Seven Springs
For a town of just over 100 people, Seven Springs has a long and storied history. Name changes, Civil War history, a resort community, and tragic flooding have all shaped this town known as "The Oldest Town in the County of Wayne." Sitting on the southern banks of the Neuse River, Seven Springs is where the Confederate Ironclad CSS Neuse was built in 1863. The Neuse was launched here and served the Confederate Navy along the Neuse River. She had numerous troubles with crew experience - running aground not long after launch - and would later save as a floating fortification of the City of Kinston. In March 1865, as a Union Army was closing in on Kinston, the Neuse was scuttled and set afire. It would be raised nearly a century later, and the Neuse and her accompanying artifacts now can be toured in Kinston. Seven Springs was originally known as Whitehall and later White Hall after the plantation of William Whitefield. Whitefield established his plantation in 1741. Wh
