In This Small Place is the culmination of a lifetime of historical research by the author. It is a series of interconnecting true stories about a small eastern North Carolina town (Havelock) and its surrounding environs (Craven County), its people and its past. The book covers the period from the 1690s when the earliest European settlers arrived. It explains the local Tuscarora Indian War, Civil War events, the coming of the railroad, the local production of illegal liquor, the naval stores industries, the founding of the City of Havelock and the establishment of Cherry Point, the world's largest Marine Corps air station. 
 Included in the book is a never-before-published first person account of the Battle of New Bern during the Civil War by a Union soldier. Also included is a three-chapter biography of British Maj. Gen. Sir Henry Havelock, the city's namesake.
 In contrast to a typical local history, In This Small Place sets out to be more accessible than archetypal accounts of the past filled with dates and names. This is accomplished through the author's conversational, informal style and a light sprinkling of humor.
 Despite the laid back approach, In This Small Place is being hailed by authoritative sources as a valuable historical resource. Its details about the three centuries since the community's settlement, the thoroughness of its research and the reproduction of rare artwork and photographs have drawn praise from historians, journalists and the reading public alike.

In This Small Place: Amazing Tales of the First 300 Years of Havelock and Craven County North Carolina

History

Ellis Jr., Edward Barnes

Americas

McBryde Publishing

Now in its second edition, the award-winning New Bern History 101 by Edward Ellis, Jr., was first released in 2009, just before the 300th anniversary of New Bern, N.C.'s founding. The popular volume is subtitled "The Essential Facts for the Native, Newcomer or Visitor to the Colonial Capital of North Carolina." The book includes highly-accessible true stories that run the gamut from the pre-historic Native Americans, New Bern's founding in 1710, and the local drama and trauma during the American Revolution and the Civil War. 
 Among many plaudits, one of North Carolina's preeminent publications, Our State magazine, called New Bern History 101 "a definitive portrait of the city." In addition, the North Carolina Society of Historians selected New Bern History 101 as its 2010 Book Award. 
 As the only Swiss colony planted in America, New Bern's place is unique in the story of the nation. The convoluted relationship of the colony's two driving forces, Baron Christopher DeGraffenried and the explorer John Lawson, is explored in detail. Only one of them would survive to tell the tale. 
 Among the topics most often commented upon by readers are the three chapters on the 1862 Battle of New Bern, the Union invasion during the Civil War, and its aftermath; a dramatic retelling of the 1922 Great Fire of New Bern, the largest in North Carolina history; and an epic and fatal 1802 pistol duel between New Bern native and state governor Richard Dobbs Spaight with his archrival, John Stanly. 
 Other reader favorites include riveting tales of the local Native Americans and their dire interaction with the original colonists; and the colonial period with the construction of magnificent Tryon Palace, and the festive visit of President George Washington. Learn here about the struggles of the early European settlers, the town's relationship to its mother city, Berne, Switzerland, and the invention in New Bern of Pepsi-Cola. Even the pirate Blackbeard and a ghost or two make appearances. 
 Vintage photographs, maps and artwork, some published for the first time, are presented along with the most important hotspots and high points of New Bern s rich 300-year history. With its informal manner and rich dollops of humor juxtaposed against dramatic turns and phrasing, the book recounts the local impact of three wars Indian, Revolutionary and Civil and other crises faced by the city's people, both black and white. 
 At 247-pages, the book serves up the essential historical tales of the state's colonial capital plus mentions about the Neuse River, Havelock, Cherry Point, Beaufort, Kinston, Goldsboro, Craven and surrounding counties, information unearthed over several decades of research by the writer.

New Bern History 101

Arts & Photography

History & Criticism

McBryde Publishing, LLC

Whispers of the Long Departed: Untold History of Southern Craven County, N.C.

Secrets of our past...declassified. Herein the reader will find the carefully documented and previously undisclosed story of southern Craven County, dating from before the founding of New Bern through the 1940s. And, told for the first time, how the thriving biracial society on the Neuse River's south shore was radically transformed by both the Civil War and the arrival of Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station.

Reference

Genealogy

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Books by Ellis Jr., Edward Barnes