Trip North - Kinston, NC- CSS Neuse Civil War Interpretive Center

 In the morning we ventured into town to see the 

CSS Neuse Civil War Interpretive Center

 

CSS Neuse was a steam-powered ironclad ram of the Confederate States Navy that served in the latter part the American Civil War.  It was deliberately sunk to avoid capture by rapidly advancing Union Army forces

 

 

 The Neuse was deliberately sunk in a bend in the river.  After the war the CSS Neuse remained at the bottom of the Neuse River until the United States Treasury Department auctioned off the remains to a New York company in October 1865.

 

 

The company salvaged the machinery, armor plating, and guns, however, no further serious attempts were made to salvage or recover the ship until the centennial of the Civil War in 1961.  In 1963 it was finally raised from it's watery grave.  It was left to sit on the riverbank to dry.  The timbers and planking were warped by the hot sun and and scavengers ripped off parts of the boat for souvenirs.  Plans were made to move it to higher ground which required cutting the 500 ton hull into three 50 foot sections.  The new site however was in a flood plain.  In September 1996, Hurricane Fran caused the Neuse to spill its banks, flooding the display site and damaging the remains of the old gunboat.  On June 23, 2012, the hull remnants of the ironclad C.S.S. Neuse were once again moved in three sections to a new home in downtown Kinston where it currently resides.

It is a very well done museum

 

 

Upstairs is a replica town street

 

 and various displays of life at the time of the Civil War

 

The CSS Neuse II is

World's Only Full-Size Replica of a Confederate Ironclad.  It was constructed according to the original plans for the Albemarle-class ironclad gunboat. 

 

Unfortunately it is only open on Saturdays

 

Home for lunch and then we will check out the Nature Center and Planetarium.