New Bern or Morehead City for young family (Raleigh, Wilmington: sale, crime) - Coastal North Carolina - North Carolina (NC) - City-Data Forum

della terra · 12-04-2008, 06:14 PM

Doing some research on NC towns. Is New Bern more for retirees or families and what does each town have to offer a family with young (under age 5) children? Thanks for the input.

LLN · 12-04-2008, 08:51 PM

Well, New Bern has a lot of retirees, cannot be disputed, but there are things for young families as well.

Great parks, access to the beach for a day trip (or really a morning or afternoon trip), lots of enrichment opportunities at the Convention Center (NC Symphony plays there regularly) and of course, a myriad of water sports centered around the Neuse and Trent Rivers. There are two local theaters, one which does a lot of children's plays, and many great neighborhoods. A NC History museum of some sort is under construction at the NB Waterfront as we speak. I think there are a lot of youth activities at the churches, too. I think the Craven County schools are pretty good, especially the elementary and many of the middle schools! My kids are at New Bern High and it is tolerable.

The mall in town is very, very weak, but Greenville, Morehead City, and Wilmington are relatively close, and the Raleigh malls are within 2 1/2 hours.

We need younger families down here, come on down!

lln

della terra · 12-04-2008, 10:12 PM

Thanks for all the information LLN. It all sounds great and looks so beautiful, a nice way to live life. How are the kids? Any drugs, gangs etc? Thanks for your help.

Bill Hitchcock · 12-05-2008, 08:32 AM

della terra,
A way to get a good feel and understanding for an area is to browse their local newspapers over an extended period of time.
Let me know how I can help you further!
Bill

New Bern: Sun Journal
Carteret County (Crystal Coast): Carolina Coast Online :: Portal to the News-Times, Arts Alive, This Week Magazine, Topsail Voice, Tideland News > Front

Here are their tourism sites-Some with video!!

New Bern: Historical New Bern, North Carolina
Crystal Coast: Crystal Coast NC | Emerald Isle NC | Outer Banks

LLN · 12-05-2008, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by della terra

Thanks for all the information LLN. It all sounds great and looks so beautiful, a nice way to live life. How are the kids? Any drugs, gangs etc? Thanks for your help.

Yes, there are drugs and supposedly gangs at the high school.

I have two daughters there and they scoff at how "bad" things are. Neither has ever been bothered by gangs and they get furious when I ask if there is gang activity. I have made a number of post in other threads talking about this.

New Bern's crime is what it is, but we walk our streets at night and in early morning without fear.

Drugs: We, our neighborhood, essentially just ran a dealer out of the fringe of our neighborhood. We have another that we are working on now. Drugs, are unfortunately, pretty pervasive, and certainly not just in big cities. Rather than hide our heads and say we do not have drugs, our neighborhood is pretty open about the issue and we are looking out all the time.

New Bern is small and there are some very undesirable areas (from my perspective) pretty near some very very nice areas. To one degree that is the south, but from another it reflects the long term nature of New Bern.

You can get in the modern subdivisions around here, and appear to be isolated, but are you ever? We live in an older, historic section, not the top dollar one, and it comes with the turf. I would not change where I live.

I teach school in Havelock, about 15 miles from here and my kids are superb. Not necessarily a snapshot of New Bern, but I expect pretty close.

Good Luck.

LLN · 12-07-2008, 07:44 AM

Here is a paragraph from local paper about yesterdays activities. There is a lot to do here!

"Parts of the Neuse and Trent rivers around New Bern were brightly lit by red, green, blue and white colors well after dark Saturday.

Boats with palm trees, bright Merry Christmas signs and white, round lights floated past the Sheraton, through the new Cunningham Bridge opening and past Union Point Park. Many of the several hundred people who gathered to watch started to ooh and ahh when the boats glided close.

It was the 24th Annual Coastal Christmas Flotilla, sponsored by the New Bern Parks and Recreation Department. It capped a full day of holiday events in the New Bern area that included three parades, a cookie sale at Christ Episcopal Church, a Corvette Toy Run and several opportunities to see Santa Claus downtown."

AlohaMarie · 12-09-2008, 10:20 AM

We moved to New Bern before our daughter was born and she lived there her entire life. After moving away for college, getting married and having children of her own, she moved back into the area. For awhile her family lived in New Bern and then later moved to Morehead City. The children are 6, 4, and 2. Our daughter loved Morehead City. She found the schools to be wonderful, lots of activities for the children, and a carefree inviting ambience that she didn't feel in New Bern growning up. New Bern is an old Southern town with old traditions. Morehead is more of a beach community and so that makes a big difference. Best wishes

everett.katherine · 02-23-2009, 12:44 PM

On gangs and crime, there is a SERIOUS problem in New Bern. It is spreading beyond the projects. I am a white, female home owner in Trent Woods. Trent Woods is known to be one of the nicest areas in the New Bern area. I was assaulted in my home by a "bloodette" (female blood) I was also threatened by her friends that they would shoot my puppy me, and my entire family and my best friend/neighbor. I had to obtain 2 weapons just to feel safe. Last night the police told me that I was in imminent danger of a DRIVE BY IN TRENT WOODS. I now have to stay at an indisclosed location until April when my husband returns from Iraq. I witnessed these individuals drug trafficking and threatened to call the police. Now I am terrified for my life. SOMETHING must be done about these gangs. We have to stop pretending that they are just "wanna be's" Those people are EVEN more dangerous because they are trying to prove they are real gangsters by causing ridiculous amounts of violence. I heard of people getting shot and killed in Craven Terrace and Trent Court. Why is this not HEADLINE news? Its murder. The state needs to increase law enforcement in Craven County. There is just not enough police to make a dent in the crime.

Morehead is a safer bet. PLEASE for the sake of your children believe me. My husband and I are planning on getting pregnant this year and if the economy gets better we may sell our house, if not, my kids are just going to be monitered very well. The drug problem is terrible. People are absolutely BLIND! My neighbor's 11 and 16 year old nephews are offered drugs AT SCHOOL on a daily basis. There is also a lot of "wanna be" gangsters in the schools. They are extremely persuasive and dangerous because they are trying to grow and prove themselves.

In morehead I do not see this problem AT ALL to the degree of New Bern. I also though Havelock was a wonderful place to live

lindamcdonald · 11-03-2011, 07:28 AM

I live in New BERN and have lived in MHC also--while I like MHC better and believe the schools are better, I feel very safe living in New BERN and also lived in Trent Woods. It sounds like the person who posted above has made some enemies and, of course there are drugs in any town, but New BERN IS a safe small town.