Get out around town to see some local Kinston landscapes with new insights during the CSS Neuse fifth anniversary celebration Saturday, March 7, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. A tour of the museum, two battlefield tours and a living history demonstration will make for a day of fun and facts. The cost is $20, and lunch will be on your own at Kings Restsurant. Preregistration is required and limited to 30 people.
Do you love learning about your local area,” asks intern Samantha Reddick. “We will have reenactors demonstrate what was happening in Kinston during the Civil War.”
The day’s schedule includes a guided tour of the CSS Neuse Interpretive Center, a bus tour of the First Battle of Kinston with Dr. Lonnie Blizzard, lunch at King’s Restaurant, living history demonstrations at Harriet’s Chapel with the 26th North Carolina Infantry, and a bus tour of the Battle of Wyse Fork with author Wade Sokolosky.
Living history demonstrations will include musket firing, medical and soldier camp life.
The CSS Neuse is the only remaining commissioned Confederate ironclad above water. It was part of a new technology that the Confederacy used to combat the superior manpower and firepower of the Union Navy. Learn about this technological advance and warfare in eastern North Carolina at the CSS Neuse Civil War Interpretive Center. The Confederate Navy launched the CSS Neuse hoping to gain control of the lower Neuse River and New Bern, but ultimately destroyed the vessel to keep it out of Union hands.
The CSS Neuse Civil War Interpretive Center is located at 100 N. Queen St., Kinston, N.C., and open Tuesday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Admission: adults $5, senior/active military $4, Students (ages 3-12) $3, ages 2 and under free.
For additional information, please call the site at (252) 526-9600 x232. The CSS Neuse Center and the Richard Caswell Memorial are within the Division of State Historic Sites in the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.