Friday, January 4, 2013

The CSS Neuse Gets a New Home

From the Dec. 31, 2012, Raleigh (NC) News & Observer "Confederate Navy gunboat gets new home in Kinston" by Kelly Poe.

This past year, the hull of the CSS Neuse, a Confederate ironclad, was moved from an outdoor, flood-prone park near its namesake river to a new climate-controlled museum on Queen Street in Kinston.  It is hoped that this move (besides the ship's preservation) will help return Kinston's downtown to its former glory days as a shopping entertainment spot, back when Queen Street was dubbed "The Magic Mile."

Museum site manager Sarah Ristey-Davis says the interior and exhibits at the state-run museum are scheduled to be finished in the fall, but they plan to have some temporary exhibits open by February.  The hull of the ship rests under a pipe re-creation of what the ship looked like back during the Civil War.  Plus, nearby, there is a full-size replica of the warship, the only one of a Confederate ironclad in the country.  It is too bad the Navy didn't preserve one of the captured Confederate ironclads like the CSS Tennessee or CSS Albemarle after the war.  But, they didn't preserve any of the Union ships either.

More to Come.  --Old B-Runner

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