[7] It is located at the confluence of the Neuse and the Trent rivers, near the headwaters of Pamlico Sound on the North Carolina coast.

After the American Revolution (1775–1783), New Bern became wealthy and quickly developed a rich cultural life.

Also nearby are several bed and breakfasts, hotels, restaurants, banks, antiques stores and specialty shops.

Before this time the laws and legal journals of North Carolina were handwritten and were largely kept in a disorganized manner, prompting them to hire Davis.

Davis also founded and printed the North-Carolina Gazette in New Bern, North Carolina's first newspaper.

[12][13] During the 19th-century Federal period, New Bern became the largest city in North Carolina, developed on the trade of goods and slaves associated with plantation agriculture.

[14] After Raleigh was named the state capital in 1792, New Bern rebuilt its economy by expanding on trade via shipping routes to the Caribbean and New England.

Nearly 10,000 enslaved blacks escaped during this period in the region and went to the Union Army camps for protection and freedom.

The Union Army set up the Trent River contraband camp at New Bern to house the refugees.

Due to the continuous occupation by the Union Army, New Bern avoided some of the destruction of the war years.

The city continued to be a center for freedmen, who created communities independent of white supervision: thriving churches, fraternal associations, and their own businesses.

[citation needed] The city has four National Historic Districts and two local ones, which have helped preserve the character of the architecture.

[17] In September 2018, Hurricane Florence made landfall in the United States just south of Wrightsville Beach, 88.4 miles southwest of New Bern.

A storm surge of up to 13.5 feet, in addition to days of heavy rains, severely flooded various parts of the town.

[National Hurricane Center Storm Surge Inundation Map, Sept 13, 2018] New Bern is located at the confluence of the Trent and Neuse rivers, two tidal waterways, in North Carolina's Inner Banks region.

Census 2010 race data for New Bern city include the racial breakdown percentages of 57.0 white, 32.8% black, 3.6% Asian, 5.8% Hispanic and less than 1% Native American, Also, there were 14,471 housing units in the City of New Bern, 88.2% of which were occupied housing units.

The New Bern Transport Corporation, a business entity owned by PepsiCo to manage its fleet of delivery trucks and other motor vehicles, is located in White Plains, New York, but was named after the town where Pepsi-Cola was first developed.

As late as 1950, the Atlantic and East Carolina Railway offered passenger train service through New Bern to Morehead City to the east, by the Atlantic coast and to Goldsboro Union Station, where timed connections could be made with the Southern Railway's trains to central and western North Carolina.