Leaving the County

More time travel through the collections of the Kellenberger Room

Spring with shelter, believed to be Alum Spring, Onslow County, NC. Photograph c. 1920. Springs, places where ground water regularly flowed to the surface, once dotted the countryside. A valuable source of clean drinking water, those that had a particular mineral content, were also prized for their supposed medicinal properties.  Alum Spring in Onslow County was just such a location valued for its healing waters and attractive woodland setting.

by John B. Green III

While the Kellenberger Room contains thousands of photographs of New Bern and Craven County, we have, from time to time, acquired interesting photos of other areas of eastern North Carolina.  As extensive travel is discouraged at this time, let the Kellenberger Room take you on a little Sunday afternoon drive.  We promise to get you home before dark. 

St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Bath, NC, photograph c. 1910. Begun in 1734, St. Thomas stands as the oldest surviving church building in North Carolina.  Long a local tourist attraction , the church was repaired and restored between 1936 and 1941 under the leadership of the Rev. A.C.D. Noe.  Little of the original interior of the church survives with the exception of the remarkable 1765 wall-mounted memorial to Mrs. Margaret Palmer, wife of Col. Robert Palmer, surveyor general of the colony.

Atlantic Hotel, Morehead City, NC, photograph c. 1930.  For more than fifty years the Atlantic Hotel was one of the premier summer resorts in the Southeast.  Built in 1880 on the Morehead City waterfront, the Atlantic provided comfortable rooms, good food, dances and balls, and sound side bathing and sailing.  The hotel survived changing fashions and increased competition and stayed open even through the first years of the Great Depression only to be destroyed by fire on April 15, 1933.

Foscue House, Jones County, NC, photograph c. 1930-1940.  Built in the 1820s by prominent Jones County planter Simon Foscue, Jr., the Foscue House is similar in plan and decoration to a number of New Bern side-hall houses of the same period.  The house was restored by the Foscue Family in the 1980s and is occasionally open to the public.

Elmwood (Grist House), Washington, NC, photograph by William Garrison Reed, 1884. The earliest portion of the Grist House was constructed in the early 19th century but by about 1860 the house had been greatly enlarged and remodeled, becoming Washington's grandest Italianate mansion. It remains a private residence today.

Lost Churches

More time travel through the collections of the Kellenberger Room

First Baptist Church, northwest corner of Johnson and Metcalf streets, photographed c.1900. Built c. 1811-12 with the tower  added c. 1833, the building was replaced by the Baptists with a new church in a different location in 1848. The old church became the home of the African American St. Cyprian's Episcopal Church following the Civil War.  They replaced this building with a new church on the same site in 1910.

by John B. Green III

Continuing our time travel for the self-isolated and socially distanced, we examine photos of New Bern churches lost to time.  Either accidentally burned or in some cases demolished as the needs or tastes of their congregations changed, these fascinating buildings would be prized additions to our town today.

Tabernacle Baptist Church, northeast corner Broad and George streets, photo c. 1900. Designed by New Bern architect Herbert Woodley Simpson and completed in 1897, Tabernacle Baptist Church was enlarged in 1913 and unfortunately destroyed by fire on the evening of November 30, 1931. The congregation erected a brick building on the same site in 1943.

Centenary Methodist Church, 500 block New Street, south side, photographed c. 1901. Probably designed and erected by New Bern builder Hardy B. Lane, the church was completed by 1843. Originally designed in the Greek Revival style with a square tower topped by four corner spires, the structure was extensively remodeled in 1884 by architect J. Crawford Neilson and builder A.M. Carroll, both from Baltimore. The church was replaced by a new facility two blocks east in 1905.  The 1843 building was sold and served as a furniture warehouse until it was demolished in 1939.

Christian Church, 300 block Hancock Street, west side, photo c. 1914. Built between 1887 and 1889, the Christian Church was described at its dedication as:  The new church is a neat, attractive building.  It is 60 x 34 feet in size; the top of the steeple is 108 feet from the ground; the pitch of the ceiling is 21 feet; the walls, inside, are imitation stone; the ceiling overhead is of native woods, beautifully painted and finished with gilded trimmings; stained-glass windows; gallery in front end; very comfortable pews; handsome pulpit furniture; the room is heated by one of Mott's furnaces; well lighted at night by gas, one of I.P. Frinks' silvered corrugated glass reflectors being used, besides a gas-light on each side of the pulpit and two in the gallery.  The church was destroyed by fire on the evening of December 30, 1918 and replaced in 1926 at a new site on Broad Street.

Old Photographs - Part Two

Time travel for the self-isolated

New Bern High School football team, 1921, posed in front of the Masonic Theater on Hancock Street. Team coach Graham A. Barden is standing in the back row, second from left. Barden would later serve as a United States congressman from 1935-1961.

by John B. Green III

Continuing our time travel, we today examine photographs from the collection of Mrs. Mary Bray Mullineaux, native New Bernian and centenarian, who died on November 19, 2000, aged 100 years, three months, and four days.  Mrs. Mullineaux was a great lady who saved some wonderful photographs.

Prize-winning float from the opening day parade of the New Bern Fair, October 16, 1917, photographed along the 200 block of Craven Street. Sponsored by the National Bank of New Bern, the float advertised the sale of Liberty Loan bonds and featured Uncle Sam, Lady Liberty, and a "doughboy."

New Bern Elks Lodge drum corps posed in front of the J.B. Blades House, 300 block Broad Street, south side, c.1917. The Elks drum corps was organized in January 1917 and existed at least through 1921.

New Bern Bears baseball team of the old Coastal Plain League, c. 1940. The Bears, like the league, played from 1937 to 1941, disbanded for the war years, and reorganized and played again from 1946-1952.

North Carolina Governor O. Max Gardner (tallest gentleman at top of steps) and other dignitaries, posed on the porch of the E.K. Bishop home (Coor-Bishop House), northwest corner East Front and New streets, during the 1929 New Bern  historical pageant.

Old Photographs

Time travel for the self-isolated.

Cutting-Allen House on original site, 200 block, Broad Street, north side. The house was constructed c. 1793 and moved to its present site on New Street in 1980.

by John B. Green III

Once in a while it's OK to do a little time traveling by enjoying some old photographs.  The Kellenberger Room has hundreds of them. These are from our Minnette C. Duffy Collection and date between 1930 and 1940. Mrs. Duffy was one of the founders of the New Bern Historical Society and one of the early leaders in the effort to restore Tryon Palace.  We will continue to post old photographs of New Bern in  the days and weeks to come in the hope that they provide a pleasant diversion in these stressful times.

Eli Smallwood House portico, 500 Block, East Front Street, east side. The Smallwood House was constructed c. 1810-1812 by New Bern merchant and planter Eli Smallwood and contains some of the finest Federal-period woodwork in the city.

Coor-Gaston House, southwest corner, New and Craven streets. Constructed c. 1785 by James Coor, the house's most illustrious owner was William Gaston, member of Congress and justice of the State Supreme Court. Gaston composed the state song, The Old North State, in 1835.

Edward F. Smallwood House, northwest corner, New and Craven streets. Constructed c. 1840-1845 by Dr. Edward F. Smallwood,  the property also contains his free-standing office constructed c. 1850 just to the north on Craven Street.

Charles Slover House, southwest corner, Johnson and East Front streets. Constructed 1848-49 by Charles Slover, merchant and ship owner, engaged in trade with the West Indies.

Early cannon, 400 block, East Front Street, east side. Eighteenth century cannon unearthed on Middle Street in 1930 and placed by the New Bern Historical Society along the East Front Street parkway in 1933.