Nov. 27, 2022 A Month in New Bern

Nov 27 New Bern, NC

Synopsis - We arrived in New Bern with plans for a 2 week stay. The New Bern Grande Marina has some fantastic rates which decrease significantly the longer you stay. We signed up for 2 weeks and lined up a rental car with plans to head home to vote, check on the house, winterize the water lines to the dock, and do some fall leaf blowing we knew would be overdue. That planned one week trip turned into 10 days until we got back which left only a few days to enjoy New Bern. Rather than rush things we signed up for a third week. The rate for the third week was basically the rate we normally pay for an overnight stay at a transient dock!! That gave us time to reprovision before returning the car, better explore the town and take in the tourist activities. It also meant leaving the Friday after Thanksgiving. Weather forecast was looking less than ideal for the weekend, so we signed up for a fourth week. That took us through the weekend and the start of New Bern's holiday festivities. Their tree lighting ceremony on Friday at the waterfront park including all the lights around town. And of course, the opening of Santa's workshop with artificial snow downtown. Saturday evening included an aerial display over the river with one plane shooting fireworks off the tips of his wings as he looped and spiraled around. Good stuff! Today (Sunday) we're bobbing around in our slip despite being protected on both sides by big 60' Hatteras motoryachts. Small craft warning out on the Neuse and gale force wind warnings down at Beaufort, our next stop. Winds are supposed to die down overnight and allow us to start traveling toward our destination for Dec and Jan - Osprey Marina just south of Myrtle Beach.

Christmas Tree lighting ceremony on Friday

Four plane aerial acrobatics team

Aerial Acrobatics and pyrotechnic show on Sat

Our little boat bobbing between some Hatteras yachts.

Some history - We have been to New Bern a number of times over the years. Always by car, so arriving by water gave a unique perspective as to why and how its location made it such a good destination for early settlers and why it became NC's first capital. The town was founded in 1710 by Swiss and Germanic settlers led by Christoph von Graffenried. He was originally from Bern Switzerland and so the town was named New Bern. The early Germanic word Bern means bear and so that animal has become the mascot for the town. In 2010 during the tricentennial roughly 50 fiberglass bears were painted and placed around the city to showcase sponsored businesses. They continue adding to the collection and the latest count is now 82.

Lawyer Bear

In front of a government building

The Governors House - built in 1770 for William Tryon the English Govenor over NC - became known as Tryon Palace after the American Revolution when it was used as NC's first capital building. The original was destroyed by fire in 1798 but was completely recreated from the original plans on the original foundation back in the late 1950's and continues to be a centerpiece of the town and a driver for saving and restoring so many of the historical downtown homes.

Tryon Palace

Lumber, tar, turpentine and ship building were the industries that created the cities early wealth and expansion. During the civil war the town was quickly captured by Union Forces and served as headquarters and hospitals for them. This saved it from the burning and sacking so many other cities experienced. The city is currently commemorating the 100-year anniversary of the great fire of 1922. It started at a lumber mill on the waterfront. The volunteer fire dept had limited manpower as many of their men were out of town watching the local high school football team play in the state championship game (they won). Shortly afterwards an unrelated fire broke out in a residential section of town to the NW. By the time several firemen arrived at the second fire there were already 3 houses burning. High winds were blowing and carrying embers from one cedar shingled roof to the next as well as spreading the waterfront fire to an adjacent lumbermill. Several TONS of dynamite were used to blow up houses and create a firewall to stop the fire from reaching downtown. By the time the winds died and the fire was contained it had consumed over 40 square blocks of houses and businesses leaving 3500 citizens homeless. In 1928 a new fire house was built for the competing volunteer fire companies. The building was physically partitioned down the middle with identical layouts on both sides. Left side was for the Button Company (formed by Union soldiers during their occupation) and on the right side was the towns original firefighting volunteers - The Atlantic Company. This system of two separate and competing volunteer organizations lasted into the late 1990's when the town finally established a paid fulltime firefighter organization.

The old New Bern Firehouse - now a museum

Our connection - on our first visit to New Bern back in the early 90's we were considering job changes and relocating back south from PA. I've always been interested in architecture and historical buildings and so we were driving around looking at houses for sale. We came across a large Italianate house for sale. Unique architecture and the only one of that style in town. It was a block off the riverfront and had been converted into several apartments. Price was decent and while nothing ever came of our interest and dreams of it, we still go by it whenever in town. 30 years later and it's in better shape now than our first view of it but there is always someone working on it. I'm sure it must have been the inspiration for the movie "The Money Pit". Sometimes it may be better not to act on your impulses.

Our "almost" house on Front Street

Thanksgiving - Our neighbors on the dock with their big Hatteras's are liveaboards who own their slips. When Jim and Betty on Our Adjustment found out we would be staying here for Thanksgiving they graciously insisted we join them and Betty's visiting sister Mary for dinner. They are also the ones who told us about the holiday activities on Fri and Sat and encouraged us to stay for them. The meal was much better than what we had planned for ourselves, but also involved eating way too much with all the extra selections. Boaters everywhere we go are a welcoming and generous group. This was just another example.