Good Things to Come on the New Bern Waterfront

   Exciting changes are taking place along New Bern's waterfront as a variety of businesses, nonprofit organizations and public interests work together to make the area as attractive as possible for both visitors and residents. Over the next few years, the old Barbour Boat Works site on South Front Street will be transformed from an industrial site to a launching point for historical and environmental education in New Bern and eastern North Carolina.

   Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens broke ground in October 2002 on its wetlands restoration project, where the grounds that formerly housed the old Barbour Boat Works will be transformed into a marshy area, similar to the way the area might have look in Governor Tryon's day. Ultimately, the site, located between the palace property and the Farmer's Market on South Front Street, will house the $50 million North Carolina History Center.

   TPHS&G Director Kay Williams said officials spent 15 years looking for a suitable site for the center, which will also become home to a new visitors center. The current center, a renovated 1930s gas station on the corner of Pollock and George streets, is no longer a good site because it brings pedestrian traffic and major vehicular traffic uncomfortably close. And unloading tour buses next to the visitors center is next to impossible.

   Williams explained that palace officials looked at a variety of locations before settling on the site. When Barbour Boat Works closed in 1997, the state was able to acquire the almost six-acre property for $1.75 million— $750,000 of that raised by private donations. Site preparation is currently underway to get ready for future construction work.

   The overall concept of the 48,000-square-foot North Carolina History Center, according to Williams, is to provide an important introduction to the historical attractions of New Bern and Tryon Palace.

   "It will be a significant history center for this area," Williams added.

   Among the center's features will be a family history center, where parents and children can participate in interactive events to develop interest in history, explore issues and learn about the past. The center also will include historical exhibits that appeal to a broader general group; programming areas for lectures, films and concerts; classroom space for other programs while the orientation film is showing; exhibition space that will enable Tryon Palace to display collection objects which have been locked away in storage for many years; a refreshment area and restrooms; and space for receptions for evening tours. The outside area also will be developed with educational purposes in mind. Plans include extending the waterfront public walkway from the Sheraton to the boat works site.

   Once the center is complete, TPHS&G officials anticipate attendance figures increasing from 90,000 to nearly 200,000 annually.

   TPHS&G officials hope to raise the money for the center from private donations, corporate support, grants, and state and federal funding. Current plans call for the new facility to open in 2010, in time for the 300th anniversary of the founding of New Bern.