New Bern
Two rivers, the Trent and the Neuse, meet in North Carolina’s second oldest town and its former capital, a confluence that is an apt metaphor for a friendly little city where locals like to stroll, dine, shop and, well, meet up. New Bern, which recently celebrated its tri-Centennial, is named for the capital of landlocked Switzerland, an odd choice in that New Bern is almost waterlocked. Yet the town’s downtown historic district does feature architecture of a distinctively European styling. As continental as that might make New Bern seem, it can boast of its all-American bona fides: A city pharmacist formulated Pepsi Cola at his New Bern soda fountain in the 1890s.