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New Bern, New Bern NC Real Estate, New Bern Info, New Bern Listings, New Bern Homes, New Bern Lots, New Bern Commercial Listings in New Bern, Havelock, Oriental, Trenton and more. Waterfront, Golf, Historic, New Bern NC has it all! Sonja Babic Broker/Realtor New Bern NC
Sonja Babic 252/617-0861
A Brief History Of New Bern
1722.
Over the years leading up to the American Revolution, New Bern grew into one
of North Carolina’s largest towns and prospered as a trade and port center,
with natural resources such as turpentine, tar and pitch being exported to
New England, the West Indies and England. This trade allowed the import of
sugar, molasses, rum and other manufactured goods. Royal Governor William
Tryon decided that New Bern’s central location along the
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site which eventually became to home of New Bern was first appreciated by
various Native American tribes, primarily the Tuscarora, who used the site
for hunting camps. The Indians called this area Chattawka, a word translated
as “where the fish are taken out.” New Bern was founded by Baron Christopher
von Graffenried in 1710. Von Graffenried named the settlement after his
hometown of Bern, the Swiss capital. (Bern itself was named by a group of
hunters who named it for the bear, the first animal they encountered on
their expedition. The bear is also a symbol well-represented throughout Old
and New Bern, (on city vehicles, uniforms and flags.) Diseases, a lack of
provisions and supplies, and the climate, combined with the outbreak of a
war with the Tuscorora during New Bern’s early years, all caused problems
for the Swiss and German Palatine colonists. Among its victims was surveyor
and naturalist John Lawson, who was burned at the stake after he and Von
Graffenried were captured by Indians. Von Graffenried later escaped and
returned to Switzerland. By 1720, the threat of Indian
attacks was largely subdued, and New Bern began to grow. The area was
originally part of the Carolina Charter granted by English King Charles II
to eight of his loyal supporters after the King’s restoration to the throne
in 1660. The eight became the Lord’s Proprietor of a vast expanse of land
called Carolina which stretched from Virginia to the border of Florida, then
in Spanish hands, and the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. This area was
dubbed Carolina in honor of the king, Carolina being a derivative of the
Latin word for Charles, Carolus. In 1869, Carolina was divided by the Lord’s
Proprietor into two separate provinces- North Carolina and South Carolina.
The Lord’s Proprietor were among the groups that helped finance von
Graffenried’s colonization efforts. Craven County, then called Craven
Precinct, was itself named for William, Earl of Craven, who was one of the
original Lord’s Proprietor, and New Bern became it’s seat in
coast
made it ideal as a site for the state’s permanent capital. He then
authorized the construction of the Tryon Palace, completed in 1770, and New
Bern became the state’s political center- and the center of many events
leading to the American Revolution, including the calling of the first
publicly organized assembly in 1774. This assembly was opposed by Royal
Governor Josiah Martin, who succeeded Tryon after the latter’s acceptance of
a similar post in New York. Martin himself had to flee for safety the
following year. New Bern sheltered many privateers during the war. In 1792
North Carolina lawmakers relocated the capital to Raleigh, but New Bern
continued to grow and prosper due to its importance as a port city. After
the start of the Civil War, Northern military leaders made New Bern’s
capture a strategic goal because of its location. Occupation, which took
place in March 1862, early in the war, led to the preservation of many homes
and buildings, which were used
as headquarters, hospitals and other necessary offices by the Northern
troops. After the war and Reconstruction, New Bern slowly began to prosper
as a lumber town. Another boost to the local economy that continues to have
a huge impact today was the founding in 1941 of the Marine Corps Air Station
at Cherry Point, now largest such station in the world. Although New Bern is
very much a modern city it continues to grow, its charm remains historic.
Travel back over in time by exploring Tryon Palace Historic Sites and
Gardens and other locations throughout the city.
