Lake Waccamaw and New Bern, NC

Lake Waccamaw and New Bern, NC

March 2 - 8, 2020

On Monday, March 2 we drove to Lake Waccamaw to visit our friends Larry and Pat.  They have moved their 5th wheel to the Last Chance Campground and we were able to get a site there.  We had a great time seeing the area and meeting their friends, Mike and Abby.  We went to the Lake Waccamaw museum; the history of the area was very interesting.

We also saw some of the locals.

Larry and Pat taught us a new game and we had fun playing it.  It was so nice to see them again and get to visit with them.

I almost got John in that picture.  I need to practice taking selfies.

On Thursday, March 5 we drove to New Bern to visit with Jim and Vickie & John and Shirley.  Vickie took us on a driving tour of the area.  She knows what she's talking about because she was born and raised there!  I was amazed at how many of the houses had been moved; some as many as three times.  Much better than tearing them down.

She took us to the drugstore where Pepsi was invented.

There are a lot of beautiful old churches in New Bern.  Here are just a couple of them.

Friday, March 6 we went on a trolley tour of New Bern.

You can see John and Shirley waiting to get on the trolley.

One of our stops was the Cedar Grove Cemetery.  Some of the earliest graves are from 1798-99 when there was a yellow fever epidemic.  There are many famous North Carolinians buried here.

We saw much more than the cemetery but I just didn't get pictures.  Sometimes I get involved in what I'm seeing and forget to take pictures. 

After the trolley tour we went to the New Bern Academy Museum.  The first publicly charter school was in this building.

There were exhibits of the school, life during the Civil War, and the history of New Bern.  It was very interesting and worth the stop (and free).

On Saturday, March 7 we took a tour of Tryon Palace, the John W. Stanly House, and North Carolina History Center.  We started with the Tryon Palace.  The original buildings were built in 1770 as the capitol of North Carolina.  In 1794 the British were gone and the capitol was moved to Raleigh.  In 1798 the palace was destroyed by fire and eventually a street (the beginning of U.S. 70) was put through and houses were built on the property.  In the 1920s a 30-year campaign to rebuild the palace and restore the grounds was launched by the citizens of New Bern and other leaders and craftsmen.  The palace and grounds were rebuilt and opened in 1959.  They had the original plans and the foundation of the palace, kitchen, and the stables were still there so they knew where to build and what it should look like.  It was a very interesting tour and our tour guide, Alma, was excellent.

Here is the stables and some of the garden.

They kept pigeons in this building and served them for dinner (dinner was served about 3 in the afternoon).  Doesn't sound very appetizing to me.

Here is the kitchen and laundry.  The cook, butler, and servants lived in the rooms upstairs.

From the palace we went to the John W. Stanley House.  George Washington did actually sleep here on his southern trip in 1791.

 Notice the stairway is the same as at Tryon Palace.

From there we went to have lunch at Blackbeard's (very good!) and then to the North Carolina History Center.

They had a quilt exhibit where I got a few ideas.  They also have an interactive section more designed for kids, a regional history section showing exhibits from pre-colonial times to today in addition to an orientation film.  It was very interesting and well worth it.

New Bern is sort of like a little Charleston with all the old buildings and the history.  I would highly recommend a visit of at least two days there.  We had a great time!

On Sunday, March 8 it was sadly time to head home again.  We said goodbye to our friends for now as we will see them again in the fall (Vickie is much better at taking selfies than I am!).  Thanks for letting us moochdock in your driveway!

Roving on (later)...

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork.  Psalm 19:1