One of the great mysteries to me has been how were the Indians here when the Pilgrims discovered  America?  I regret not having loved history in school.  So many things I wish I had learned.  This morning reading the bible about wisdom, the Greeks thought it very important, perhaps most important.  And should I really have regrets it would be to not have studied Bible history.  However, the way I see it, had God intended I be a history scholar then He would have instilled the desire in me to have searched for it.  Now in my old age when I cannot retain it, I seem to be fascinated by it. 

It seems logical and we know how logic responds with spiritual things that there were people here 1000 BC.  If Isaiah was written 500 years before Christ then it would seem feasible.  I wonder if they were decedents of Ham or Japeth?

January 9, 2013, was a really special day.  I took an adventure.  While Eddie slaved away on a job doing what would be normal for someone less than 50 years of age and most certainly not a man of 70, I took to the road and went to discover the town of New Bern.  North Carolina has been a rewarding experience.  As I have gone from place to place there has been physical evidence of believers in Christ here.  And more importantly there have been sounds from the speech of people that show real religious ideals in place.  Now I use that word religious, because it is true that just because religious words are spoken does not necessarily mean a relationship with the Savior.

People here are friendly.  I have been to states where that was absolutely not the standard much less the rule.  Everywhere I have gone and came in contact with them I have seen smiles that reach the eyes not just on the mouth. 

Tryon Palace was built between 1767 and 1770 by Royal Governor William Tryon, who represented the British crown and became North Carolina’s first official capitol.  In 1798 fire destroyed the original Palace, but it was never forgotten.  More than 150 years later, a new Palace rose again on its original site, reconstructed from the original architect’s drawings and extensive documentation and archaeological evidence.  Furnished with rare 18^th-centurary and American objects, the Palace stands a testament to New Bern’s important place in American history.  And now you can see I can copy a brochure. 

I was assured that there would be a book with photos published soon that would tell all about what my limited memory could even begin to retain.  So as I write it will be bits and pieces of what I saw and what appealed to me.

The man that drove the little tour cart and took me from the history center to the Palace told me that the Trent river ran into the Neuse river which was the largest river in the world and emptied into some Sound which eventually got to the Atlantic ocean.  And the ocean was actually about 40 miles from New Bern.  The part I cannot recall if it was the Trent river or the Neuse river that was noted as the largest river in the world.

I was his only rider so I sat in the front seat next to him.  And when I got to the palace was the only tourist and met the lovely tour guide which showed me the palace.  She was a young girl with black hair sprinkled with gray, now whether she was actually older than she looked or premature graying I don’t know but she had the most fascinating black eyes I have seen.  She knew what she was talking about and did her speech very well.  She had an unusual laugh.  Also had lived in London for a time and said she wanted badly to go back again. 

The palace was as you would imagine had you gone to similar places and seen things of the 1700’s.  The kitchen was a working kitchen and they had food from the gardens (which must have been hot house I did not see, because all the garden’s were scarce and young growth if not dead.)  I would have loved to have a taste of the soup and rice pudding she was cooking but I guess she feeds the other guides and the public just get to smell the wood smoke and see the pots as she stirs ingredients to pour into the pot.  I think if the tour groups were as small normally as they were that day she could get away with handing out samples.

Having been a fan of “Upstairs downstairs” the old version, I was intrigued by the servants quarters.  I could relate to the owners of the house being kind to the servants.  They actually had the best quarters because it does not get hot in the lower part or as cold as the upper floors. 

I was amazed that a house with several children still shared one bed.  Six children lying across a regular size bed would lead me to believe there were lots of quilts on the floor when mutiny arose.  However I would think they were so tired by the time they got to go to bed they just might fall asleep pretty quickly.  I doubt they sat around doing nothing all day, playing video games and watching TV.  Even the wealthy, Governor Tryon’s children.

The gardens were a promise of beauty come Spring.  The evergreens kept them inviting for one to sit on the large concrete benches and look at the statues and the 50 squirrels that scurried up the trees across the limbs and past where you were standing if you watched closely.

 

It really makes thing more familiar if you have visited Europe.  The gates reminded me of the gates to the Palace in London.  Small replica’s but yet one would remember.  Kensington gardens was one place my mind returns and visualizes the gates. 

I am not as impressed with the Palace as I was with the homes we visited.  It was grand and the history could have kept me there for a while with my notebook but my head spun with information knowing I could never share it with anyone as much as I would like.  Sharing is the fun of the journey, more especially than ever when your journey is alone.  The maid just came in and I took her picture with my phone so I could her with you, however, Eddie has the little download devise so I will insert it later.  Just to tell about the funny incident that happened while she was here.  She too was so friendly.  She and two other maids were in the hall and one was on a CB speaking to a man on the floor below asking him to come take away all the trash.  She didn’t know I was in here and could hear the conversation.  He as well as told her that he would be here when he got here.  She said thank you Mr. Chuck.  And got off the CB and said, “I wanted to tell him he could jolly well get ready because the hall was full.  I laughed out loud and she looked in and said, “oh! I didn’t know anyone was in there.”  We all laughed and I told her I thought she handled it amazingly.  Probably a good thing we didn’t know what was whirling through her brain.  She said it was the Neuse river that was the largest one.

The Hampton Inn will be one of my favorite memories.  They have been in process of remodeling and I know it has been a headache with all the plastic on the floors and walls with painters spray painting the ceiling and others painting the walls, while the craft men put in new granite counters and they build cabinets for the dining area to be moved and I suppose leave the old Tryon room for a meeting room.  I have gingerly walked down the hall to the car for fear of showing them what it looks like for an old lady to go feet up on the slick plastic. 

They all know me by name now, every shift, after all when you ask directions every time you go downstairs and get commode plungers, I can tell you that you soon become well known.  However, they are sweet and kind and the smile so far goes all the way up to the eyes and the eyes don’t roll upward.

Touring the John Wright Stanly house, built around 1780,  I will give the history of the house as in the brochure.  John was a wealthy businessman whose merchant ships raided British vessels to aid the American cause during the Revolutionary War.  He and his wife Ann died in a yellow fever epidemic in 1789, leaving their young children to inherit the house when they came of age.  Their eldest son, the prominent politician John Stanly Jr., moved into the house in the early 1800’s.

A third John Stanly, John Carruthers Stanley, was generally acknowledged to be the son of John Wright Stanly and an enslaved African woman of the Ebo tribe.  A barber and a slave owner himself, after he was freed, “Barber Jack” was eventually able to buy his wife, children, and brother-in-law out of slavery.  His wife, Kitty, along with the craftsman Robert Hay, was one of the founding members of New Bern’s First Presbyterian Church.

Members of the Stanly family also played significant roles on both sides of the Civil War, and John and Elizabeth Stanly’s grandson Lewis A. Armistead was born in the Stanly house.  The house was used as General Ambrose E. Burnside’s headquarters when he was in New Bern with Union-occupying forces.

The tour guide mentioned in one of the families two sons joining different forces in the Civil War and I thought maybe (Burnside was the one killed in service).  I could not help but think of the heartache and pain of the mother and father that two sons would choose different directions of loyalty.

The house was interesting and they had reproduced some of the original wall paper which was a process of letting one stamped color drying and then applying another over that.  It came from France if I recall.  Anyway I was impressed with that and the hand carved cornice (I think that is the right word) around the ceilings.  Each room was different and somebody spent a lot of time with a carving tool to do all that.  The color of paint was original to the house. 

Interesting these rich people would have expensive imported pieces of glass ware on the mantle downstairs and when one went to the drawing rooms upstairs it was the cheap stuff (which of course was not cheap), just an interesting antidote.  The large halls were always used for something and one in particular held a large bench with about 1/3 having a front short set of boards and the back boards all the way across as normal.  This was a rocking bench and it was called a Nanny bench.  The portion on one end was where the baby lied and she sat in the other portion and with her foot rocked them both and as the tour guide said her hands were free to work and they were always work to be done such as sewing, knitting etc.

Again that home was as you would expect to see lots of antique furniture with chamber pots but the last owner had put in closets and a bathroom which I understand cost a pretty penny.  They taxed homes by the number of rooms and closets were considered rooms, therefore only the rich and elite ever had them and as I recall this was the only one I saw with closets and they had them in all the bed rooms.

A thought came to me about the Tryon Palace.  He had a master bedroom built and had a built in alcove for the bed.  It became a guest room when he found it was hot in that little neat cubicle and put his room downstairs where it was open and cool.  They had mosquito nets because no screens on the windows.

The George W. Dixon house was the other house, built between 1826 and 1833.

 

Sunday January 13, 2013 A day to worship

Today has been amazing.  Eddie and I woke up this morning at 2:30 a.m. and we were a little warm so I looked to see what temperature I had set and he suggested I open the window.  I said we are on the 2nd floor they won't have a window that can be opened.  Wrong!, I slid it open easy as you please and no window screen.  A sick feeling came in my stomach and I really felt ill.  I have eaten breakfast each morning and this older man has brought in his little 4 or 5 year old grandson with him each morning.  He crossed my mind and just as quickly the scene on 911 when I watched in horror as the person jumped out the window to avoid death by fire or worse.  There was a broken lock on the window.  This morning I did report that and encouraged to please consider a small child how fast they are and curious and what a danger it could be even if it never actually happened, What if it did?  A simple thing like fix the lock and was assured they would.  I hate complaining about anything but that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach lasted about 45 minutes till we finally hushed and went back to sleep much cooler with the ac on.

This morning I woke up with the light in my face as every morning for the past 7 days and got up and locked the door after him after the morning safety speech, which I was ignoring and he kept saying, "Mee Maw, are you listening to me?"  Then he proceeded to pull off my covers and I giggled and said, "yes I hear you," just so he would go on.  I mean I get the same speech everytime he leaves as if I have not got enough sense to pay attention to my surroundings and lock the car door when I get in and look to see who is around when I get out.  Blah, blah, blah.  ("_")  Oh well, he loves me.

I got a bath, got ready and my hair looked half way decent and I thought, here it looks pretty good and not a soul but me will ever know.  So being vain, I took a picture of myself in the mirror and put it on FB.  Heaven knows if ever I have a photo made of me around the house it will be at my very worst.  Now I know it is vain but at least try and look at me and take a picture when I am at least somewhat straightened up.  I know time is getting short and wrinkles are getting longer and hair thinner and back more bent as was the forefinger holding the camera so boldly showed, so I thought why not?  I need to show at one time I looked like this.

I went to breakfast came back and tried to find a sermon online and the computer wouldn't cooperate so I turned on the TV to get the end of a sermon by Dr. David Jeremiah, guess I should give him his correct title and not just his name.  He had a really good sermon (or at least the end of it was) on how we possess, but God owns.  He gave the scripture Deuteronomy 8:18 for those that think they pulled themselves up by their own boot straps.  He said man gets what he has from God.  God owns it all but allows us to manage a portion that he gives us.  In 1 Corinthians 4:2 Paul boils it down in one statement. "Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful."

He went on to say stewardship is the act of organizing your life so that God can spend you.  He quoted another man Lynn? that had said it.  Souls of men and women and the Word of God are the only things that are eternal, so whatever we give to these two are eternal and will get the stamp of approval and added to our account.

"You can only keep what you have given to God"  I thought these were pretty profound thoughts and I began to think what do I do and give for God that will be eternal?  Pretty sobering thought.

I didn't reflect too long, but went to share it with my friends on Face Book as I always seem to do.  And I had mentioned I would go to church if I had some shoes other than my tennis shoes even if I had to go in jeans.  Our pastor's wife said go anyway.  I thought about it.  I don't go to church to dress but I do dress to go to church.  I feel like I am not giving my best to God in jeans and tennis shoes.  I always try to wear a dress for that reason. I want my best for God and he has given me dresses and dress shoes, and if not then I would wear the best of whatever I had to wear and have no qualms about it.  At any rate, I jumped into the only pair of decent dress slacks I brought to wear home (I had no intention of being anywhere but stuck in a hotel, little did I know for the first time I would have the luxury of having the car left for me while Eddie rode with another worker). 

I went to the front desk and asked the girl about the local churches and one I might slip in and not be noticed and be able to worship.  She had visited some and was looking for a home church and told me that she thought this particular one named Tabernacle Baptist Church might be the one.  So I jumped in the car and took off because it was already after 10:30.  I got there and where in the world to park.  There were cars everywhere.  Both parking lots that I readily saw and all along the street was full.  Praise the Lord people here are going to worship.  I got in this parking lot and some were parked along the side and I slipped in behind the last available and made for the door.

There was a man waiting to leave but nobody going in.  My heart hammered like the motor on a car that was about to throw a rod.  I walked into the entrance area and a man passing out bulletins opened the door into the fully seated sanctuary.  I know my eyes were big as saucers and were darting around like a bird avoiding a cat in charge and I saw an opening beyond two people sitting on the end of the seat.  I asked if I could sit on their bench and rather than make me crawl over them, they scooted down and let me sit beside them.  As I sat down it was like someone had put a girdle around my chest and my back had pain grip and squeeze in unison.  I actually gulped for air.  The thought crossed my mind, Lord don't let me have a heart attack and die here.  Eddie will never find me and when he does he will kill me for not taking my cell phone or leaving him a message where I would be.

There were singers singing a familiar song and the congregation joined in on the chorus and I sang as we stood up.  I don't know what that song was.  I was scared to death.  I don't know why I sang, the words just shot out of my mouth.  And finally we sat down and the preacher came up and began speaking about, "Predictions."  He walked back and forth across the front and talked about lots of thing being predicted this time of year and went on to say this was the last Sunday on a series about the topic, "How God Builds a Great Church- The Church's Future  Revelation 2:1-7.

"In revelation 2:1-7, Jesus chastises the church at Ephesus because they failed to properly order their love.  We can secure a great future for the church when we make sure our love is ordered in the right way.  So how shoud we order our love?  this passage highlights four loves of the church, with the last one being the most critical.

"Do I love Jesus or not?"  Now he has my attention totally and the emotions have subsided and I am suddenly at ease.  At the end of the day the answer to this question is going to be all that matters, he said. 

A love for Ministry
A love for holiness
A love for truth
A love for Christ
How do we get on the right path?  Note three commands Jesus gave this church.

1. remember
2. repent
3. repeat

And from these he preached one of the best sermons ever.  "Ephesus, you walked out on me."  he made the statement that history shows by the 3rd century Ephesus was dead.  No more.  Eddie is here so this will be continued after lunch.  LOL

Well, we shared a salad and left over pizza and while he took a nap I went to do a little walking and shopping, which normally I would not do on a Sunday, however, they won't return the blue laws if I remain at home today so I went.  I wonder if that is why the blue law no longer exists?  I will justify my actions because it is so hot and all I brought was winter clothes.  Again isn't that what we do?  Justify our own sins.  I hope because we are not under the law and I would not offend anyone by going that it really was ok for me to go, however, I still won't do it as a regular thing because in my heart I don't want to.  Just like it isn't a sin for others to wear pants and tennis shoes to church but I choose not to do it because for me it is uncomfortable because I want to be special for the Lord's house when I go and it is my way of doing so.  Which brings me back to the sermon.  His comment we all have an opinion but that does not mean that opinion is truth no matter how sincere we are.  Truth is not an opinion, truth is what God deems it to be.  That is my thought not in his sermon. 

He equated the church at Ephesus like a marriage when things begin to make little cracks, finances, children, other things that just seem to slowly wedge between the couple.  The church let in false doctrine because they didn't measure what the leaders taught by the truth of God's word, which at this time was not easily obtained other than by the Apostles that taught the Word that had seen and heard the truth.  As he said they couldn't google it and say, "oh this is not the way it is." 

Had I not taken notes, I would not be able to go back and share the points he made.  As a church we can sustain vibrancy and effectiveness.  A love for ministry.  We can love theology, bible study and love to read the word and still not truly love Jesus.  Now I have to chew on that just a second and swirl it around in my mouth to taste it.  Do I love Jesus?  Do I love other people?  Do I treat them like I want to be treated?  Do I serve Jesus all the time or just when I want to?  Is it duty or love?  Do I really love Jesus.  As he said you can't love Jesus and not love people.  It isn't an either or proposition. 

A love for holiness will not bear with those that are evil.  We will not love immorality and things that do not please the Lord if we truly love holiness.

How do we get on the right path?  Note three commandments Jesus gives this church.

Remember when I loved Jesus more than I do now?  Now that was a thought.  Maybe it is a measure of where we are with the Lord and how we are living out this action of loving Jesus.

Repent, well we all know what that means don't we?  I had just gone through the example he gave of getting lost.  And as he taught about repentence is turning away from the way we are going and sometimes we have to go back and look at where we have been in order to see this.  So repeat.  He had gone to preach at a little church in the middle of nowhere and there were several roads to get to nowhere.  He went and taught and left to go home and found himself completely lost.  He had told himself, "oh! yes I remember that being here" and just kept going.  After a time he ended up on I 95 and had no idea where he was so he decided to go South and surely that would get him back to the place he needed to be.  After sometime he decided, I must go back to where I started in order to find my way home.  And that was what he did.  A fifteen minute commute had turned into a forty five minute night mare.  I so could relate.  My salvation was I was lost in the day light.  In the dark I would never have found my way back to New Bern and would likely have called Eddie to find me somewhere near Raleigh.  So sometimes we must repeat.

I fear that is what the real danger of our church today.  To allow the small cracks to take the rains of sin and slowly enlarge them and before we know it, God will come take our candle stick away. 

I am glad I have an audience of one here, but when we let our guard down and we come into our church in immodest apparel is there a small crack beginning?  When we go from formal to casual for our leaders is there, (not that it is wrong), but a certain air of respect and authority seem to lose their effect, is a small crack beginning?  When we let teachers teach our young with no accountablilty or training, maybe a crack began.  Changing translations like underwear maybe another crack came in.  How far do we stray from the rule before the sight of the truth of the rule is no longer visible. Canyons are formed from small rivers that grow when large rains come.  When we do not guard our speech and our manners, show concern for one another, show care for feelings of others and just do what feels good to us or seems right to us are we causing a crack to eventually make a canyon? 

The sermon of a man I do not even know his name, was preached this morning because he was where God wanted him to be and the tool he used to reach one soul and that was me.  As he made comment God will find the church to spread His gospel, it will continue to reach the lost, but will our church be the one that He uses to do His will.  Will He come quickly and remove our candlestick or will He have mercy and grace for us to stop REMEMBER, REPENT, and REPEAT?

It is truly something I want to think about in my life.  Do I really love Jesus?  And as I type it the refrain rings in my ears, If ye love me keep my commandments."

I do want to add to this in closing.  Somewhere in time we have lost the fine line between legalism and liberty.  We are so prone to not offend by legalism that we swing too far with liberty.  Liberty stops where it differs with the commandments of God.  Just as our freedom ends when we encroach on the freedom of another.

 

New Bern, NC January 9, 2013

 

 

One of the great mysteries to me has been how were the Indians here when the Pilgrims discovered America? I regret not having loved history in school. So many things I wish I had learned. This morning reading the bible about wisdom, the Greeks thought it very important, perhaps most important. And should I really have regrets it would be to not have studied Bible history. However, the way I see it, had God intended I be a history scholar then He would have instilled the desire in me to have searched for it. Now in my old age when I cannot retain it, I seem to be fascinated by it.

It seems logical and we know how logic responds with spiritual things that there were people here 1000 BC. If Isaiah was written 500 years before Christ then it would seem feasible. I wonder if they were decedents of Ham or Japeth?  This won't make sense since the photo of the Indians with the date 1000 BC is not on here.  When I looked at that particular photograph was what prompted this comment.

January 9, 2013, was a really special day. I took an adventure. While Eddie slaved away on a job doing what would be normal for someone less than 50 years of age and most certainly not a man of 70, I took to the road and went to discover the town of New Bern. North Carolina has been a rewarding experience. As I have gone from place to place there has been physical evidence of believers in Christ here. And more importantly there have been sounds from the speech of people that show real religious ideals in place. Now I use that word religious, because it is true that just because religious words are spoken does not necessarily mean a relationship with the Savior.

People here are friendly. I have been to states where that was absolutely not the standard much less the rule. Everywhere I have gone and came in contact with them I have seen smiles that reach the eyes not just on the mouth.

Tryon Palace was built between 1767 and 1770 by Royal Governor William Tryon, who represented the British crown and became North Carolina’s first official capitol. In 1798 fire destroyed the original Palace, but it was never forgotten. More than 150 years later, a new Palace rose again on its original site, reconstructed from the original architect’s drawings and extensive documentation and archaeological evidence. Furnished with rare 18^th-centurary and American objects, the Palace stands a testament to New Bern’s important place in American history. And now you can see I can copy a brochure.

I was assured that there would be a book with photos published soon that would tell all about what my limited memory could even begin to retain. So as I write it will be bits and pieces of what I saw and what appealed to me.

The man that drove the little tour cart and took me from the history center to the Palace told me that the Trent river ran into the Neuse river which was the largest river in the world and emptied into some Sound which eventually got to the Atlantic ocean. And the ocean was actually about 40 miles from New Bern. The part I cannot recall if it was the Trent river or the Neuse river that was noted as the largest river in the world.

I was his only rider so I sat in the front seat next to him. And when I got to the palace was the only tourist and met the lovely tour guide which showed me the palace. She was a young girl with black hair sprinkled with gray, now whether she was actually older than she looked or premature graying I don’t know but she had the most fascinating black eyes I have seen. She knew what she was talking about and did her speech very well. She had an unusual laugh. Also had lived in London for a time and said she wanted badly to go back again.

The palace was as you would imagine had you gone to similar places and seen things of the 1700’s. The kitchen was a working kitchen and they had food from the gardens (which must have been hot house I did not see, because all the garden’s were scarce and young growth if not dead.) I would have loved to have a taste of the soup and rice pudding she was cooking but I guess she feeds the other guides and the public just get to smell the wood smoke and see the pots as she stirs ingredients to pour into the pot. I think if the tour groups were as small normally as they were that day she could get away with handing out samples.

Having been a fan of “Upstairs downstairs” the old version, I was intrigued by the servants quarters. I could relate to the owners of the house being kind to the servants. They actually had the best quarters because it does not get hot in the lower part or as cold as the upper floors.

I was amazed that a house with several children still shared one bed. Six children lying across a regular size bed would lead me to believe there were lots of quilts on the floor when mutiny arose. However I would think they were so tired by the time they got to go to bed they just might fall asleep pretty quickly. I doubt they sat around doing nothing all day, playing video games and watching TV. Even the wealthy, Governor Tryon’s children.

The gardens were a promise of beauty come Spring. The evergreens kept them inviting for one to sit on the large concrete benches and look at the statues and the 50 squirrels that scurried up the trees across the limbs and past where you were standing if you watched closely.

It really makes thing more familiar if you have visited Europe. The gates reminded me of the gates to the Palace in London. Small replica’s but yet one would remember. Kensington gardens was one place my mind returns and visualizes the gates.

I am not as impressed with the Palace as I was with the homes we visited. It was grand and the history could have kept me there for a while with my notebook but my head spun with information knowing I could never share it with anyone as much as I would like. Sharing is the fun of the journey, more especially than ever when your journey is alone. The maid just came in and I took her picture with my phone so I could her with you, however, Eddie has the little download devise so I will insert it later. Just to tell about the funny incident that happened while she was here. She too was so friendly. She and two other maids were in the hall and one was on a CB speaking to a man on the floor below asking him to come take away all the trash. She didn’t know I was in here and could hear the conversation. He as well as told her that he would be here when he got here. She said thank you Mr. Chuck. And got off the CB and said, “I wanted to tell him he could jolly well get ready because the hall was full. I laughed out loud and she looked in and said, “oh! I didn’t know anyone was in there.” We all laughed and I told her I thought she handled it amazingly. Probably a good thing we didn’t know what was whirling through her brain. She said it was the Neuse river that was the largest one.

The Hampton Inn will be one of my favorite memories. They have been in process of remodeling and I know it has been a headache with all the plastic on the floors and walls with painters spray painting the ceiling and others painting the walls, while the craft men put in new granite counters and they build cabinets for the dining area to be moved and I suppose leave the old Tryon room for a meeting room. I have gingerly walked down the hall to the car for fear of showing them what it looks like for an old lady to go feet up on the slick plastic.

They all know me by name now, every shift, after all when you ask directions every time you go downstairs and get commode plungers, I can tell you that you soon become well known. However, they are sweet and kind and the smile so far goes all the way up to the eyes and the eyes don’t roll upward.

Touring the John Wright Stanly house, built around 1780, I will give the history of the house as in the brochure. John was a wealthy businessman whose merchant ships raided British vessels to aid the American cause during the Revolutionary War. He and his wife Ann died in a yellow fever epidemic in 1789, leaving their young children to inherit the house when they came of age. Their eldest son, the prominent politician John Stanly Jr., moved into the house in the early 1800’s.

A third John Stanly, John Carruthers Stanley, was generally acknowledged to be the son of John Wright Stanly and an enslaved African woman of the Ebo tribe. A barber and a slave owner himself, after he was freed, “Barber Jack” was eventually able to buy his wife, children, and brother-in-law out of slavery. His wife, Kitty, along with the craftsman Robert Hay, was one of the founding members of New Bern’s First Presbyterian Church.

Members of the Stanly family also played significant roles on both sides of the Civil War, and John and Elizabeth Stanly’s grandson Lewis A. Armistead was born in the Stanly house. The house was used as General Ambrose E. Burnside’s headquarters when he was in New Bern with Union-occupying forces.

The tour guide mentioned in one of the families two sons joining different forces in the Civil War and I thought maybe (Burnside was the one killed in service). I could not help but think of the heartache and pain of the mother and father that two sons would choose different directions of loyalty.

The thing that intrigued me most about this house was a painting of one of the owners, a lawyer. When we walked from right to left in front of the painting the entire head and eyes followed us. The guide said watch his nose and keep watching it and as we walked his head turned. She said we tell everyone he is watching over the house. It was really neat.

Another thing was a little watch stand for the man's chain watch. They could not lay one flat or it would stop working and this little stand held the chain around the top and the watch sat in a little cradle and stayed upright. It would look somewhat like one of the old tall dining chairs where the two posts stand real tall and a little dish of sorts on bottom. I wish I could draw a picture. I have seen lots of antiques but this was a first.

The house was interesting and they had reproduced some of the original wall paper which was a process of letting one stamped color drying and then applying another over that. It came from France if I recall. Anyway I was impressed with that and the hand carved cornice (I think that is the right word) around the ceilings. Each room was different and somebody spent a lot of time with a carving tool to do all that. The color of paint was original to the house.   The thing about this house was that it was Confederate style I believe she said.  All four sides look alike, same size etc.   

Interesting these rich people would have expensive imported pieces of glass ware on the mantle downstairs and when one went to the drawing rooms upstairs it was the cheap stuff (which of course was not cheap), just an interesting antidote. The large halls were always used for something and one in particular held a large bench with about 1/3 having a front short set of boards and the back boards all the way across as normal. This was a rocking bench and it was called a Nanny bench. The portion on one end was where the baby lied and she sat in the other portion and with her foot rocked them both and as the tour guide said her hands were free to work and they were always work to be done such as sewing, knitting etc.

Again that home was as you would expect to see lots of antique furniture with chamber pots but the last owner had put in closets and a bathroom which I understand cost a pretty penny. They taxed homes by the number of rooms and closets were considered rooms, therefore only the rich and elite ever had them and as I recall this was the only one I saw with closets and they had them in all the bed rooms.  There was two women and a little boy that toured at the same time I did and they were pretty sharp to notice things.  As we walked out the door one noticed the wall switches were on the baseboards.  I would never have noticed.  Since the electric was installed much later they did this and it was convenient to turn off and on with ones foot.  Pretty neat idea.

A thought came to me about the Tryon Palace. He had a master bedroom built and had a built in alcove for the bed. It became a guest room when he found it was hot in that little neat cubicle and put his room downstairs where it was open and cool. They had mosquito nets because no screens on the windows.

The George W. Dixon was an up-and-coming merchant and tailor. He had this fine example of neoclassical architecture built between 1826 and 1833. As rising members of the new middle class, the Dixons looked forward to a life of fashionable prosperity. As a busy port and one of the state's largest cities, the citizens of New Bern expected years of continued growth and a booming economy.

However, prosperity was short-lived for New Bern, the Dixons, and the nation. In 1835, a fire destroyed many businesses in downtown New Bern, including Dixon's store and workshop. By 1836 Dixon's mortgage was foreclosed and his house sold to pay his debts. By 1837, New Bern and the nation wre in the grip of the worst economic depression since American Independence.

We went through the house and it was interesting but nothing out of the ordinary that I can recall.  Actually it was the first one we toured.  I do recall in this house the hall went through the house which was common and rooms equally were on each side of the hall.  The doors were the same on both ends which brought in a good cross draft in the hot summer time.

I am so disappointed that it will no longer let me insert a photo from my computer files.  I will figure out a way maybe.

I toured the History center first and it was really interesting.  Pepsi Cola actually began in New Bern.  They have a time machine that takes you back and you can see and experience the shipping industry with a ship for kids to go on and do things.  Also a store and a kitchen.  If I had Alex with me she would have loved it.  I am not sure the boys would have except for the boat.

The water is all along the property and I suppose most of the town.  The only way people got there was by boat.  At the Palace that was a neat thing.  They would come up from their boats and come into a special room for the guests.

I did not know of course but they had a big dinner for the New Governor of North Carolina the night before and they had the table all set with foods like they would have eaten back in the days of the first Governor.

New Bern actually was built by a colony from Bern Switzerland and there the Bear is their symbol.  The lady that is over the Hampton Inn affairs was a book of knowledge and she was telling me how a company of people from Bern came over with a real bear etc.  She put too much information in and it just swirled around and ran out my ears or somewhere.  I wish I had a tablet and could have written down all she said because she was very interesting. 

It has been a wonderful experience and I am so glad I was privileged to come.  Hopefully I can sprinkle a few photos in later.  I know it is because I put a bunch of files on the external drive that needed to be left.  Hopefully, when I get home I can have my computer fixed and then be able to do better.