New Bern, North Carolina

**New Bern** () is a city in Craven County, North Carolina. It has a population of 31,291 as of 2020. It is located where the Trent and the Neuse rivers meet. The city is  east of Raleigh and  northeast of Wilmington. New Bern is the county seat of Craven County. New Bern is the birthplace of the international drink, Pepsi Cola.

New Bern was a Native American town named Chattoka. Swiss immigrants moved to New Bern in 1710. It was named after the capital of Switzerland: Bern.  _Bern_ is bear in the German language, and the flags of both towns have the drawing of a bear.

New Bern is the second oldest town in North Carolina. It was the capital of the North Carolina colonial government and the state capital for a short time until 1792. After the American Revolution, New Bern became rich and quickly developed a rich cultural life. At one time New Bern was called "the Athens of the South." After Raleigh was named as the state capital, New Bern rebuilt its economy with the help of trade routes to the Caribbean and New England. It reached a population of 3,600 in 1815. During the 19th-century Federal period, New Bern was the largest city in North Carolina.

New Bern has four historic districts with homes, stores and churches dating back to the early eighteenth century. Close to the waterfront are more than 164 homes and buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Also nearby are several bed and breakfast inns, hotels, restaurants, banks, antiques stores and specialty shops. Tryon Palace, the home of British governor William Tryon, was built in 1770.  It was used as the original state capitol building of newly independent North Carolina. It burned down in the 1790s. People can now visit a replica, built from the original plans and on the original foundation. The Masonic Temple and the Athens Theater are both still very active today. The Masonic Theater is the oldest theater in America in continuous use.

The historic districts also are home to many of the town's 2,000 crape myrtles — New Bern’s official flower — and gardens. The district has flowering dogwoods and azaleas.

Union Point park is where the Neuse and Trent Rivers join. It is the city’s major celebration spot for events such as Neuse River Days and the Fourth of July. In 1979, the local government gave Swiss Bear Downtown Revitalization Corp — a nonprofit corporation of civic leaders — control of the failing downtown area. Today, art galleries, specialty shops, antiques stores, restaurants and inns have changed downtown and the waterfront into a social hub. Improvements are still being made. Built in 1995 through the efforts of Swiss Bear, James Reed Lane is a downtown mini-park and pedestrian walk-through on Pollock Street across from historic Christ Church. Private restoration efforts have returned many of the downtown buildings to their turn-of-the-last-century elegance.

## Other websites

- Official web site of New Bern, NC
- New Bern's daily newspaper
- Craven County Convention and Visitor's Bureau
- Christoph von Graffenried's account of the founding of New Bern
- Swiss American Historical Society
- New Bern Insider Info

## Infobox (settlement)

- **name**: New Bern, North Carolina
- **settlement type**: City
- **image skyline**: New Bern Municipal Building (City Hall).jpg
- **image caption**: Main façade of the New Bern City Hall
- **image flag**: Flag of New Bern, North Carolina.svg
- **image shield**: New Bern-coat of arms.svg
- **image map**: NCMap-doton-JamesCity.PNG
- **map caption**: Location in Craven County, North Carolina, Craven County and the state of North Carolina
- **pushpin map**: North Carolina#USA
- **pushpin label**: New Bern
- **pushpin relief**: yes
- **pushpin map caption**: Location in the United States
- **subdivision type**: List of sovereign states, Country
- **subdivision type1**: U.S. state, State
- **subdivision type2**: List of counties in North Carolina, County
- **subdivision name2**: Craven County, North Carolina, Craven
- **established title**: Founded
- **established title2**: Chartered
- **founder**: Christoph von Graffenried, 1st Baron of Bernberg, Baron of Bernberg
- **named for**: Canton of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- **government type**: Council–manager government, Council–Manager
- **leader title**: City council, Mayor
- **leader title1**: City manager, Manager
- **unit pref**: Imperial
- **area total km2**: 77.56
- **area land km2**: 73.70
- **area water km2**: 3.86
- **population as of**: 2020 United States Census, 2020
- **population total**: 31291
- **population density km2**: 424.56
- **population density sq mi**: 1099.59
- **timezone**: North American Eastern Time Zone, Eastern (EST)
- **utc offset**: -5
- **timezone dst**: EDT
- **utc offset dst**: -4
- **elevation ft**: 13
- **postal code type**: ZIP codes
- **postal code**: 28560, 28562
- **area code**: Area code 252, 252
- **blank name**: Federal Information Processing Standard, FIPS code
- **blank info**: 37-46340
- **blank1 name**: Geographic Names Information System, GNIS feature ID
- **blank1 info**: 2404358
- **area total sq mi**: 29.95
- **area land sq mi**: 28.46
- **area water sq mi**: 1.49
- **nickname**: The Birthplace of Pepsi