Est. 1797 · National Register of Historic Places (1971) · Georgian commercial-residential hybrid architecture · Civil War Union Army barracks · Founding site of Craven Community College precursor
John Harvey constructed the mansion around 1797 as a three-story brick Georgian building on New Bern's South Front Street, where it served simultaneously as his family residence and a commercial enterprise. Harvey used the exposed-basement structure for the merchant trade that made New Bern one of colonial and early-republic North Carolina's most prosperous ports.
Over the 19th and 20th centuries the building cycled through a remarkable range of uses: apartment house, family-owned restaurant, boarding school, military academy, and temporary barracks for elements of the Union Army during the Civil War occupation of New Bern beginning in March 1862. It also served as the founding location of the institution that became Craven Community College before that institution found a permanent campus.
The mansion was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 12, 1971 (Reference No. 71000574), one of the earliest NRHP listings in Craven County. Harvey Mansion operated as a restaurant and bar under owner Gene Simon from 2002 until 2016; in 2024, after a renovation by Heron Hospitality, it reopened as The Harvey, a ten-room e-Boutique hotel on New Bern's historic waterfront district.
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Mansion
- https://www.northcarolinahauntedhouses.com/real-haunt/harvey-mansion-historic-inn-restaurant.html
Female apparition in period dress on second and third floorsSilverware moving without contactFlickering lightsDisembodied footstepsObjects thrown by unseen forceVisitor's name called from empty room
Staff and overnight guests at the Harvey Mansion have reported a recurring apparition: a woman dressed in period clothing, seen walking along the second and third floors. No specific identity has been confirmed for this figure, and available sources do not attribute the phenomena to a named person or documented death at the property.
Additionally, workers have reported unexplained silverware movement and flickering lights, and at least one visitor documented hearing footsteps, objects being thrown, and their own name being called from an empty room.
The Eastern Carolina Paranormal Instigators conducted a formal investigation at the mansion in 2010, according to reports from North Carolina paranormal registries. The Harvey Mansion is formally designated as the most haunted location on the Ghosts of New Bern Tour, operated out of 246 Middle Street.
Where this legend is told
