New Bern, the second oldest city
in North Carolina, was settled in 1710 by German
Palatine and Swiss colonists led by Baron Christophe von
Graffenreid. He purchased the land from the Tuscarora
Indians who had a small settlement here known as Chattawka, which meant "where the fish are taken out."
As a point of interest, the oldest water elm tree in the
U.S. still stands in the historic section of downtown, and
under that tree the treaty with the Indians was signed.
Named for the city of Bern, Switzerland,
the town was located on the triangle of land where the
Trent and Neuse Rivers met. The original settlers
struggled with the climate, a lack of provisions,
diseases and Indian problems.
A "Carolina Charter" was issued by King
Charles II after he was restored to the throne in 1660
granting his loyal supporters and drinking buddies, The
Lords Proprietor, wide areas of land in the New World.
The Carolina Charter spread from Virginia to the Spanish
border of Florida. The name Carolina came from "Carolus,"
the Latin word for Charles. William, Earl of Craven, was
one of the original Lords Proprietor, and Craven County
bears his name.
Royal
Governor William Tryon saw the need for a permanent
capitol, and Tryon Palace, the first colonial and state capitol
building of North Carolina, was designed by the English
architect, John Hawks. The palace was completed in 1770.
It was a political center during the Revolution, the
then- governor fled the capitol for safety in 1775, and
the port sheltered many privateers during that war. Even
before the Revolutionary War,
New Bern was known and visited by the
pirates who terrorized the Carolina shoreline. Nearby
Beaufort has one of Blackbeard's houses, "Hammock House,"
where purportedly his men and/or a wife stayed on shore
leave. Blackbeard's famous ship "Queen Anne's Revenge"
was discovered in the shallow waters off the Beaufort
coast.
After the revolution, New Bern became wealthy and
developed a rich cultural life. In fact, at one time New Bern was
called "The Athens of
the South." Tryon Palace was the capitol of the
independent state of North Carolina. It is a town of
many firsts: The first school to be chartered in North
Carolina, first Roman Catholic church and the first
Jewish synagogue in North Carolina. Renowned in the
South were the Masonic Temple and the Athens Theater,
both still very active in the town.
Union forces (called "federals" at the time) captured New Bern early in the Civil War
(March 14, 1862). Officers occupied the larger homes, and the town was filled with Union troops for the rest of the
war. For this reason, there was less damage to New Bern than to many
small southern towns.
After the difficulty of
Reconstruction, New Bern came to life again and by 1916, there were
16 lumber mills there. A thriving pitch and turpentine trade was
established. It also provided a source of seafood that was shipped
far and wide.
