An early view of Croatan Presbyterian Church
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| Croatan Presbyterian Church, Number Six Township, Craven County, photograph c. 1945. |
by John B. Green III
About ten miles down U.S. 70 between New Bern and Havelock sits the small community of Croatan. Once a stop on the Atlantic and North Carolina Rail Road and boasting its own post office until 1928, today Croatan is best known for two historic structures - Tom Haywood's Store, now closed, and Croatan Presbyterian Church.
The Presbyterian congregation at Croatan was organized in June 1882 and the church was dedicated in August 1883. The frame, gable-roofed meeting house, though simple in plan, was ornamented with imaginative sawn-work decoration - scrolled cornice brackets, door and window hoods with scroll-work finials, and saw-tooth gable-end decoration.
The above photograph, taken about 1945, shows the church as it stood before later twentieth century remodeling added a porch, cupola, and rear additions.
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| Croatan Presbyterian Church, after 20th century alterations, from Peter B. Sandbeck, The Historic Architecture of New Bern and Craven County, North Carolina, New Bern: Tryon Palace Commission, 1988 |
