Discover the Stories of New Bern
More than three centuries of history live along the streets, waterways, homes, and landmarks of New Bern.
Explore the people, places, events, and memories that shaped North Carolina’s first colonial capital—and discover the stories that continue to shape New Bern today.
History & Stories
Discover the people and events that helped shape New Bern.
The Birthplace of Pepsi-Cola: Caleb Bradham and the New Bern Story
At the turn of the twentieth century, inside a New Bern pharmacy, something new was taking shape—something that would eventually carry the name of this small North Carolina city around the world. That story belonged to Caleb Davis Bradham, a New Bern pharmacist and the creator of Pepsi-Cola.
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The Great Fire of 1922: The Day New Bern Burned
Two fires. Gale-force winds. Forty city blocks destroyed. On December 1, 1922, New Bern faced a catastrophe that permanently changed the city.
Read the Story →Landmarks & Places
Explore historic buildings, streets, neighborhoods, and familiar places throughout the city.
Tryon Palace: The Palace That New Bern Lost—and Built Again
Once the seat of royal government in North Carolina, Tryon Palace disappeared from New Bern for more than a century. Its remarkable return is a story almost as extraordinary as the Palace itself.
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Christ Church: Three Centuries in the Heart of New Bern
For generations, Christ Church has stood at the center of New Bern’s story. Its churchyard, successive sanctuaries, fires and rebuilding connect today’s city with its colonial beginnings.
Read the Story →New Bern Remembered
Revisit landmarks that have disappeared and preserve the memories of the New Bern that once was.
The Queen Anne Hotel: Remembering a Lost New Bern Landmark
Once part of the familiar landscape of New Bern, the Queen Anne Hotel belonged to an earlier era of travelers, downtown life, and a city that looked very different from the one we know today.
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The Harriet Marks House: A Lost New Bern Home and the Legacy That Survived
Once a familiar residence on Pollock Street, the Harriet Marks House has disappeared from New Bern’s landscape. But a remarkable 1936 photograph—and the generosity of the woman whose name it carried—preserve a story that outlived the house itself.
Read the Story →People of New Bern
Meet the remarkable people whose lives became part of the New Bern story.
Baron Christoph von Graffenried: The Man Who Founded New Bern
In 1710, a Swiss nobleman and a group of settlers established a community where the Neuse and Trent Rivers meet. More than three centuries later, the name he gave that settlement remains: New Bern.
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Judge William Gaston: The New Bern Man Who Gave North Carolina Its Song
Born in New Bern in 1778, William Gaston became a congressman, North Carolina Supreme Court justice, and the writer whose words became “The Old North State”—North Carolina’s official state song.
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