New Bern: A Trip to the First State Capital of North Carolina

We will start off with a little history about New Bern which was the first state capital. It was an early port. The Neuse River opens into the Pamlico sound at New Bern. Another important fact is that Pepsi Cola was invented here. It had the first fire department, postal service, public bank, incorporated school, and printing press in North Carolina. This town has been used widely by native son Nicholas Sparks in his novels: The Notebook, The Wedding, and A Bend in the Road. The town, founded by Swiss and German immigrants, was named after Berne, Switzerland.

We headed toward New Bern this morning planning a busy day. After our stop at the Tryon Palace Way Station to get tickets, we headed across the street, through the ornate gate, and down the wide driveway toward the rebuilt first government building of North Carolina that was used first by the governor appointed by King George III and later by the first few elected governors of the new state of North Carolina. Tryon includes three major brick buildings: the residence and state rooms, the stables, and the kitchen.

The kitchen was a lovely bright room with a wide fireplace large enough to accommodate seven fires. It had all the "modern" conveniences of the 1700's including a weight balanced wind up spit for roasting meat, a brick baking oven, and a device for using reflected heat to roast with.

The stable is the only original structure. All structures are on their original foundations, however. Fire destroyed the main building and it was rebuilt according to the original plans in 1950.

We were met at the door by a guide in colonial dress who took us through the rooms of the two floors and down to the basement. We got a good look at the elegant lives of the first inhabitants, the Tryons.

Behind the main building stretching all way down to the river are the gardens. Although we enjoyed the wonderful antique furniture, the outdoor space was really more delightful for us. There were mazes, herb gardens, large vistas of lawns, a kitchen garden with all sorts of vegetables, a goodly sprinkling of statuary, and wonderful trees. We saw artichokes growing for the first time. The plant was surprisingly tall.

After the palace, we toured two of the old homes, a Georgian and a Federalist. The John Wright Stanly house was build in 1780 by a powerful businessman who only enjoyed living in the beautiful symmetrically balanced Georgian house for nine years since he died in 1789 of yellow fever. This house was moved from its first location a few years ago.

The George W. Dixon house was built by a tailor and store owner who lost his house to foreclosure in the depression of 1837. He and his family lived in the house for about seven years along with a group of orphans whom he apprenticed in the tailor trade. This house was three stories high with each floor less elegant than the last. This house was built where it stands today.

After our house tours we walked over to the North Carolina History Center where we enjoyed a late lunch at Lawson's Landing Riverwalk Cafe. The made from scratch soups and the wraps were delicious. We watched the river as we ate and topped our meal off with a cone of lemon ice cream.

The shuttle took us back to our starting place where we walked through several more yard gardens which were beautifully colorful with blooming annuals and perennials.

We decided to try to fit in one more lighthouse before we called it a day. We swept down US Hwy 70 to Morehead City, Beaufort, and to Harkers Island where we discovered we were a little too late to get the private ferry to the Island where the the Cape Lookout Lighthouse is. We could see it across the sound, however, so we got our photo, checked it off the list, and pointed the car toward US 17 in Jacksonville, making a brief detour through the water front area of Beaufort to enjoy the old buildings and elegant houses.

We passed acre after acre of Camp Lejeune, a whole lot of urban sprawl, and found our Holiday Inn Express. We finished off our traveling pound cake along with some of our South Georgia peaches and a few strawberries. Now we are tucked in for the night and will head to the last North Carolina lighthouse tomorrow.