Tryon Palace
New Bern NC's Historic Treasure
This
information brought to you by
Realtor Steve Tyson
The Tryon Palace certainly stands out in a city known for
its outstanding historic homes and buildings. The original
buildings were built in the late 1760s. It served as the
first permanent capital of North Carolina, which at the time
was still a colony of England. William Tryon was the Royal
Governor at the time and he brought architect John Hawks
from England over to design the mansion. John Hawks was the
first trained architect in North Carolina and one of only a
few in the colonies at the time. In addition to the Palace
Hawks was involved in many other works in New Bern and the
surrounding areas.
Governor Tryon, his wife Margaret Wake
Tryon, and their daughter Margaret, lived in
the Palace for just over a year. They left
New Bern in June 1771, when Governor Tryon
was appointed to the governorship of New
York. His successor, Governor Josiah Martin,
fled New Bern at the beginning of the Revolutionary War never to
return.
Revolutionary patriots made the Palace their capital and the
first sessions of the General assembly were held there. A
total of four North Carolina Governors used the Palace as
their residence.
Raleigh, named after Sir
Walter Raleigh shown in the picture above, became the
capital of NC in 1794. Other than being rented out on
occasion, the Tryon Palace was rarely used. In 1794 a
fire started in the cellar and destroyed the main building.
In the 19th century
George Street was extended over the original Palace
foundation and homes and businesses were built on the Palace
site. At the end of the street a bridge crossed the Trent
River. Eventually the Palace was all but forgotten about.
In the 1930s a movement began
to restore North Carolina’s first capitol. The movement
gained strength when volunteers tracked down John Hawks'
original architectural plans. In 1944, Mrs. James Edwin
Latham, a Greensboro resident and native of New Bern,
challenged the State of North Carolina to join her in
restoring the Palace. She guaranteed her commitment through
establishment of a trust fund dedicated solely to the Palace
restoration. In 1945, the legislature created the Tryon
Palace Commission, a body of 25 persons appointed by the
governor, and charged it with the reconstruction of the
original Palace from its original plans on its original
foundation. As part its commitment, the state further agreed
to maintain and operate the restoration when it opened to
the public. part of the restoration project was the Palace
gardens shown below.
Mrs. Latham died in 1951, shortly before the
reconstruction of the Palace began. Her
daughter, Mrs. Mae Gordon Kellenberger, took
on leadership of the restoration. The first
restoration challenge was to clear the site.
This involved removing more than 50
buildings and rerouting North Carolina Route
70, including a bridge over the Trent River.
Archaeological digs followed. They soon
uncovered the original Palace foundations,
directly under the site that the highway had
occupied. Layers of stucco were removed from
the stable office, the only remaining part
of the 1770 complex. Then the painstaking
job of reconstructing the Palace began.
Craftspeople from across the country and
abroad were brought in to do the work. In
the meantime, trips to England yielded
furnishings appropriate to the period of the
original Palace. Earnings from Mrs. Latham’s
trust underwrote all of these time-consuming
and costly tasks.
The Palace was opened to the public in April
1959, as North Carolina’s first great public
history project.
The furnishings at the Palace are primarily
English. Governor Tryon made a very detailed
inventory of his possessions following the
destruction by fire of his later home at
Fort George, New York. This inventory, which
revealed the Tryons' taste in furnishings,
was used as a guide in refurbishing the
reconstructed Palace.
Guides in period dress conduct tours of the
building. Both floors are open, as well as
the cellar, which has recently been
reinterpreted according to descriptions
contained in some of architect John Hawk’s
letters.
To go to the official Tryon Palace
Website
Click Here
Our Website will
enable you to search for Homes for Sale in New Bern,
Havelock, and Oriental. |
