{"nrhp_refnum":"73001325","name":"New Bern Historic District","other_names":["See Also:72000939","72000940","70000450","88000232","Smith-Whitford"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by Neuse and Trent Rivers and Queen St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New Bern","county":"Craven County","state":"NC","lat":35.11578854100003,"lon":-77.04911830299994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-06-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic district covering the old core of New Bern, Craven County, North Carolina, between the Neuse and Trent rivers. The town was laid out in 1710, and the district includes buildings from the 18th through early 20th centuries.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that New Bern holds a body of urban Federal buildings of academic sophistication and superb craftsmanship, with over fifty surviving and many still in original use. It also has Georgian, Greek Revival, Victorian and early twentieth-century buildings, along with much of its original atmosphere, scale and street plan. Its range of architectural styles is described as unique in North Carolina.","narrative":"New Bern's historic district occupies the original town site at the meeting of the Neuse and Trent rivers in Craven County, North Carolina. The town was established in 1710 by Baron von Graffenried, and John Lawson's plan of broad streets and generous lots still largely survives. Little remains from the earliest years, but fourteen Georgian buildings have been identified. The district's strongest feature is its Federal architecture. After the Revolution, prosperous merchants built restrained, Adamesque town houses, and over fifty such buildings survive, along with the New Bern Academy, the Masonic Temple and Theater, and the First Presbyterian Church. The Federal style lasted into the 1840s, later giving way to Greek Revival, Italianate, Gothic Revival and Queen Anne designs. A lumber-driven building boom in the early twentieth century, largely designed by Herbert Woodley Simpson, added Neo-Classic Revival houses and civic buildings. The nomination describes the district as retaining its atmosphere and scale, with architectural range unique in North Carolina.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Herbert Woodley Simpson (early 20th-century local architect); Federal-era builders Martin Stevenson, John Dewey, Robert Hay, Uriah Sandy; John Hawks and James Coor attributed for some Georgian houses","architectural_style":"Federal (Adamesque), with Georgian, Greek Revival, Italianate, Renaissance Revival, Gothic Revival, Queen Anne and Neo-Classic Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition marked excellent, good and fair, with both altered and unaltered properties. Uses include residential, commercial, religious, educational, government and museum. Most surviving Federal buildings are described as in good condition.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:58:57.587578-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/34/7197/47719734/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/73001325.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73001325/a599720e40-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73001325/a599720e40-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Tradewinds","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anne_Green_Lane_House.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Tradewinds</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anne_Green_Lane_House.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47719734","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Bern_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7005514"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/craven-county/new-bern-historic-district-73001325/"}