New American), Pompieri (Pizza), Dashi (Ramen), Nuvotaco (Tex-Mex), Only Burger, Bull City Burger, Guglhupf (German), and Saltbox (Seafood)