Who Knew? New Bern was the 1st capitol of NC!
We learned this when we googled New Bern the day before arriving! We’d planned a short, 3-night stop here, so we could do a day trip to Cape Lookout. It was also time for The Beast’s 95K oil change/tire rotation. Mark took care of that the 1st morning (8th state for an oil change). In the afternoon, we visited New Bern…
- Tyron Palace, originally built between 1767 and 1770 as the first permanent capitol of the Colony of North Carolina and a home for the Royal Governor and his family. Patriots made the Palace their capitol and the first sessions of the General Assembly met there to begin designing a free and independent state. Four state governors used the Palace. Raleigh became the state capital in 1794.
- The Birthplace of Pepsi-Cola! Caleb Bradham invented the original formula of what would become Pepsi-Cola, in New Bern in 1898! (Cola was invented in Atlanta, Georgia in 1886, Dr. Pepper in Waco, Texas around 1885.) We shared a Cherry Pepsi Float from the soda fountain.
Second day, day trip to 1 new National Park Site:
- Cape Lookout National Seashore (#223), where we took a boat ride three miles off-shore from Harkers Island to the undeveloped barrier islands of Cape Lookout National Seashore. First, a brief stop at the eastern end of Shackleford Banks, where we caught a glimpse of some of the wild horses. Then on to Cape Lookout, for 4 hours, where we visited the Lighthouse and Lighthouse Keepers House Museum (as they were packing up for end-of-season. Then a shuttle in the back of a pickup, to the southern point of Cape Lookout. We found some sea shells and had lunch on the beach, watching the pelicans playing and the fishermen fishing, before returning to Harkers Island.
Off for South Carolina!
For more pictures, eventually, see (in-work) Adventure Album: Head South for Winter
4 Comments
GRetta · November 4, 2023 at 8:04 am
Wow you found an actual soda fountain, how nice. Miss those. Younger generation don’t have any idea how nice they were! I liked a vanilla coke.
Gail · November 5, 2023 at 5:18 am
I still remember going to Kings in downtown East Brookfield. My favorite was a chocolate frappe
Tom Keating · November 4, 2023 at 9:24 am
Okay, so why is the lighthouse keeper’s kitchen outside and separate from the main house?
Gail · November 5, 2023 at 5:27 am
Common in those days (through the 1800’s, at least, when kitchens had fireplaces or even woodburning stoves). For households of any size/wealth, the kitchens (or sometimes just the “summer kitchen”) was separate, so as not to make the main house hotter, and to reduce the risk of a kitchen fire burning down the main house.