I'm with Charles Cushman, CEO of Herron Hospitality.

Charles, I remember when this was The Harvey Mansion, but there's a long history tied to this place.

Tell me a little bit about it.

- Well, the great thing about this building is everyone remembers The Harvey Mansion.

So the building was originally constructed in 1797 by a ship merchant named John Harvey.

John Harvey was born in England, came to New Bern around 1790, and quickly became one of the wealthiest men in town.

His business was trans-Atlantic trade, and he built this building here because it was right on the Trent River waterfront.

He had his docks, wharves, everything outside, and he built this structure to be both his business and his residence.

About half the building was kind of a mercantile general store to sell all the goods he was bringing across the Atlantic, and half the building was where he raised his large family.

John Harvey had the building, and his descendants had the building for about 100 years.

There was a break in there during the Civil War.

When the Union Army occupied New Bern for three years, this building served as the headquarters of the Provost, or the military police.

Once John Harvey's family got rid of the building, it became apartments for a period of time.

At around the turn of the 20th century, it was the barracks for the New Bern Military Academy.

In 1940 or so, the Marine Corps established the new air station at Cherry Point in Havelock, and this served as barracks for Cherry Point.

It was apartments for a couple of decades after that, and in 1965, it became the first home of Craven Community College.

It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, but then a couple named Bob and Coral Clark did a really thoughtful renovation around 1980.

From that time until Hurricane Florence, it was a popular restaurant and bar.

Hurricane Florence in 2018 flooded the basement pretty badly.

We were able to acquire it in 2020 and have spent the last three years turning it into a 10-room boutique hotel.

[cheerful music] - [Deborah] Charles, I'm curious, what makes this an e-boutique hotel?

- So an e-boutique is a new operational model that's taking the hospitality industry by storm.

The way we describe it is it's got all the luxuries and amenities of a hotel that you're used to.

It's got daily housekeeping.

We have full-time employees on site each and every day.

Hotel guests today expect, you know, mini fridge, coffee, screaming-fast wifi.

Of course, you've got all that here, but there's no traditional front desk.

So you're able to check into our property anytime without waiting in a line.

All you need is your smartphone.

When you make your booking, we provide you with a code and that accesses all the exterior doors as well as your room door.

And we find so far that guests have really been pleased with that hassle-free check in process.

- And what's the guest experience?

What are visitors telling you?

- Well, I'm pleased to report that the reviews have been stellar.

You know, nowadays, online reviews are so important when people are making their purchasing decisions.

And between Google, where we have a 5.0 perfect rating, and hotels.com where we have a 10.0 perfect rating- - [Deborah] Congratulations.

- Thank you, about 70 ratings in so far.

We've only been open about three months, but people love it.

The product is really catching on.

We're starting to see word of mouth really spread.

People appreciate the ease and the hassle-free check in and the ability to access the building anytime they want.

Another thing that's really nice is the location here.

We are right in the heart of downtown New Bern, and so breakfast, lunch, and dinner, nightlife, live music, whatever people are after is just a short walk out the door.

- [Deborah] I love it.

- But Deb, I'd love to show you a few rooms at the Harvey if you'd like to see them.

- Oh yeah, I'd love that.

[uplifting music] - So when we came into this room, we knew The Harvey would make an incredible e-boutique hotel.

This was John Harvey's ballroom.

In 1800, it was probably the finest room in all of New Bern.

Dinner and dancing here.

John Harvey was the wealthiest man in New Bern, wanted to display his wealth, and the way you did that in those days was this fine detail, the crown molding, the framing, the mantle piece, they're all original to this room, and now guests can spend the night here.

It's our room number 22.

- And it's just stunning.

[cheerful music] - And Deb, this is what we like to call New Bern's Smallest History Museum.

Thanks to a lot of local experts and historical aficionados in New Bern, we were able to put together some original documents and photographs that tell the story of The Harvey.

This is the deed in 1797, by which John Harvey acquired the property, and he bought it from a real estate speculator in New York, who was one of Alexander Hamilton's business partners.

- Alexander Hamilton.

[laughs] - This is a Civil War illustrated newspaper from 1862.

It shows the scene of General Burnside taking the city of New Bern.

And you can see The Harvey Mansion is prominently depicted right there in the skyline.

And then this is an artist's rendition of the building as it originally looked.

One interesting fact about the building is it had a tunnel going right through the center of the first floor from the street back to the waterfront so that horse and carriage could go from South Front Street out to the docks to pick up goods.

- Wow, this may be a small museum, but there's so much history within this small space.

It's just amazing.

- Thank you.

It's one of my favorite parts of the project.

[uplifting music] So as you can see in this room, we've got largely North Carolina furniture.

Everything was acquired at the High Point Furniture Market.

- One of my favorite places to shop.

- Oh yeah.

We've got a heron in each room, an original painting.

And then four of our rooms have private balconies.

Of course, all of the rooms have a private bathroom.

Let me show you something else over here.

[uplifting music] So Deb, if you look here, you'll see this exposed brick.

These bricks were laid when John Adams was the president.

- [Deborah] What?

- And this room is a perfect example of how we've got the old and the new.

Our bathroom mirror here has LED adjustable lights.

You can get any color to best suit your complexion.

[uplifting music continues] - [Deborah] Oh, I love that.

And what's that one for?

- When you hit that button, it heats the mirror from behind, so the mirror never fogs, no matter how long you spend the shower.

- Thank you.

You've thought of everything.

So when I'm putting my makeup on, the mirror's not fogging up.

[Deborah speaking faintly] - Four of our guest rooms have private balconies.

It's the perfect place to sit outside with your morning cup of coffee or a cocktail in the evening and just watch the sunset here in New Bern.

- Well, it looks like it.

And Charles, you and your team have done a just beautiful job here at The Harvey.

Thank you so much for hosting us.

- Thanks so much for coming.

- The Harvey is at 221 South Front Street in New Bern.

To make your reservation go online to harveync.com.