New Bern

Today we decided to drive to New Bern, about one hour west of here, and one of the cities hardest hit by Hurricane Florence in September.  We stopped here briefly on our way to Atlantic Beach (see post of January 4).  We had lunch at the reliably good Morgan's Tavern and Grill, which is located in a big, rambling brick building with an exposed-beam ceiling dating from 1911, originally called the New Bern Garage Company; they were agents for Buick and Hudson Automobiles and Henderson Motorcycles.  The brick walls are 16" thick and did not appear to have been damaged at all.

"How much water did you have in here during Florence?" I asked our waitress.  "I don't know," she said.  "I was living in Charleston at the time and just moved here two months ago."  Morgan's has plenty of old artifacts displayed on high shelves, and I spotted these words of wisdom in our small dining area which might have once been a repair bay for a Hudson:

After lunch, we explored a bit.  Employees in the venerable old Mitchell's Hardware right next door said that they had only received an inch or two in one end of the building.  "But many other businesses were hard hit," they told us.  Mitchell's is one of those rare old hardware stores that I love to poke around in, and I regretted that I had already bought some things for the condo at the Atlantic Beach Ace Hardware Store instead of this iconic business with its dark aisles and wooden floors and anything on earth a handyman might need to make some repairs.

 
There was plenty of old brick to be seen in the historic downtown, and it looked like some of these walls had weathered storms in the past, though none as bad as Hurricane Florence.

I spent some time exploring an Antique Mall one block east of Mitchell's that I discovered last year.  This interesting loading dock out back contained an old piano, destined for the landfill no doubt, that had been exposed to the elements to such an extent that I could not budge a single swollen key.

Inside, there were old LP records, many of which I recognized from my college days.  I struck up a conversation with one of the owners.  "You have some records back there that I think I used to play in my college dorm," I said.  "Yes, I remember them all, too," she said, and then proceeded to reel off a list of some of her (and my) favorite albums - Neil Young's After the Gold Rush, Carole King's Tapestry, Judy Collins Wildflowers, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan.  "Yes, those!" I said.  "When I wander around a place like this, I feel a little like an antique myself."  It turned out she was only four years younger than I was, so I hope I did not insult her.

It was still a little chilly in the brick-tiled alleyways that had not received much sun, and I took this photo of the Alleyway Fountain on Pollack Street, directly across from Christ Church

Christ Church, together with the City Hall down the same street, are iconic sights in this city.  The beautiful Episcopal Church was built in 1871, incorporating the brick shell of the previous church built in 1824, and is surrounded by huge live oak trees draped in Spanish moss.  I learned in a tour last year that the church's silver communion service was a gift of George II.  Every nook and cranny of this Gothic church breathes history.

It was time to return to Atlantic Beach.  One of the reasons we decided to go to New Bern was that Havelock, midway between here and there, has a cinema closer than the one in Emerald Isle - the Atlantic Beach cinema was badly damaged by the hurricane and won't be opening for awhile.  At the Havelock Cinema we saw Mary Poppins Returns, a frothy, silly, sweet update of the original starring the multi-talented Emily Blunt.

Emily Blunt can sing, she can dance, she can float up the banister like Julie Andrews did in the original.  "She can do anything!" as one of the children in the movie said; "She's Mary Poppins!"