Widows wore black for a year. Chicory filled in for coffee. A gift of socks to a soldier was a prized possession. These are some of the social norms during and after the Civil War. The CSS Neuse Civil War Interpretive Center will explore the daily life of North Carolina civilians, and the social norms and etiquette of the war period. The April 2 program runs 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with demonstrations and lectures throughout the day.
The Tar Heel Civilians will demonstrate life on the homefront during the Civil War, to include making care boxes for soldiers, substitutions for shortages due to the Union Navy blockade, mourning customs and nursing the sick and wounded. Visitors will gain a better understanding of the trials and tribulations civilians faced during the war.
Author Brenda McKean will lecture at 11 a.m. on "The Civilian Role During the Civil War." She has researched and collected information on the subject for 25 years and published, "Blood and War at My Doorstep: North Carolina Civilians in the War Between the States, Volumes I and II."
"This is the most comprehensive study of North Carolina's citizen's during this tumultuous time in our history," McKean observes. Copies of the books will be available in the museum shop.
The language of the fan will be the focus of a craft demonstration at 2 p.m. It will focus on the fan's understood secondary language during the period and the role of the fan in courtship. There is a $2 fee for this craft demonstration.
The CSS Neuse is the only commissioned Confederate ironclad remaining above water. It was part of a new technology used by the Confederacy to combat superior manpower and firepower of the Union Navy. Learn about this technological advance in warfare in eastern North Carolina at CSS Neuse Civil War Interpretive Center. The CSS Neuse was launched in an attempt to gain control of the lower Neuse River and New Bern, but ultimately was destroyed to be kept out of Union hands.