Insider guides by journalists who live there
Relocation guide: Craven County and New Bern
New Bern is more than a tourist attraction: It's a great place to live. Clean air, temperate weather, and amenities you don't expect
European settlers knew a good thing when they saw what would become New Bern in 1710.
Following explorer John Lawson's lead, immigrant ships entered the Pamlico Sound past what is now Ocracoke and made their way up the Neuse River to a peninsula located where the Trent River spills into the Neuse.
From its very start, New Bern was the center of North Carolina, first as a colonial outpost, then as a major seaport, then colonial capital and for a short time, the state capital. The center of it all was the Government Building, derisively called "Tryon's Palace" after then governor William Tryon who raised taxes that sparked a rebellion in the colony.
George Washington included New Bern in his Southern tour, giving New Bern the distinction of really being a place where George Washington slept. Washington's entourage arrived from the north roughly using what is now N.C. Highway 55. He departed using Pollock Street, then what is now called Trent Boulevard and Trent Road, on his way south to Wilmington.
Some 90 years later, railroad planners made New Bern a hub, with lines headed north to Norfolk, west to Goldsboro, east to Morehead City, and south to Wilmington. New Bern was so important, it was conquered and occupied by Union Army soldiers early in the Civil War.
Highway planners made New Bern a hub, as well, making it the junction of the two main highways in Eastern North Carolina: U.S. Highway 70 and U.S. Highway 17. Two state highways converged in New Bern, too: N.C. Highway 55 and N.C. Highway 43.
The woods around New Bern provided turpentine and pine tar vital to shipbuilding, which played an important role in New Bern from the days of sailing ships, to World War II, when it built small warships and minesweepers. Shipbuilding still takes place in New Bern at Hatteras/CABO Yachts.
Yes, world class yachts, and that's not the only world class product made in New Bern.
Moen makes world class kitchen and bathroom faucets. They're made in New Bern.
BSH Home Appliances makes world class household appliances. They're made in New Bern.
Over in Havelock, world class aviation engineers and technicians rehabilitate and update high-tech fighter jets and Vietnam War-era helicopters. They've even been known to work on Marine One, the president's helicopter.
Downtown New Bern features word class dining and lodging and, along the banks of the Neuse and Trent rivers, you can moor your boat before taking off on a word adventure.
You're less than an hour drive from the coast and two hours from Raleigh. If you need to fly, New Bern has a regional airport, Coastal Carolina Regional Airport (EWN) with flights to Charlotte. If you want to skip a connection and don't mind the drive, Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) is a little over two hours drive time with plentiful long-term parking.
Housing ranges from golf course neighborhoods and riverside homes with boat docks, to high-rise condos with river views. You can buy a house built in the 1700s, or have one custom-built. Or do you want to rent while you decide? New Bern has a wide range of rental housing, too.
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A robust medical community
CarolinaEast Health Systems provides a wide range of services and care options, including CarolinaEast Medical Center, a regional hospital with emergency room, cancer center, and more. CCHC provides family practice medicine, an urgent care clinic, and a diagnostics and imaging center.
Waterfront to Middle Street, no shortage of choice
If you want to live in an upper-floor condominium with views of the city skyline, New Bern is probably not for you. For everyone else, there are many great opportunities.
The best of both worlds
New Bern is a small but growing city that benefits from its status as a tourist destination. Downtown New Bern offers daytime and nighttime activities as well as fine dining, a mix of shopping, and cultural arts from historic to live theater. Located on the banks of two navigable rivers, New Bern is from the start a boating center.
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A how-to guide if you plan to move to New Bern.
We've been there -- new to town and trying to figure out who provides utilities, internet, cable TV, and other services. Which neighborhoods? Prices? Where to buy groceries. Find out all that here.
