Newbern is a town in Hale County, Alabama, United States.
History
The area was originally known as Cane Brake due to the large number of canebrakes in the area. The earliest known settler came to the area in 1816. The first grist mill was built in 1818, and the first store in 1829.
F.A. Borden built the first post office in 1832, and became the first postmaster. Two of Borden's brothers came from North Carolina in 1834, and bought most of the land in the area. They organized a town named after New Bern, North Carolina. It incorporated in 1854. A railway running from Uniontown to Newbern started operation in 1859.
Braxton changed the locks to the building as Stokes gave keys out to friends. However, Stokes changed the locks and locked Braxton and the city council out of the town hall. Stokes and his allies refused to acknowledge Braxton as mayor and restricted his access to city mail and funds. It ended with a settlement that included a promise to hold an election in 2025.
Elections had not been held in the town for decades and Stokes' lawyers stated that they had not occurred for 60 years. They stated that the mayoralty "has simply been passed from individual to individual to anyone who would agree to be Mayor without regard to elections".
Following court-mandated elections scheduled for 2025, Braxton faced Laird Cole in the town's first contested election since the 1960s. Braxton won the election with 66 votes to Cole's 26 votes.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all land.
The town is located in the geographic region known as the Black Belt, related to the fertile soil which attracted developers of cotton plantations in the antebellum years, and also to the population of enslaved African Americans who worked at those sites. Many areas of the rural Black Belt are still majority African American in population.