About the town » New Bern, Craven County, North Carolina, United States

New Bern /ˈnjuːbərn/ is a city in Craven County, North Carolina with a population of 29,524 as of the 2010 census. It is located at the confluence of the Trent and the Neuse rivers. The city is 112 miles (180 km) east of Raleigh and 87 miles (140 km) northeast of Wilmington. Formerly an Indian town named Chattoka, New Bern was settled in 1710 as a Swiss immigrant settlement. They named the town after Bern, the capital of Switzerland. The Swiss connection with England was established by Marian exiles who went to the country. There were also marriages between the Royal House of Stuart and notable people in the history of Calvinism. New Bern is the second oldest town in North Carolina. It served as the capital of the North Carolina colonial government and then briefly as the state capital. After the American Revolution, New Bern became wealthy and quickly developed a rich cultural life. At one time New Bern was called "the Athens of the South. " Renowned in the South were the Masonic Temple and the Athens Theater, both still very active today. New Bern is the county seat of Craven County and the principal city of the New Bern Micropolitan Statistical Area. New Bern is the birthplace of Pepsi Cola. New Bern has four historic districts with homes, stores and churches dating back to the early eighteenth century. Within easy walking distance of 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. The historic districts are the site of many of the town's 2,000 crape myrtles — its official flower — and developed gardens. Union Point park borders both the Neuse and Trent rivers. It is the site of the city's major celebrations, such as Neuse River Days and the Fourth of July. Since 1979 the Swiss Bear Downtown Revitalization Corporation has worked to redevelop downtown and stimulated the creation of art galleries, specialty shops, antiques stores, restaurants and inns. This area has become a social and cultural hub. 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-twentieth-century elegance. Nicholas Sparks set his novel, The Notebook, in the city. In 2005, a segment of NBC's The Today Show noted that New Bern was one of the best places in the United States to retire. Retirees from the northern states have added to its population.