New Bern NC

My last entry skipped an interesting fact I thought I would now share with you. When we were on the outer bank islands in North Carolina we noticed that the newer construction built homes and businesses up on stilts, up to a full 11 feet higher than ground level. Asking at the information center in the town of Ocracoke why such a height, the man stated that it was based on the last 100 years storm surge flood levels! It is hard for me to wrap my head around such a storm, but even if it covered four or five feet of ground, it would cover practically all the land surface of these outer bank islands of North Carolina. I was told by this same gentleman (and others in subsequent conversations) that the old time locals stay put in their homes during these hurricanes with their storm surges, it's just something you live through. Fine for them; I would go inland myself. The picture above is the port of Ocracoke, view facing east. It gives you a sense of the low flat land. No hills here. Despite its low lying disposition, I found Ocracoke to be a very pretty pleasant town with a rich maritime history. A small section of the old town still have homes that were made from salvaged shipwrecks, like the one pictured below.

New Bern. Heading inland from the outer banks of Hatteras and Roanoke Islands, our destination initially was New Bern, NC. New Bern was one of the earliest settlement of North Carolina, settled by some Swiss from Bern, Switzerland, thus the name. We stayed at a KOA just north of town, a pleasant park with a fishing dock that looked across the inlet to the old downtown. I already shared with you one of its sunsets, but here is another that greated us that evening.

Up to this point, New Bern town holds the cake for the most historical markers along its roadsides and in its downtown area many of the homes have historic plaques of famous people who were residents. Here are a couple of examples, including a picture of an old Episcopal church in the New World, dating back to 1750.

My overall impression was that New Bern would be a decent place to live. It is a bit inland but finger of water allow this town to be also a pleasure boat town with access to the ocean. Next entry, Christmas with family: Simon, Sarah, Tristan and Xander in Snead Ferry. Lots of fun.