On the way

Kinston will be the place to be next week for those who have an interest in the CSS Neuse, as at least 16 state officials will meet here to lay out their strategy for building a new home for the Civil War gunboat.

It is a project that dates back about 15 years as local residents worked to raise money for a museum dedicated to the gunboat, located in downtown Kinston.

"It's truly going to be something," Kinston property developer John Marston said Wednesday. "And as we've known all along, this should be one of the largest tourist attractions in the state of North Carolina."

Marston's office is located in the current downtown Civil War museum, which holds a number of artifacts associated with the ironclad. He has worked with the CSS Neuse Gunboat Association - he is an executive board member - the Pride of Kinston and state officials to raise money and acquire property for the much larger proposed museum.

On Dec. 31, Marston and Pride deeded those properties, fully surveyed and approved, to the state.

"Now we've got everything in the state's hands," he said.

A local architecture firm, Dunn & Dalton of Kinston, has been hired to create the designs, Marston said.

Marston and other citizens raised more than $100,000 12 to 15 years ago for the project, money that has been used to purchase four properties along the 100 block of North Queen Street, including the museum.

Hurricane Floyd's floods in 1999 and the subsequent local economic decline put the effort on hold for a number of years, Marston said, but it was re-invigorated last summer when state Rep. Van Braxton, D-Lenoir, obtained $3 million in state funds for the project.

"It is the state's largest artifact, and they have realized the importance of saving this wonderful treasure," Marston said of the gunboat.

Guy Smith, manager of the CSS Neuse State Historic Site on West Vernon Avenue - the ironclad's current home - said that money will help fund a $3.5 million project to build a climate-controlled facility to house the vessel.

Smith and other State Historic Site staff members will be present at Monday's meeting in the Neuse museum, known as the CSS Neuse Interpretive Center.

"This is one of many, many meetings that will take place over the next year or so," he said. "From a museum standpoint, there are certain things we want to make sure are included in the project."

Smith said staffers want to give input on how the boat is installed in the climate-controlled structure, how visitor traffic will flow around it and its general appearance.

"We definitely want it to blend in with the downtown architecture," he said of the facility.

The project is expected to occur over three phases, Smith explained. The first will be building the climate-controlled building and moving the boat into it. The second involves compiling CSS Neuse artifacts in the State Historic Site's collection for placement with the boat and in the museum next door.

The third calls for renovating the museum with new staff offices, a gift shop and other amenities.

Smith and his staff are currently performing annual maintenance on the boat, which was built in 1864 and then spent nearly 100 years on the Neuse River bottom until it was raised in the early 1960s.

"We're just trying to do the best we can to take care of it now so it will be in as good a shape as possible to move into the climate-controlled facility," he said.

David Anderson can be reached at (253) 559-1077 or danderson@freedomenc.com.