June 8, 2017 Thursday
After weeks of 85-90 degree weather, we awoke to light rain and 59 degrees, perfect! We had finished all of our boat projects and were awaiting a new electrical cable and connector, this gave us the opportunity to do further exploration New Bern in the cooler weather. Located where the Trent River empties into the Neuse, New Bern was founded in 1710 by Swiss and Palatine German immigrants lead by the Swiss Baron Christopher de Graffenrid.
New Bern served as the capital of the North Carolina colonial government and briefly as the state capital. In 1862 Union forces, under General Ambrose Burnside, captured and occupied the New Bern until the end of the war in 1865. Nearly 10,000 enslaved blacks escaped to the Union camps for protection and freedom. We were impressed with the North Carolina History Center and the reconstructed Tryon Palace. The NC History has rotating exhibitions, rare artifacts, and a wide variety of interactive historical activities, it seems that no matter your interest, you will find fun and interesting things to see or do. We were also impressed by the number of dedications to women that we saw on our tour.
For those of you that are Pepsi Cola fans, Caleb Bradham invented the recipe, “a blend of kola nut extract, vanilla, and rare oils,” at his New Bern pharmacy in 1893.
If you go to Hollywood you pick up a “Map of the Stars,” in New Bern you need a “Map of the Bears.” In honor of New Bern’s Bear mascot and its 300th Anniversary Celebration in 2010 a nonprofit organization, recruited local artists to implement hand-painted designs on life-size standing and walking fiberglass bears. I heard a local resident say that the city now has more than 300 bears on display. The first year there we 50 bears, we didn’t try to locate all of them but we did take a few pictures to share with you. Enjoy!
Bear Country
Around Town
