History and Mission

History

Tryon Palace was colonial North Carolina’s first official center of government. Soon after Royal Governor William Tryon was commissioned as governor of North Carolina in 1765, he determined that an established centrally located capitol in New Bern, strategically positioned between Charleston and Williamsburg, would be vital to the colony’s growth and success. Constructed between 1767 and 1770, the new “Government House” provided elegant living quarters for Tryon and his family and administrative offices including a large room for legislative assemblies.

Tryon brought John Hawks, a talented architect from Britain to design and oversee the Palace’s construction. Hawks prepared a series of carefully drafted plans between 1766 and 1767 and recruited a team of artisans to construct the central building and its flanking Kitchen and Stable wings. Thanks to Hawks’ masterful translation of the English Palladian style to colonial needs, the resulting “Government House” was equal in style and quality to any of the great plantation houses of Tidewater Virginia or South Carolina’s Low Country.  So elegant a building and unlike any others in North Carolina at the time, it soon became known as Tryon’s Palace. The official opening of the Palace was celebrated on December 5th, 1770 with a grand gala, a spectacular display of fireworks and an abundant flow of alcohol.

Less than a year later, Governor Tryon was promoted to New York state Governor, and Josiah Martin was appointed as the new Royal Governor of North Carolina in August of 1771. His time in New Bern and at Tryon Palace was brief, as the Revolutionary War grew stronger and he and his family was forced to flee and return to England in 1775. The Palace and its grounds became occupied by the Union Army till the end of the war. North Carolina’s first state Governor Richard Caswell, was inaugurated at the Palace on January 16, 1777. He lived there, as did his successor Abner Nash (1780 – 1781). The General Assembly held their last session at the Palace in 1792 for the inauguration of Richard Dobbs Spaight as Governor. A final extra session followed in July 1794 on the eve of the state’s capitol move to Raleigh, NC.

After 1794, the Palace was rented out to a private school, a dancing master, and the local St. John’s Masonic Lodge. It’s upkeep was costly and it soon fell into a state of neglect and disrepair. On the night of February 27, 1798, hay stored in the Palace cellar caught fire and the magnificent structure burned quickly and spectacularly to the ground.  With the Palace gone, the Stable Office went on to serve a number of uses for over 150 years.

In the 1920’s efforts to rebuild the Palace started slowly, against significant odds.  The project gained momentum in 1939 when future Palace Director Gertrude Carraway and architectural historian Fiske Kimball found sets of original architectural drawings of Palace by John Hawks in New York and London Archives. North Carolina Governor Clyde Hoey agreed to pursue permission to excavate the Palace grounds. A few years later, Maude Moore Latham, a New Bern native,  established a generous trust to fund the rebuilding project in partnership with the State of North Carolina.

The building that stands today was reconstructed between 1952 and 1959 on the original foundation with Hawks’ detailed plans, and evidence gathered through archeological excavations on the site. Thanks to the efforts of the people of New Bern, state leaders, international craftsmen, and generous dedicated citizens like Mrs. Latham and her daughter, Mrs. John Kellenburger, the Palace’s triumphal 1959 reopening remains a testament to history, community pride, tenacity, and rebirth. The inspiration and efforts of this group of Dreamers led to organizing of the Tryon Palace Foundation, to continue building on their dream of sustaining the Palace for present and future generations.

Mission

The Mission of the Tryon Palace Foundation is to support the Tryon Palace Historic Sites and Gardens by protecting, preserving and developing the legacy of its historical past. We accomplish this through education of children and visitors from around the globe, by being good stewards of what has been entrusted to us and by ensuring its future for present and future generations.