Kinston's CSS Neuse Interpretive Center-- Part 2: Ghost Skeleton

After the war, machinery, iron plating and weapons were removed and the hull remained at the bottom of the river until it was brought up in 1963 for the Centennial of the Civil War.

Then, it spent many years sitting outside under an open roof battling floods and deterioration.  Its remains now are the centerpiece of the CSS Neuse Civil War Interpretive Center in downtown Kinston at 100 North Queen Street.

The Center was dedicated in 2005 and is operated by North Carolina Historic Sites.

That hull takes up 31,000 square feet in an open two-story portion of the 40,000 square-feet building.  A 158-foot long, 34-foot wide metal skeleton has been built above the hull to show the vessel's outline to give visitors an idea of the ship's size and scope.  (Many think of it as just a mass of wood.)

--Old B-Runner