The Kitchen Office

Kitchen Office

Palace architect John Hawks’ 1767 architectural plans show that the first floor of the Kitchen Office included the kitchen itself, a scullery for the cleaning and storage of dishes, a wash house, and workspace for the governor’s secretary. In a letter, Governor Tryon mentioned that the second-floor rooms were “intended for Servants Chambers, and a Laundry.”

When you visit the Kitchen Office, keep in mind that while it may appear primitive by today’s standards, it represented the very latest in “modern” conveniences of 1770. The sights, sounds and smells of an 18th-century kitchen await you here.

There are early maps of North Carolina on the walls of the office of the governor’s secretary, and upstairs, rooms are laid out as they might have been when they were used as living quarters for the servants.