Midway Drive-In
1610 Old Cherry Point Road,
New Bern,
NC
28560
1610 Old Cherry Point Road,
New Bern,
NC
28560
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Additional Info
Previous Names: Starlite Drive-In
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Operating prior to 1955 as the Starlite Drive-In, the Midway Drive-In was located on Old Cherry Point Road south of New Bern, across the Trent River. It was owned for years by Gordon Parrott, owner of the local Foodland grocery stores. Parrott would later build the Southgate Cinema 1 & 2 (now Bear Town Cinema 6) near Trent Woods.
The Midway Drive-In, located next to the Neuse Forest Branch Post Office, closed about 1986 and sat abandoned for at least ten years. The drive-in has been demolished and part of the property has been redeveloped for residential use.
Contributed by
NightHawk1
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Recent comments (view all 8 comments)
Goggel Earth View 1993
hispeed54: Thanks for providing the aerial photo of the Midway. The large white building in the upper left corner of the photo is one of Gordon Parrott’s Foodland stores (acquired from Williams Red & White). Parrott owned the Midway Drive-In long before taking over Williams Red & White. His earlier Foodlands were on the north side of the Trent River in New Bern proper; another Foodland was next to his other theater, the Southgate (now Bear Town) Cinema.
At the time of the photo (1993) the Midway Drive-In had been abandoned for several years; Gordon Parrott had died about the same time as the Midway’s closing. Parrott’s family sold the supermarkets (including the one seen above) to a Morehead City chain called Pak-a-Sak in 1987; they expanded the Southgate Cinema to six screens around 1988 and sold it off years later.
Thanks NIGHTHAWK 1.New Bern had four Drive ins in 1956.
The Midway was the only drive-in left in New Bern by 1972. My dad moved to New Bern in 1971 and for all the time he lived down there, the Midway was the only drive-in located in New Bern. The other drive-in in Craven County during the 1970s was the Havelock Drive-In (listed on CT).
I know of only three drive-ins that existed in Craven County: the Starlite/Midway in New Bern, the Havelock Drive-In, and a drive-in in Vanceboro (name unknown, located at the intersection of NC 43 North and Bailey Lane).
There was a drive in across from Bosch on old 70. Into the 80s the drive in ridges and the ruin of the projection room were still there amidst second growth pines. The lay out seemed to be with the projection room nearest the road, with the concession stand set beneath or beside the screen.
New apartments were build on/around the site. I believe that Kensington Park Drive cuts through where the drive used to be. From map or satellite view, there is a large body of water to the northeast of where the drive in stood, but that is the old Martin-Marietta quarry and was not likely to have been there at the time.
I can’t remember if Mr. Parrott (of Midway and Southgate cinemas) operated the one on old 70, but I’m pretty sure he operated one on hwy 17 at some point, but cannot recall its exact location.
Boxoffice, Aug. 27, 1955: “Midway Drive-In, New Bern, N. C., was damaged by Hurricane Connie and will be closed a week or two for repairs, according to Manager P. G. Parrot. The Midway is a new theatre, which opened recently”