Stretching that penny postage

How do you get more value out of your postcards? Make 'em twice as long and fold'em in the middle!

Reverse of double postcard instructing the sender to "put rubber-band around folded card" to hold it closed and informing the sender that the card could be mailed for "one cent postage all over the world."

by John B. Green III

One of the things we miss here at the library are the regular visits of our friend Jim Hodges. Jim is the able curator of the New Bern Historical Society and always has something interesting to share with us.  The pandemic has brought these visits to a temporary halt but with the library reopening in stages perhaps we'll see Jim in the not too distant future.  In the meantime, since Jim has been having such a good time posting examples of the Historical Society's excellent postcard collection, we thought we'd join in the fun.  Here are two unusual New Bern cards from our Julia Bishop Smallwood (Mrs. Roger) Wernicke Collection.  These cards, which date from around 1910, are twice the length of regular cards and required folding in the middle in order to mail them.  The extra length, though, allowed the creation of panoramic views - in this case a view of the 200 block of Pollock Street and a view of the city school yard on Hancock Street.

Panoramic view of the 200 block of Pollock Street looking west. Visible from left to right are an unidentified house, the Elks Temple Building (in distance), the U.S. Court House and Post Office (now City Hall), and the Hughes-Stewart House

Detail of left side of above card

Detail of right side of above card.

Panoramic view of the 500 block of Hancock Street, west side, showing the city school grounds. Visible from left to right are the original Centenary Methodist Church, New Bern Academy, Second New Bern Academy, Moses Griffin Building, houses on Johnson Street, and the Pepsi-Cola headquarters and bottling plant.

Detail of left side of above card.

Detail of right side of above card.

Down by the riverside

A lost world along the Trent and the Neuse

Neuse River waterfront near the intersection of East Front and Broad streets, c. 1900. The boat Two Brothers is seen pulled up on shore and the U.S. Revenue Service Cutter Boutwell is visible in the distance at the federal dock.

by John B. Green III

New Bern's waterfront was once alive with activity of all kinds - docks and wharves, shipyards and warehouses, gristmills and sawmills - and the watercraft that used and served them.  Today it is almost impossible to find any trace of New Bern's once vibrant, gritty waterfront. But the photographs remain.  Here is a selection, mostly dating from about 1900 to 1910, which give a sense of what it once was like along the rivers.

Meadows Shipyard, Trent River waterfront, 200 block South Front Street, c. 1910.

Two-masted schooner heavily laden with bags of produce, Neuse River near the bridge.  Bridge keeper's house visible at left of photograph.

Meadows guano factory, Neuse River waterfront,  200 block East Front Street near Union Point, ca. 1910. New Bern's waterfront was home to many industries that could be highly offensive to the nose such as guano works, tan yards, turpentine distilleries, and fish houses.  All these plus sawmills and shipyards would also have assaulted the ears with the general din their operations produced as well as with the steam-powered  mill whistles they all employed to summon their workers in the morning and send them home again at day's end.

Norfolk-Southern steamer Neuse, Neuse river, c. 1900. Large river steamers like the 200 foot, 720 ton Neuse operated throughout the sound region of eastern North Carolina carrying passengers and freight.

King's Daughters club house and library, formerly the New Bern Yacht Club, Neuse River waterfront at foot of Broad Street. At the wharf is a North Carolina sharpie, a typical work boat of the sounds.

Trent River waterfront between Hancock Street and Craven Street, c. 1900, showing New Bern's warehouse district.

Steamer Howard, Trent River waterfront. Small, shallow-draft vessels like the Howard, carrying freight and a few passengers, could navigate the Trent River as far upstream as Trenton in Jones County.