Our impressive furniture collection mainly represents the major styles available from the mid 18th century to the mid 19th century. Although pieces from earlier and later styles are a part of the collection, the majority offer the finest examples of English Georgian and American Queen Anne, Chippendale, Federal, Empire and early Victorian styles, all displayed in period-appropriate settings.

Each style of furniture offers its own distinctive characteristics. Queen Anne style furniture (1725-1760) features a graceful appearance detailed by gentle curves and simple but elegant carvings. Most pieces of this period were constructed of walnut or mahogany, with an emphasis on highlighting the wood’s natural beauty. This style is most associated with America’s pre-Revolutionary period.

Chippendale furniture (1765-1785) introduced an elaborate new style that focused on detailed carvings, patterned woods and detailed upholstery, all heavily influenced by Chinese, French and Gothic designs. The Federal period (1780-1810) introduced furniture that rebelled against excessive ornamentation by using clean, simple lines, light construction and symmetrical designs.

Other furniture styles, including that of Late Neoclassical (1800-1820), Greco-Roman Revival (1815-1835) and American Empire (1800-1840) periods, see-sawed between the use of decorative carvings and rich materials, to a more graceful, flowing style that combined color and ornamentation (either through carving or painted designs meant to simulate carving) to suggest a moreromantic look. Early Victorian furniture (1830-1850) started a trend of heavy, dark furniture featuring a symmetrical design that incorporated fanciful scrolling, detailed carving, and the elaborate use of color, with paint, gilt or upholstery.

Featuring English pieces of the Georgian period, the Palace presents the furniture, art and household goods that an English royal governor may have transported to the colonies. The furnishing of the Palace itself is guided by an inventory that Gov. Tryon made of his belongings after a disastrous fire destroyed his home in New York, his second royal governorship in the American colonies. The Palace is currently undergoing a reinterpretation in our efforts to accurately reflect the look of a royal governor’s household during the colonial period.

The John Wright Stanly home uses furnishings of the Chippendale and Federal periods to depict the households and the stories of two generations of a New Bern family, the first headed by an affluent merchant and Revolutionary War privateer, and the second by a prominent North Carolina politician. The interiors of the Dixon House and the Hay House are designed to reflect the early 19th-century households of a merchant-tailor and a carriage maker.

Collections: Furniture | Paintings | Silver | Ceramics | Paper | Misc. Item