New Bern Preservation Foundation

The Foundation was formed in 1972 to prevent the demolition and loss of historic structures in downtown New Bern. The Foundation helped to save over 60 historic properties by purchasing, and in some cases, moving structures. Each structure was then resold with a Preservation easement in place to ensure that the historic integrity of a structure was being preserved.

The Foundation provides outreach and educational programs to the community and to property owners. This includes tours of historic properties as well as one-on-one meetings with property owners to provide information and guidance on how to kindly update a property while preserving its important historic fabric. The Foundation has community outreach programs and events throughout the year. The Foundation has sponsored and coordinated the New Bern antiques show for over 30 years. It brings together more than thirty antiques dealers from the east coast. This is one of our major fundraising events and it gives us a way to showcase the mission of the Foundation. The antique show was not held in 2020 due to covid-19. The Foundation is currently involved in several Preservation partnership programs. The Foundation has partnered with north carolina railroad and the city of New Bern to restore the union station train depot in downtown New Bern. Union station was built in 1910 and at one time served as a major rail station in eastern north carolina. The Foundation has also partnered with king solomon lodge 1 in a major restoration project of a vital historic structure. The king solomon lodge structure, c.a. 1870, is the first african-american masonic lodge in the north carolina and one of the first in the south. It has been in continual use as a masonic lodge since it was built and represents a vital piece of New Bern's 300 year history.