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On April 13, 1819, President James Monroe and Secretary of War John C. Calhoun stayed the night in the home of Col. James Shine of Jones County. Monroe and Calhoun were on a southern tour of the nation’s harbors and defenses. They had taken a similar trip the previous year, during which Monroe and Calhoun took excursions on the Prometheus, the first steamboat built in North Carolina, a vessel owned by former privateersmen Otway Burns, of Swansboro.
During the 1819 trip they passed through Edenton to Plymouth, then to Washington and New Bern. After being entertained by the St. John’s Lodge in New Bern, the President passed on to Trenton, where he was entertained by the leading citizens of Jones County, and spent the night at Col. Shine’s house. After leaving Trenton the following morning, Monroe passed on to Wilmington, then Savannah, and finally took a tour of the Chickasaw Territory along the Gulf Coast.
References:
Stephen F. Miller, Recollections of New Bern Fifty Years Ago (1873)Julia P. Harriett, History and Genealogy of Jones County (1987)(Raleigh) Star, April 16 and 23, 1819
(New Bern) Carolina Sentinel, April 3, 10, and 17, 1819
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