Helpful Guidelines For School Visits

In order to make the visit to Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens an interesting and pleasant experience, we ask that you observe these guidelines:

All tours begin with an informative 20-minute audio-visual orientation program. Tours are guided by costumed interpreters. Large groups are always split into smaller groups of no more than twelve.

The furnishings of Tryon Palace and the other historic sites are several hundred years old and must be treated with great care. We ask that they not be touched by students or adults.

Food, drinks, and gum are not allowed in the exhibition buildings. Gum should be removed before entering the Visitor Center area.

Visitors may take photos of the gardens and building exteriors; however photography is not allowed in the exhibition buildings.

It is recommended that visitors wear soft-soled shoes and comfortable clothes appropriate for weather conditions.

For your convenience restrooms are located in the Visitor Center and on the grounds; drink and snack machines are located on the grounds. Please ask the Visitor Center staff for directions.

Teachers and chaperones must remain with their school groups at all times during the visit.

Emergency Cancellation Of Tour

TELEPHONE: 919-514-4935 or 1-800-767-1560
If for any reason your tour has to be cancelled, please notify us as soon as possible. We may have hired additional personnel and need to adjust our schedule. We hope you enjoy your tour, and we welcome your comments!

Scheduled Tour Hours

Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens is open 360 days each year.
Monday through Saturday:
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with the last tour beginning at 4 p.m.
Sundays:
1 to 5 p.m. with the last tour beginning at 4 p.m.

The New Bern Academy is open Monday through Saturday from 1 to 4:30 p.m.

Memorial Day Weekend through Labor Day the gardens remain open until 7 p.m. with the last group tours of the day beginning at 4 p.m.

We are closed Thanksgiving Day, December 24, 25, 26, and January 1.

In addition, a number of special events are scheduled throughout the year. For more information contact the Group Sales Coordinator, Karen Pierson, at kpierson@tryonpalace.org, 252-514-4935 or 1-800-767-1560.

Group Reservations

Reservations for tour groups of 20 or more are essential to insure proper service and our special group discount. Our Group Sales Coordinator will be happy to provide you with all the information you need to plan a successful trip.

For schools bringing 75 or more students, a special schedule will be arranged to minimize waiting time. Your group will be divided, and each smaller group will visit the Palace, Gardens, Robert Hay House, and New Bern Academy in a different order. Time will also be scheduled for visiting the Museum Shop, Craft and Garden Shop, and (for a separate fee) the New Bern Fireman's Museum.

For detailed tour and itinerary information, or to schedule your tour, please contact:

Group Sales Coordinator
kpierson@tryonpalace.org
800-767-1560 or 252-514-4935

or write to:
Tryon Palace Group Sales
PO Box 1007
New Bern, NC 28563

Tour Rates

• Governor's Pass

RECOMMENDED GRADE LEVELS: 6-12
TIME INVOLVED: 4 hours & up depending on class size
CLASS SIZE LIMIT: call for details
SCHEDULE: Monday through Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Sundays 1-3:00 p.m.
ADMISSION FEE: $5 per student; $12 per adult; one complimentary adult ticket for every 10 students

For groups with extended time and interest, the Governor's Pass option offers everything included in the Palace, Gardens, Robert Hay House option, with the addition of two other historic houses. In the ca. 1780 John Wright Stanly House you’ll learn how one remarkable family played roles in the Revolutionary War, the early national period, and the Civil War. Visit the ca. 1830 George W. Dixon House to see how a merchant-tailor, his wife and son, apprentices and slaves lived through good times and hard times. In the New Bern Academy, you'll explore the Academy’s exhibits on New Bern’s earliest history, its role in the Civil War, local architecture and early education.

For schools bringing 75 or more students, a special schedule will be arranged to minimize waiting time. Your group will be divided, and each smaller group will visit the Palace, Gardens, and Robert Hay House in a different order. Time can also be scheduled for visiting the Museum Shop, Craft and Garden Shop, and (for a separate fee) the New Bern Firemen’s Museum.

Thinking questions for students:

1. In the Stanly House, you learned how four generations of one family lived through important events in American history. What events in American history have you, your parents, your grandparents, and/or your great-grandparents lived through? Describe these experiences.
   
   
2. In 1830, these people lived in the Dixon House: Mr. & Mrs. Dixon, their son, 5 female slaves, 6 apprentice boys, and one free black person. If you could meet one of them, which person would you choose, and what would you talk about?
   
   

• North Carolina Begins Here

RECOMMENDED GRADE LEVELS: 1-12
TIME INVOLVED: 3 hours & up depending on class size (add 1 hour if visiting New Bern Academy)
CLASS SIZE LIMIT: call for details
SCHEDULE: Monday through Friday 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Sundays 1:00 to 3:00
ADMISSION FEE: $3 per student; $10 per adult, one complimentary adult ticket for every 10 students

See how North Carolina was established.  A guided tour of Tryon Palace, North Carolina’s reconstructed colonial capitol, is the highlight of this popular tour option.  Walk through rooms where governors ruled, legislators debated, and George Washington danced.  Imagine nine-year old Margaret Tryon at play with her toys, or Mrs. Tryon in the library pursuing her rater unladylike interest in military fortifications.  Step into the servants’ world to learn about their day-to-day tasks as you tour the kitchen and stable, and discover the work of a skilled craftsman in the blacksmith shop.  Enjoy the seasonally changing beauties of the Tryon palace gardens (self-guided), and perhaps even enjoy a colonial game.  Then enhance your Palace experience by visiting the New Bern Academy Museum, where you’ll explore the Academy’s exhibits on New Bern’s earliest history, its role in the Civil War, local architecture, and early education.

For schools bringing 75 or more students, a special schedule will be arranged to minimize waiting time.  Your group will be divided, and each smaller group will visit the Palace, kitchen, stable, gardens, blacksmith shop and Academy in a different order.  Time may also be scheduled for visiting the Museum Shop, Craft and Garden Shop, and (for a separate fee) the New Bern Firemen’s Museum.

• Touching the Past

RECOMMENDED GRADE LEVELS: 4-6
TIME INVOLVED: 3 hours
CLASS SIZE LIMIT: 90 people
SCHEDULE: Monday through Friday 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (not available in December)
ADMISSION FEE: $5 per student; $10 per adult; one complimentary adult ticket for every 10 students

Imagine a time when you created most of the items you needed for everyday life.  Explore the day-to-day lives of the Governor, his servants, and the townspeople of New Bern in this new program that combines tours of the Palace, kitchen and blacksmith shop with a hands-on workshop.  Students will explore the world of North Carolina’s colonial governors and meet the servants and tradesmen as they demonstrate chores and crafts of everyday life.  Under the instruction of Tryon Palace’s crafts interpreters, students will then participate in 3 hands-on activities, which may include cooking, quilting, candle-making or cornhusk dolls (activities vary based on the day of your visit).

• Holiday Celebration Tour

We recommend that you make reservations as early as possible for this extremely popular tour option.

RECOMMENDED GRADE LEVELS: 1-12
TIME INVOLVED: 3 hours and up depending on the class size and day of visit
CLASS SIZE LIMIT: None
SCHEDULE: Offered in December. Call early for details
ADMISSION FEE: $5 per student for a group of 20 or more; adult tickets $12 each; one complimentary adult ticket for every 10 students

Experience the sights and sounds of Christmas past!  From the grand entertainment of His Majesty’s representative in the Colony, to the simple celebrations of Civil War soldiers, the holidays are an unforgettable time to visit Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens.  Students will learn about two centuries of changing holiday traditions as they tour the Palace, its kitchen and four other historic homes (one open only at Christmas!), plus a Civil War encampment and the new Bern Academy Museum. 

See how simply the holiday was celebrated in the 1780 John Wright Stanly House, with a focus on feasting and hospitality.  In the 1830s George W. Dixon House, look for Christmas stockings as gift giving becomes more important.  Visit the occupied Robert Hay House, where Union troops have set up an encampment and soldiers prepare to celebrate Christmas far from home.  The Hollister House (open only at Christmas) features Christmas trees adorned with decorations popular during Victorian times.  And don’t miss Tryon Palace and its Kitchen Office, where colonial traditions endure amid decorations of timeless beauty.  Depending on the day and time of your visit, you may experience waiting time outside the building.

Chaperone Information

(You may want to copy these guidelines and give them to all chaperones.)

We depend on our chaperones to see that the visit is safe and enjoyable for everyone. You can help us and have a more enjoyable visit for yourself by observing these chaperone guidelines:

Please remind students to dispose of food, drink, candy, or gum before entering the Visitor Center and before entering any of the historic buildings.

Encourage students to look, listen, and participate. If one student’s behavior is distracting the group, please remind the student of appropriate "group manners.”

Encourage students to help preserve our historic sites by not touching or leaning on furnishings, and by staying on the pathways in the gardens.

Please keep your group together while touring the gardens. For everyone’s safety, running and climbing are not permitted.

Parking Information For Tour Bus Drivers

We’re glad you brought your motor coach or school bus to Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens. For everyone’s safety and convenience, please follow these parking do’s and don’ts:

DO use the parking space on the Visitor Center side of George Street to off-load your group. As soon as all tour group members are off the coach/bus, please move the coach/bus immediately to the Visitor Center parking lot on Eden Street. map

DO NOT leave the coach/bus in the off-loading space. This blocks the view of drivers in other vehicles rounding the corner of George and Pollock streets.

DO pick up your tour group in the Visitor Center parking lot. There is a brick plaza with benches where tour group members may wait to be picked up.

DO NOT leave the coach/bus by the Palace gates or use the Visitor Center off-loading space when picking up tour group members. This creates a traffic hazard.

DO use the parking lot on the corner of Hancock and New Streets for off-loading and picking up groups that visit the New Bern Academy.

For your convenience restrooms are located in the Visitor Center and on the grounds; drink and snack machines are located on the grounds. Please ask the Visitor Center staff for directions.

Provisions for Visitors with Special Needs

We welcome all visitors to Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens, and we like to emphasize what can be done by visitors with disabilities rather than what cannot be done. Prior notice by special needs visitors will assist our staff in providing an enjoyable tour experience. The following specific information may be helpful in planning a tour for visitors with special needs. We hope that with this information, those planning tours for visitors with disabilities or limited mobility can make more informed decisions about tour options.

Every effort is made to accommodate our visitors with special needs. However, because of the historic period and age of many of our tour buildings, some areas may be inaccessible to visitors with physical disabilities. For best arrangements, please phone in advance for any special needs.

Our Visitor Center is completely accessible to all visitors with disabilities. Restrooms have a clear pathway to stalls with grab bars available and complete "turn-around" space. Mirrors, water fountains, and other fixtures are mounted at appropriate heights for visitors who use wheelchairs. The Visitor Center Auditorium where the orientation film is shown is easily accessible and has plenty of room for visitors who use wheelchairs.

We have added a ramp outside Tryon Palace to enable a visitor who uses a wheelchair to access the first floor with ease. For visitors who cannot or choose not to tour the second floor of Tryon Palace there is a photo album available with photographs of the second floor rooms.

First floors of other historic sites are accessible to visitors in wheelchairs; however, some steps must to be negotiated with an assistant:

From the start our gardens have been designed to be accessible for all visitors. To avoid stairs when entering the Kitchen Garden, follow the path around the wood shed. Access to the parterre (main) level of the Latham Garden is via the Hawks Allée from the Wilderness Walk. Walkways may be uneven due to the nature of the material used to reconstruct period gardens.

We will make every effort to accommodate hearing or visually impaired visitors and others with special needs with advance notice. We have a "hands-on" policy for persons with visual impairments. A sign language interpreter is available for hearing-impaired visitors with advance notice.

Two parallel parking spaces on George Street in front of the Visitor Center are designated as “handicapped.” There are also designated parking slots in the visitor parking area on Eden Street.

Reduced rates are offered to special needs visitors and their assistants to compensate for areas which may not be accessible.

Craven Regional Medical Center
2000 Neuse Blvd.
New Bern NC 28562
252-633-8111 - Main Number
9-1-1 for emergencies

Coastal Diesel Service Inc.
1700 Highway 70 East
New Bern NC 28560
252-633-2025 (24 hour response service)

Covington Detroit Diesel-Allison
3511 Highway 17 South
New Bern NC 28562
252-638-3161 (24 hour response service)

Heavy Duty Truck & Diesel Repair Company, Inc.
2705 Highway 70 East
New Bern NC 28560
252-638-6036

Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens
PO Box 1007
610 Pollock Street
New Bern NC 28563
800-767-1560
252-514-4935
252-514-4876 fax

Taking Home A Memory From the Tryon Palace Museum and Garden Shops

Our shops offer a variety of items for sale, all of which have a connection to earlier times. The following list may change from season to season, but is representative of items that you will find there.