New Bern Historic District (Boundary Increase) (Additional Documentation)

Twenty-three noncontiguous blocks of New Bern, the coastal city where the Trent and Neuse rivers meet, make up this expansion of the historic district. The areas hold most of the city's African American neighborhoods, with narrow grid streets lined by closely spaced houses and small commercial buildings. Their architecture spans 1800 to 1953 and includes one-and-a-half-story gable-end cottages, I-houses, and Craftsman and Foursquare dwellings. Cottage Row, three Gothic Revival houses built between 1858 and 1860 near the railroad, is one example. The 1922 fire destroyed much of the area, and many buildings from the 1920s and 1930s were erected afterward, often by African American owners and local craftsmen. Notable early landmarks include the 1820 McLin House and a brick commercial building on Queen Street. The district is significant for its ties to community growth, the railroad and commerce, and African American life in the city, as well as for its concentration of early twentieth-century architecture.