New Bern, North Carolina's 2nd Oldest town

The centerpiece, Tryon Palace Historic Sites and Gardens, is the restored home of British Royal Governor William Tryon built in 1770. While in New Bern, visit the Birthplace of Pepsi, The Fireman's Museum, The Bank of the Arts and The Academy Museum. Stroll through our downtown filled with specialty shops and restaurants, or relax on a historic Trolley Tour.

Quick Tips:

Go to the Visitor center and get tickets for Tryon Palace 1st and then you can also tour the 3 houses. They go every 1/2 hour and give yourself plenty of time to tour Tryon Palace.

Best Way To Get Around:

Find a parking space and walk around.

This building originally built in 1912 by Caleb Bradham (the inventor of Pepsi Cola) as his 2nd drug store.

The 1st floor still has the feeling of a turn of the century drug store. The menu has French, German and Italian also American and Regional entrees. They have 6 beers on tap including Guiness and Bass and quite a selection of bottles beers.

Service is quick and friendly and this is a good place to take kids to also.

Open daily, Capt. Ratty's menu features a variety of seafood cooked just about any way you like. Crab, shrimp and oysters come prepared in a variety of dishes sure to please even the pickiest eaters. Try a Peck of Oysters and Captain's Platter with its generous servings of crab legs, oysters, clams, shrimp and mussels - maybe two people could split this. The price of the oysters depends on whether you shuck or the Capt. Ratty's staff shucks. Bring your shucking knife, just in case.

My friend Debi brought her 3-year-old, Mercedes, and she liked the kids' menu, which features grilled cheese and hamburgers. Clam chowder, sandwiches, salads and homemade desserts round out the menu. Beverages include soft drinks, tea, coffee, beer and mixed drinks.

This is one of our favorite places in New Bern. They are always friendly and the service is normally quick.

We almost always have the crab cakes and they also have a nice children's menu and lots of high chairs available.

The large salads also look very good, but I haven’t tried one.

The decor is wood with a lot of neat pictures on the walls.

This complete coffee bar and retail coffee shop is the social gathering place for locals on most weekday mornings for endless coffee or hot chocolate and a selection of breakfast breads and pastries. Looking for something a little cooler? Trent River Coffee Company also serves ice cream and milk shakes.

On announced evenings, this is the staging place for the Down East FolkArts Society live performances and other performing musicians. Coffee and a world of other things are brewing every day. They also sell whole bean coffee and some wonderful selections of teas to go. I always pick up some wonderful flavored coffees, such as Irish Creme and Hazelnut.

Tryon Palace Historic Sites and Gardens. Tryon Palace (c.1770) was known in colonial times as one of the most beautiful public buildings in America. The elegant Georgian style mansion served as both home of Royal Governor William Tryon and the capital of the Colony of North Carolina. After the Revolutionary War, Tryon Palace became the capitol of the independent State of North Carolina. Restored to its 18th century glory, Tryon Palace is furnished with an outstanding collection of antiques and art. The grounds are devoted to extensive gardens ranging from English formal gardens to a kitchen garden to wilderness garden areas. The complex includes three contrasting homes of exceptional beauty - the John Wright Stanley House (c.1783), a stately home built by the Revolutionary War patriot, the Dixon-Stevenson House (c.1830), a prominent Federal style home noted for its rare Neo-Classical antiques and the Robert Hay House (c.1805), once home of a virtuous craftsman, featuring architectural and biographical tours. In addition, The New Bern Academy, situated in New Bern's oldest residential district, invites exploration of New Bern's history from the settlement period of 1710 through the Civil War. Special focus is given to topics of early education, New Bern architecture and builders, and the story of New Bern as a Union city in the midst of the Confederacy. Interpreters in period costumes conduct tours all year. An audio-visual orientation program and crafts demonstration, including cooking in the Tryon Palace kitchen, basket weaving and blacksmithing, are offered daily.

John Wright Stanly House

The Stanly House was built in the early 1780s for Revolutionary War patriot, John Wright Stanly. John Hawks, the architect who designed Tryon Palace, may have designed the Stanly House as well.

John Wright Stanly was a leading shipowner, shipper, and molasses distiller in New Bern.

The house is built of hand hewn longleaf pine, the siding flush with cornerstones or quoins also made of wood. The house is a full two stories high, below a deck or hip roof. The center door is framed with Doric columns supporting an open pediment. All of the windows have finely developed molded frames.

This is a fine example of Georgian archecture.