City of New Bern City Map Poster

About City of New Bern

The nearby town of Washington was the original capital of North Carolina, before New Bern. The oldest house in New Bern is thought to be the Pattillo House, built on land given to George II's son Governor Charles Eden in 1737 by his father. It is now a historic site owned and operated by the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources; it has been designated as a National Historic Landmark. New Bern was settled near the mouth of the Neuse River (the "Neusiok" tribe) on land granted by King George II to German-speaking Swiss immigrants under leader Christoph von Graffenried, who named their settlement after his home city in Switzerland: "Bern". In 1722 colonists used this road to drive cattle through part of Cumberland County along what would become Fayetteville Street; later it became one side (East) or main street with lots laid out for development running perpendicular from Front Street towards Market Square where St. Paul's Episcopal Church stands today at its head at Pollock St., which leads into Craven St.