Embedded Files
Chief Cecil Hunt (Turtle Clan) Elder Chief of the North Carolina Tuscarora.
Long before Swiss and German settlers founded New Bern in 1710, the area along the Neuse and Trent rivers was home to Native American tribes. The Tuscarora lived in a village named Chattoka, and the Neusiok lived nearby on the south side of the river.
Long before Swiss and German settlers founded New Bern in 1710, the area along the Neuse and Trent rivers was home to Native American tribes. The Tuscarora lived in a village named Chattoka, and the Neusiok lived nearby on the south side of the river.
Before European settlement, the native Neusioks lived in this vicinity along the southern banks of the Neuse River. The town of New Bern was officially established in 1710 by Baron Christoph von Graffenried of Bern, Switzerland, and settled by German Palatine and Swiss colonists. By 1722, New Bern became the seat of the Craven precinct, and by the mid-eighteenth century it had achieved considerable importance in the colony. The most central of the North Carolina coastal settlements, the town was a natural hub for government and trade. Located at the confluence of the Neuse and Trent rivers, it was relatively accessible to the outside world by water and to interior settlements by river and overland transportation.
Tryon Palace
New Bern, North Carolina. Seat of the colonial capital and the Royal Governor's Mansion. Built in 1770, destroyed by fire in 1798, painstakingly reconstructed and reopened in 1954. Illustration of Tryon Palace -- 1770, from "New Bern, North Carolina, Founded by De Graffenried in 1710" Powell, Emma H.
New Bern, North Carolina. Seat of the colonial capital and the Royal Governor's Mansion. Built in 1770, destroyed by fire in 1798, painstakingly reconstructed and reopened in 1954. Illustration of Tryon Palace -- 1770, from "New Bern, North Carolina, Founded by De Graffenried in 1710" Powell, Emma H.
New Bern’s prominence grew steadily through the eighteenth century. The colonial assembly first met there in 1737, and after 1746, met there nearly regularly until after the Revolution. In 1749, the first printing press in North Carolina was established in New Bern, and in 1751 the first newspaper in the colony was printed here. In 1765, Governor William Tryon began construction of the Governor’s Palace, firmly establishing New Bern as the colonial capital. In the next decade, the town became a revolutionary center as well. The first Provincial Congress held in America in open defiance of royal authority was called here in 1774.
New Bern and the surrounding coastal plains of North Carolina were central hubs for the naval stores industry, extracting tar, pitch, turpentine, and rosin from vast longleaf pine forests. This heavy, dangerous labor relied overwhelmingly on enslaved African Americans.
For much of its early history, New Bern ranked as North Carolina’s largest city, with about 2500 residents in 1800, more than 3600 in 1820, and over 3700 in 1830.2 New Bern has historically been a majority-Black city. The 1820 census showed 60% of the town’s population was Black, with the 1860 count at 57%.3 Comparatively, only about one quarter of the statewide population was Black.
Google Sites
Report abuse