The Cypress Tree

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Dublin Core

Title

The Cypress Tree

Subject

Historic trees--North Carolina--New Bern
New Bern (N.C.)--History

Description

Broadside, apparently published in 1929, reprinting an 1882 newspaper article detailing the history of the Cypress Tree in New Bern, N.C.

Creator

Whitford, John D. (John Dalton), 1825-1910

Source

New Bern-Craven County Public Library

Publisher

[Publisher not indicated, possibly New Bern Historical Society]

Date

1929-06-11?
1882-09-10

Contributor

R.A. Nunn Collection (#3.21)

Rights

This item is presented courtesy of the New Bern-Craven County Public Library for research and educational purposes. Prior permission from the New Bern-Craven County Public Library is required for any commercial use.

Format

jpg

Language

English

Type

Leaflets

Identifier

MS.3.21

Coverage

New Bern, Craven County, North Carolina

Text Item Type Metadata

Text

THE CYPRESS TREE

BY

J. D. WHITFORD

Copied from New Bern Daily Journal, Sept. 10th, 1882

“We find before us a large Cypress Tree; it was originally the property of the Spaights. Historians fix the building of the first vessel in North Carolina in New Bern and it was under that tree, so said our fathers living in the Revolution who received the information from their fathers, and we think it can be taken as truth.

“Stern dweller” of the shore,
Two centuries thou canst count
And perhaps as many more.

This tree is on the margin of the Neuse, with its haughty crest lifted up above the elms and cedars on the street west of it. Under the shadow of its bows, amid the thunders of the Revolution, when gloom and darkness seemed to be encircling the American Army, Nathaniel Greene stood—the friend and associate of the elder Spaight—it was then Spaight’s tree.

Some years pass by, the smoke of the war rises, the echo of the last gun is hushed in the distance, liberty is assured, our country is free, George Washington stands beside that old tree.”

-----

From History of the Presbyterian Church of New Bern, N. C., by Rev. L. C. Vass

“A large cypress tree stands near an old wharf on the Neuse, on the premises of Mr. Samuel Smallwood, but originally the property of the Spaights. Under this monarch tradition says the first vessel in North Carolina was built. Under its shade have stood General Washington, Nathaniel Greene, during trying times to his com­mand, John Wright Stanly, who lost fourteen vessels during the Revolution, the Spaights, Hon. Edward Everett, and many of the noblest of men.”

Original Format

Leaflets
Envelopes

Citation

Whitford, John D. (John Dalton), 1825-1910, “The Cypress Tree,” Craven County Digital History, accessed October 4, 2024, https://kellenberger.mycprl.org/digital/items/show/751.