The furniture, paintings, silver, paper, ceramics, glass and many other objects on display throughout our historic homes allow Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens to offer our visitors a look at New Bern of the 18th and 19th centuries and a way of life long vanished.

Step through our historic homes -- and the centerpiece of colonial North Carolina’s governmental history, Tryon Palace -- and browse an amazing collection of objects that is considered one of the top 10 collections of American and European decorative arts in the United States.

The Tryon Palace collection was originally inspired by an inventory compiled by royal governor William Tryon -- the palace’s first resident. Tryon, who left North Carolina in 1771 to become the royal governor of New York, wrote the inventory from memory after his Fort George, New York, home burned in 1773.

Our collection has since grown to include objects from several time periods in American history. Over 70 percent of this remarkable collection of over 6,500 objects is on display throughout the Palace, John Wright Stanly House, Dixon House, Hay House and New Bern Academy Museum. (Other objects in our collection that are not on display are made available to scholars for study.) These items -- from large paintings and pieces of furniture to the smallest teaspoon -- allow for the comprehensive examination of everyday life in New Bern from its time as the capital of a British colony to its occupation during the American Civil War.