Tryon Palace is a modern reconstruction of the historical colonial governors' mansion of the Province of North Carolina. It was constructed in the 1950s across the original mansion site located in the city of New Bern, North Carolina. Today it is a State Historic Site. The palace gardens are also well renowned.
History
Early History
According to the palace's official tourism site, the history of the palace goes back to between 1767 and 1770. Governor William Tryon chose architect John Hawks when he came to the colony in 1764. The house was completed in 1770 with great controversy. Extra taxation to fund the project had been levied by the governor on the citizens of the province who had already felt overburdened with taxation. It proved to be too much and served as a major catalyst in North Carolina's War of the Regulation which culminated in the Battle of Alamance on May 16, 1771 and later led to the hanging of seven men. The unpopular Tryon left North Carolina on June 30, 1771 to become governor of the Province of New York on July 8, 1771. He had only lived in the house a little more than a year.
In May 1775, when the American Revolution began, Governor Josiah Martin fled the mansion. Patriots seized the palace and converted it into the State capitol building. The first general assemblies were held there and many of the furnishings were auctioned by the newly-formed state government. Four men lived in the palace as governors of the new state - Richard Caswell, Abner Nash, Alexander Martin, Richard Dobbs Spaight. After Raleigh was founded as the capitol in 1794, the palace was used for many different purposes, including a school, boarding house, and a Masonic lodge. A cellar fire started in 1798, consuming the palace proper. Only the kitchen and stable offices were saved. The kitchen offices were razed at the beginning of the 1800s. Of the original buildings, only the stable offices still stands.
Restoration and Today
In the 1930s, a movement began to preserve Colonial New Bern. The movement was bolstered by the discovery of the original palace plans. Mrs. James Edwin Latham, a New Bern native, asked the State to assist the Restoration efforts in 1944. She opened a trust fund committed purely to restoring the palace. The General Assembly organized the Tryon Palace Commission in 1945. This consisted of 25 people appointed by the governor, with the task of rebuilding the palace by the original plans. The state agreed to be responsible for the palace once it opened to the public. Mrs. Latham did not live to see the rebuilding of the palace. After her passing in 1951, her daughter Mae Gordon Kellenberger, oversaw the efforts. The first obstacles to overcome were moving as many as 50 or more buildings, rerouting NC Highway 70, and building a new bridge over the Trent River. These structures covered the foundations of the original building. Archaeological work also had to be done before construction could begin. Once it did, craftspeople from all over the United States were recruited. There were also visits to the United Kingdom to procure period-accurate furniture. Finally, the public was able to visit for the first time in April 1959.
Palace Structures
There are several structures besides the main building itself. The stable offices are actually the only original structure still standing. The kitchen offices are separate from the palace, as was usual at the time. After the 1798 fire, the grounds were divided into lots and sold. In the early 1830s, a house was built for George W. Dixon, a wealthy merchant tailor, who was also a former mayor of New Bern. The Hay House, built at the start of the 1800s, was purchased in 1816 by Robert Hay, a Scottish immigrant and wagon-maker. The New Bern Academy was the first school in North Carolina established by legal mandate, in 1766. Like the palace, the original academy building was destroyed by fire, this one in 1795. The current structure was built between 1806 and 1809.
References
http://www.tryonpalace.org/palace
Further reading
http://www.itpi.dpi.state.nc.us/Tryon/tryhstry http://www.urban.uiuc.edu/faculty/feser/PUBS/TryonWeb.pdf
External links
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