Kinston, North Carolina

Harmony Hall, the oldest building in Kinston, was owned by North Carolina's first governor, Richard Caswell.

At the time of English settlement, the area was inhabited by the Neusiok Indians. Preceding the historic tribe, indigenous peoples of a variety of cultures had lived in the area for thousands of years. Before the English colonists established the city, they called the area Atkins Bank, referring to a bluff once owned by Robert Atkins just above the Neuse River. Atkins Bank was the site of farms, a tobacco warehouse, and a Church of England mission.

Kinston was created by an act of the North Carolina General Assembly in December 1762 as Kingston, in honor of King George III[6] who had just recently ascended to the throne. The bill to incorporate it was introduced by Richard Caswell, who made his home there and later served as the first Governor of the State of North Carolina from 1776 to 1780. After victory in the American Revolution, the citizens renamed the city Kinston in 1784 to show the population's disavowal of royalty. In 1833, Kinston briefly became Caswell, in honor of governor Richard Caswell, but the name was reverted to Kinston the following year.

Commissioners appointed to design the town began to accept "subscriptions" for numbered lots. To keep a lot, subscribers were required to build brick homes of specific dimensions within three years or lose their rights to the property. The town was laid out with border streets named East, North, and South, with the western border the Neuse River. The two principal roads within these borders were named for King George and Queen Charlotte. They remain King and Queen Street to this day. Other streets were named in honor of Governor Dobbs (later renamed Independent Street) and the commissioners.

In December 1791, an act was passed in the General Assembly to abolish Dobbs County and form Lenoir and Glasgow counties. At that time, Kinston was designated the county seat for Lenoir County.

Throughout this period, Kinston was an unincorporated town. It finally became incorporated through an act of the legislature in January 1849. Following incorporation, the population grew rapidly. In 1850, the population was estimated at 455 people, and just ten years later, it had more than doubled to over one thousand.

During the onset of the American Civil War, Camp Campbell and Camp Johnston were established near the city as training camps, and a bakery on Queen Street was converted to produce hardtack in large quantities. There was also a factory for the production of shoes for the military located in Kinston. The Battle of Kinston took place in and around the city on December 14, 1862.

From February 5, 1864 to February 22, 1864 twenty-two deserters were executed by hanging in the city. The court martial and subsequent hanging was carried out by the 54th Regiment, North Carolina Troops, Confederate States Army. Fifteen of these men were from Jones County and had all started their service in the 8th Battalion North Carolina Partisan Rangers. The question begs to be asked is how so many men from one company could desert, join the union army, be captured, tried as traitors and executed by hanging. Four of the principals, excluding the 22 that were hung, are Colonel Nethercutt, commanding officer of the 8th Battalion (also the 66th Regiment), John Paris, the Chaplain of the 54th Regiment (the regiment responsible for carrying out the executions), Major General G. E. Pickett, CSA and John J Peck, Major General, Union.

The Battle of Wyse Fork aka 'Battle of Southwest Creek' (March 7–10, 1865) also occurred very near the city. It was at this later battle that the Confederate Ram Neuse was scuttled to avoid capture by Union troops. Remnants of the ship have been salvaged, and were on display at Richard Caswell Park on West Vernon Ave. A climate-controlled museum has been built on downtown Queen Street, and has moved the hulk there to prevent further deterioration of the original ship's remains. A full-scale replica vessel (Ram Neuse II) has been constructed near the original's resting place (known as the "Cat's Hole") beside the bank of the Neuse River on Heritage St. in Kinston. Union Army forces occupied the city following the battle.

United States troops were assigned to the area through the Reconstruction Era.

Kinston's Orion Knitting Mills (1906)

Despite the hardships of war and Reconstruction, the population of the city continued to grow. By 1870, the population had increased to eleven hundred people and grew to more than seventeen hundred within a decade.

During the late nineteenth century, there was expansion into new areas of industry, most notably the production of horse-drawn carriages. Kinston also became a major tobacco and cotton trading center. By the start of the twentieth century, more than five million pounds of tobacco were being sold annually in Kinston's warehouses. Along with the growth in population and industry was a growth in property values. Some parcels increased in value more than fivefold within a twenty-year period.

New industries were founded, including lumber and cotton mills, as North Carolina businessmen invested in processing their own crops. Professional sports was introduced in the form of a minor league baseball team. Later growth would come in the form of a DuPont plant for the manufacture of polyester fibers, and manufacturing plants for pharmaceuticals. Growth finally slowed following the 1960s, with the shift in textile production overseas. Efforts to reinvigorate the economy through various means have had limited success.

Kinston was heavily impacted by flooding in 1996 and 1999. Hurricane Fran struck the North Carolina coast on September 5, 1996 and brought 16 inches (406 mm) of rain to the area.,[7] causing the Neuse River to flood portions of the city. On September 16, 1999, Hurricane Floyd struck the area, bringing 17 inches (430 mm) of rain. It caused what locals have called "The Flood of the Century."[8]

The National Register of Historic Places lists the American Tobacco Company Prizery, Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad Freight Depot, Baptist Parsonage, Robert L. Blalock House, B. W. Canady House, CSS Neuse, Hill-Grainger Historic District, Hotel Kinston, Jesse Jackson House, Kennedy Memorial Home Historic District, Kinston Apartments, Kinston Baptist-White Rock Presbyterian Church, Kinston Battlefield, Kinston Commercial Historic District, Kinston Fire Station-City Hall, Lenoir County Courthouse, Mitchelltown Historic District, Peebles House, Peoples Bank Building, Queen-Gordon Streets Historic District, Standard Drug No. 2, Sumrell and McCoy Building, Trianon Historic District, Tull-Worth-Holland Farm, and Dempsey Wood House.[9]

Kinston is serviced by UNC Lenoir Health Care, a non-profit hospital located near NC 11 in Kinston. The hospital offers inpatient, outpatient and preventive healthcare services for the residents of Lenoir, Greene and Jones counties.

General services include general medical, surgical, obstetrical and gynecological care. Specialized services include cardiology, pulmonology, oncology, radiology, urology, and vascular surgery.

Kinston is not served directly by passenger trains. The closest Amtrak station is located in Wilson.

Kinston is served by the Kinston Regional Jetport (IATA: ISO, ICAO: KISO). Raleigh-Durham International Airport is the closest major airport with service to more than 45 domestic and international destinations. Kinston Regional Jetport is the site from which Bill Harrelson of Fredericksburg, VA embarked and to which he returned on his Guinness world-record-setting "around-the-globe-over-the-poles" flight in his custom-built Lancair, N6ZQ over the time period Dec, 2014 - Jan, 2015.[14]

• The main highway in Kinston is US 70, an east-west highway that provides access to the North Carolina coast as well as major cities to the west such as Raleigh and Greensboro and I-95.
• I-95 is the closest Interstate Highway to Kinston.
• Other highways that serve Kinston include US 258, NC 11, NC 58, NC 55, and NC 148.Bus: Kinston is served by Greyhound.

• Lenoir Community College

• United American Free Will Baptist Bible College

• Kinston High School
• Lenoir County Early College
• Contentnea-Savannah School
• Children's Village Academy
• Rochelle Middle School
• Woodington Middle School
• Banks Elementary School
• Northwest Elementary School
• Moss Hill Elementary School
• Southeast Elementary School
• Southwood Elementary School
• Northeast Elementary School

• Arendell Parrott Academy, a non-sectarian private school (K-12)
• Bethel Christian Academy, a Christian private school (K-12)

Former Grainger Performing Arts Center, now Grainger Elderly Housing

One of Kinston's most notable buildings is the Grainger Hill Performing Arts Center, formerly Grainger High School. Constructed in 1924 after a fire destroyed the previous Kinston High School building, the school was named after Jesse W. Grainger - a local truck farmer who owned the land that the school was built upon and donated money to fund one-half of the building's $182,340 general contractor's fee. After the decision in 1970 to make way for the newly constructed and integrated Kinston High School, it served as Kinston Jr. High School until 1987 (when 9th grade students were moved to the campus of Kinston High School and 8th grade students were relocated to the campus of Rochelle Middle School). After the school's closure, the building was sold to a private developer who renovated the school and turned it into a performing arts center. The property was most recently sold to The Landmark Development Group, who has renovated the building into Grainger Elderly Housing, a fifty-seven unit apartment complex for low-income elderly residents.

Kinston-Lenoir County Public Library

The Neuse Regional Library system is headquartered in Kinston and operates branches in Kinston, LaGrange, Pink Hill, as well as locations in Greene and Jones Counties.[16]

Kinston is also home to the CSS Neuse which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places,[9] which has its remains on display in the CSS Neuse Civil War Interpretive Center. The Lenoir County Confederate Memorial, the Caswell family cemetery, and the Lenoir County Korean and Vietnam War Memorial are located nearby. There is also a Civil War Trails marker.[17]

The Cultural Heritage Museum (CHM), built in 2000 on South Queen Street as a new economic development catalyst for Kinston and the surrounding areas of eastern North Carolina, was created to recognize the contributions of African Americans in numerous fields. It pays tribute to the more than 200,000 black soldiers and 7,000 white officers of the United States Colored Troops who fought with the Union forces in the American Civil War. It also honors black military veterans from all wars, Carl Long and the Negro Baseball League players, local heroes, and Africa and Black History in general. The CHM intends to generate jobs and promote economic expansion opportunities.[18]

Chef & the Farmer Exterior

Kinston is also home to several notable restaurants. The Chef & the Farmer, recipient of James Beard Award, started by Vivian Howard and Ben Knight is located in downtown Kinston. The PBS series A Chef's Life focuses on the restaurant, owners, and local farmers it sources from like Brothers Farm. The Barn Steakhouse and The Baron & the Beef are also both fine dining establishments featuring locally sourced produce and meats on their menus while supporting sustainable agriculture. Also a proponent of sustainable practices and local ingredients, Mother Earth Brewing was founded in Kinston in the summer of 2008.

Other notable businesses and restaurants include The Overland Gallery, Ginger 108, The Boiler Room, the O'Neil Bed and Breakfast, the Bentley B&B, and the Lenoir County Farmers Market.

Other local attractions include the Neuseway Nature Center and Planetarium, the Kinston Country Club, the Kinston Center for the Arts, the Global Transit Park (GTP), Grainger Stadium, the Caswell Center, and Lenoir Memorial Hospital.

Annual festivities in Kinston include the Sand in the Streets concert series held at Pearson Park, the Annual BBQ Festival on the Neuse River, and the Festival on the Neuse.

The city contains the following parks:[23]

• Neuseway Nature Park, Campground, and Meeting Facility
• Pearson Park
• Bill Fay Memorial Park
• Emma Webb Park
• Fairfield Park
• Holloway Park
• Lovit Hines Park
• Southeast Park
• Barnet Park
• Lions Adventure Water Park