4/23/14 - 4/25/14 - North Carolina

4/23/14 – We docked at Town Creek Marina in Beaufort, NC.  They are working on the marina and it was not in the best shape when we were there.  The town, however, is very cute and I would go there again.  We found a small bar/restaurant that had pool tables, so we played two games.  John 1, Miss Deb 1.

4/25/14 – We docked at New Bern Grand Marina at 10:20 a.m.  It is a very nice marina with free pumpout.  We met an old friend of John’s, Billy Sawyer, for lunch at Morgan’s.  John hadn’t seen him in 15 years but they acted like it had only been 15 months.  I liked him a lot.  Very down to earth.  His son is the sheriff of this county.

The next day John’s sister, Martha, and her husband, Reed, came to New Bern.  We sat on the boat and talked for three hours over Bloody Marys.  We walked to Persimmons Restaurant on the water, but it was a little disappointing.  Afterward we walked downtown New Bern and out to Tryon Palace.  We saw a total of four brides.  It’s always so uplifting to see a new bride.  We even witnessed one outside wedding.  We went back to the marina and sat on their deck listening to the music and having another drink before going back to the boat and talking some more over more drinks.  It was a very nice evening.

The next day we went to breakfast at the Kitchen Bakery.  What a great breakfast.  And… we didn’t have any drinks.  Imagine that.  Martha and Reed left for home after breakfast and John and I walked around town again.  We decided to tour Tryon Palace.

Tryon Palace was built in 1767 by Royal Governor William Tryon, the first governor of North Carolina, who actually represented the British Crown.  New Bern became North Carolina’s first official capitol at that time.  The home and gardens are beautiful but I was a little disappointed when they told us that the original house burned in 1798 and the home we were touring was reconstructed from the original architect’s drawings and documentation from the mid 1770’s.  It appeared to be the original house.  It is furnished with beautiful 18^th century English and American objects, some of which were originally owned by the Tryons.  Sadly, no pictures were allowed to be taken inside the home.

Included in our tour was the John Wright Stanly house that was built around 1780.  John Stanly was a businessman whose merchant ships raided British vessels to aid the American cause during the Revolutionary War.  I enjoyed the tour of this house much better than Tryon Palace because it was the original house.  It was passed down for several generations before it transferred out of the family.

Did I also mention that New Bern was the birthplace of Pepsi Cola?  It was developed by a pharmacist in the 1800’s.  There is a store in the original pharmacy building that sells all sorts of Pepsi paraphernalia.