Good morning, New Bern Now readers. We hope that you had a great Mother’s Day weekend, and what a gorgeous weekend it was. So let’s get to it — here’s your Monday Morning In the Now, May 10, 2021.
Today’s pic – Gull Pointe Public Access and canoe/kayak area in River Bend. Click here to learn more.
The Weather, Sun, and Sea
Weather
Today, a slight chance of showers, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 11 a.m. Partly sunny, with a high near 84. Southwest wind 10 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. The chance of precipitation is 40%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Tonight, showers and thunderstorms likely before 2 a.m., then a slight chance of showers between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 58. East wind 5 to 10 mph becoming north after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 16 mph. The chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Tuesday, a slight chance of showers after 9 a.m. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 72. Northeast wind 5 to 9 mph. The chance of precipitation is 20%.
Tuesday night, a slight chance of showers before 9 p.m., then a slight chance of showers after 3 a.m. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 54. Northeast wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening. The chance of precipitation is 20%.
The Sun will rise at 6:07 a.m. and set at 8:01 p.m.
For Boaters and Fishermen: Click for Eastern NC marine tides, winds, knots, water temperatures, etc.
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The Calendar
Via New Bern Now Calendar
10th – 16th: Plein Air New Bern – Open Air Event 2021, opens 9 a.m. daily at the New Bern Farmers Market, 421 S. Front St.
11th: Behind the Scenes: Costumer Shop, 2:00 p.m. at the Waystation. Presented by Tryon Palace. Call 252-639-3524.
14th: Pasta with a Purpose Spaghetti Lunch Fundraiser for Jazlyn McRavin, 11:00 a.m. – 2 p.m. at 102 Washington Post Road. Lunches need to be purchased in advance by going to wlcconline.com/shop. Presented by Without Limits Christian Center.
14th: Artwalk, 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at participating galleries and businesses in and around New Bern. Call 252-638-2577.
14th: Dayton Vesper in Concert, 6:30 p.m. at the Bank of the Arts. Presented by the Craven Arts Council & Gallery. Call 252-638-2577.
14th: Footloose on the Neuse Summer Concert Series: 1-42 Band, 6:30 p.m. at Union Point Park. Presented by New Bern Parks and Recreation. Call 252-639-2915.
15th: Rockin’ & “Wrappin” on the river with Joe Baes Project and guest bands, 3:00 p.m. at 405 Harbor Dr. Presented by the Bike Box Project Pedaling for Parkinson’s. Call 252-638-2577.
14th – 16th: ‘Greater Tuna’, Fri – Sat: 7:00 p.m.; Sun: 2:00 p.m. at the New Bern Civic Theatre. Call 252-633-0567.
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The News
This past weekend was a pleasant return to normalcy, what with Mother’s Day weekend, a classic car show in Downtown New Bern, a concert at Maola, and perfect weather after a rainy start Friday night.
Let’s not forget that COVID-19 is still among us. If you haven’t been vaccinated or already survived COVID-19, make sure you take precautions and, if possible, get vaccinated.
That said, if you think Mother’s Day Weekend was busy in New Bern, scroll back up and look at the calendar for this coming weekend.
On Friday, let’s not forget Pasta with a Purpose Spaghetti Lunch Fundraiser for Jazlyn McRavin, 11:00 a.m. – 2 p.m. at 102 Washington Post Road. Lunches need to be purchased in advance by going to wlcconline.com/shop. Presented by Without Limits Christian Center.
Then there’s Artwalk, Dayton Vesper in Concert, and Footloose on the Neuse Summer Concert Series.
On Saturday, it’s Rockin’ & “Wrappin” on the river with Joe Baes Project and guest bands, and Saturday through May 16, ‘Greater Tuna’ at the New Bern Civic Theatre.
Rest up, because it’s going to be a busy weekend.
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Today in History
Via North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources
On May 10, 1838, General Winfield Scott issued a proclamation to eastern Cherokees, by order of President Martin Van Buren, to evacuate their ancestral homeland. The subsequent military-enforced migration to what is now Oklahoma became known as the Trail of Tears.
The events leading to the migration were set in motion eight years earlier, in 1830, with the passage of the Indian Removal Act by the U.S. Congress. The act gave the president authority to exchange unsettled land west of the Mississippi River for Indian land in existing states.
In 1835, an unauthorized group of Cherokee leaders entered into the Treaty of New Echota in Georgia with the Federal government, giving all Cherokee territory in the South to the Federal government in exchange for land in the west. Chief John Ross, with more than 15,000 Cherokee signatures, petitioned the Senate not to ratify the treaty. The effort was to no avail; the treaty was ratified in 1836.
Two years later, in 1838, with the Cherokee still occupying their lands, General Scott came to issue the ultimatum to evacuate, backed by more than 5,000 troops. His May 10 proclamation read in part:
Cherokees! The President of the United States has sent me, with a powerful army, to cause you, in obedience to the Treaty of 1835, to join that part of your people who are already established in prosperity, on the other side of the Mississippi. . . . The full moon of May is already on the wane, and before another shall have passed away, every Cherokee man, woman and child . . . must be in motion to join their brethren in the far West.
Cherokee people were initially placed in internment camps in western North Carolina where many died prior to the tragic exodus.
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On May 10, 1865, James H. Jones, valet to Confederate President Jefferson Davis, was captured near Irwinsville, Georgia, with Davis after warning him of the approaching federal troops. Jones had stayed awake through the night to warn Davis and his party of any Union forces on the horizon.
Upon being captured, Jones was taken with Davis and the rest of the group to prison at Fort Monroe near Norfolk, Virginia, though Jones was released less than a month later.
Jones returned to Raleigh, where he was living before meeting the Davises. He became a pillar of the black community there, going on to attend two freedmen’s conventions, serving as a city alderman and working for several railroad companies. He also helped found the state’s first black military company.
Jones was native of either Warren or Wake County, and was working as bricklayer and plasterer in Raleigh in 1862 when Davis’s wife Varina fled to the city to escape approaching Union troops. Jones was recommended to Varina, who hired him on as a servant before she returned to Richmond later that year.
Jones remained with the Davises until their capture and called the former president of the Confederacy “my best friend” after learning of his death in 1889.
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On May 10, 1949, the Morehead Planetarium opened on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. It was first planetarium in the South, the first planetarium on a university campus and the sixth planetarium to be built nationwide.
The planetarium was primarily a gift of John Motley Morehead III, an 1891 graduate and founder of Union Carbide Corporation. Construction took 17 months and cost $3 million, making the building the most expensive in the state at the time. It was supervised by Harvard astronomer Harlow Shapely and designed by the architects who worked on the Jefferson Memorial.
From the late 1950s to the late 1970s, the planetarium became a hub of NASA’s astronaut training program. The facility was used primarily to help astronauts learn to navigate by the stars in case computerized navigation systems failed. The program ended largely because of advances in the technology of those navigation systems.
In 1973, the planetarium added an observatory with a telescope managed by UNC-Chapel Hill’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, and, in 1984, it became one of the first planetariums in the nation to use computer animation in its shows.
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Final Note
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