NC: New Bern - Bears

Day 339
June 27, 2016
NM Today: 7
NM to Date: 5369

We had a very short trip today from the home of our friends on Mazel Tug into the city of New Bern, North Carolina. At 10:30 we waved goodbye to Ralph and Linda

Ralph and Linda from Mazel Tug

and made our way through the waters of Fairfield Harbour before heading on our way to New Bern.

Gorgeous Waters of Fairfield Harbour near New Bern, NC

As we move along the ICW I have been reading little blurbs about the segments of the waterway in a cruise guide for the ICW. One entry described the dark brown waters in North Carolina being similar in color to root beer or strong tea. Tannin naturally found in the water here makes the water brown.

I noticed looking off the back of Sea Moss today that we were stirring up "root beer".  This tannin leaves a not-so-lovely "mustache" on the bow of boats traveling up the ICW. Through our travels, we have already acquired a mustache on Sea Moss; this can only make it more pronounced.

Brown Wake comes from Tannin in Water

We had perfect timing as we came into the city of New Bern. A sailboat arrived at the bridge requiring an opening shortly before us. By the time we got there, the bridge was going up and we sailed right through!

We arrived at our marina for the night shortly after passing through the bridge opening. As we rounded the corner, we saw a train crossing a railroad bridge. Fortunately we did not have to wait for this bridge to open since our marina was situated before it.

Train crossing railroad bridge

When we pulled into the marina, our friends on Dream Catcher, Pat and Dick, were there to greet us and help us tie up in our slip for the night. A primary reason for coming to this town and this marina was to see Dick to return his jacket that we recovered for him from a restaurant in St. Augustine, Florida. No sooner did we get ourselves tied up than we handed him his jacket.

Dick offered that he had a car at his disposal and said he could take us to get provisions. We got together right after lunch for an outing to Walmart and a Harris Teeter grocery store. When we arrived at Walmart, we saw our first New Bern Bear. Bern means Bear, and bears appear throughout New Bern.

Walmart Bear in New Bern, NC

After our shopping spree, we agreed with Dick that we would meet up with him again for a walk around town after putting the perishable foods away. Town was close enough that we did not need to use the car to explore town. Dick's wife Pat and her friend from Michigan, Kim, joined us for our tour of town. For our first stop we went to the old-time hardware store in town, Mitchell Hardware, where we saw another bear. This one was named "Mitch".

"Mitch" - Hometown Hardware Bear

 For a relatively small retail space the store was packed with goodies.

Mitchell Hardware

 When we walked outside and looked at the store window, we found a hardware history quiz of ten questions. The only object I recognized was a flat iron. the object that we all found the most interesting was the "pig oiler".

Mitchell Hardware - History Quiz

Continuing our tour of town, we came to the Birthplace of Pepsi Cola. Caleb Bradham, a pharmacist at a corner drug store, created "Brad's Drink" in the 1800s which became known as Pepsi Cola after 1898.

Corner Drugstore- Birthplace of Pepsi

Pepsi Ad on Wall of Store

Original Pepsi Recipe

When we left the Pepsi museum / store, Dick, Pat and their friend Kim went off to find a beer, and Clark and I continued our exploration of the city. We decided to visit Tryon Palace since Ralph and Linda specifically mentioned this site as a must-see spot in town.

On our way there we found the "Bill of Rights" Bear.

"Bill of Rights" Bear in New Bern, NC

Using Google directions we made our way to Tryon Palace. When Google said we had arrived at our destination, I could see no palace - just a very large brick building that was not very impressive. It turned out to be the Tryon Palace museum - not the palace itself.

The facility closed at 5;00 and it was already after 4:00. The last tour of the palace left at 4:00, so that was not an option. We really only wanted to see the exterior today anyway, so we asked where the actual palace was located and received directions from the receptionist to walk there. Before leaving the building, Clark spied a fancy, working clock hanging on the wall.

Working Pendulum Clock at Tryon Palace Museum

 About two, very hot blocks later, we finally found the palace grounds and the palace. (The sun was out in full force even so late in the afternoon!) The palace was the name given to the governor's mansion built for Royal Governor William Tryon between 1767 and 1770. The main building was destroyed by a fire in 1798 and restored in the 1950s.

Tryon Palace - grounds

Tryon Palace - Governor's Mansion

Many houses in this neighborhood date to the late 1700s and early 1800s. In our wanderings we noted several including the Jones House, which in 1862, was used as a jail to hold Confederate sympathizers after the Union won the Battle of New Bern.

Jones House - c. 1809

We later found a sign for Stanly House saying basically "Washington slept here", but we had trouble finding the house itself.

I finally pulled out the map provided by the Tryon Palace museum receptionist and found the house was around the corner and down the block.

Stanly House c. 1783

Stanly House - gardens

No visit to a city on the Great Loop would be complete without a stop at an ice cream shop. We stopped at the Cow Cafe before heading back to the boat. Almost all the ice cream flavors had the word "cow" or "moo" built into the name like chocowlate and moo-nilla.

On the way back to the boat we saw one last bear - the Coldwell Banker Homes Bear in front of the local real estate office.

"Honey, I'm Home" Coldwell Real Estate Bear

 As we reached the docks, we saw Nancy from Tug Lee Loo who invited us to visit their new boat. Cary gave us a grand tour of their lovely new boat. Afterwards we met up with our other looper friends in town for dinner at The Chelsea restaurant. Delicious!

Looper Dinner at The Chelsea in New Bern, NC
Pat and Dick from Dream Catcher (with Pat's friend Kim),
Nancy and Cary from Tug Lee Loo,
Ralph and Linda from Mazel Tug (they drove in to join us), and
Clark and Ev from Sea Moss (Clark took the picture)
Cheers!

All our looper friends tried very hard to convince us to stay in town through the fourth of July, but Clark is anxious to move on towards the Chesapeake. Unless the weather is prohibitive, we will be back on our way again in the morning.