Tryon Palace

Day three of our field trip took us to Tryon Palace.
Tryon Palace served as the seat of government for the Colony of North Carolina just prior to the Revolutionary War. This isn't actually the original building, that burned in the 1780's. This was rebuilt at the beginning of the 20th century, based upon the original architectural designs and descriptions from letters of visitors to the original building.

The tour is completed with re-enactors throughout the palace and grounds, really giving us an excellent living history lesson.

The tour inside was very interesting, and even though Mary and Katie were the only children in our group, they really enjoyed the the tour. Mary's highlight was seeing the bedroom of the 10-year-old daughter of Governor Tryon, including the room (called a closet) that served as her classroom.

I personally found the kitchen building very interesting. This building housed not only the kitchen, but also the laundry and bedrooms for the household servants. In the laundry we were given a demonstration of combing and spinning wool.

Katie's and my mother's favorite part of the palace were the gardens. We were there at the perfect time for the blooming of all the spring flowers. This was also the area where we were actually able to take photos.



Back out on the front lawn Mary and Katie learned about some of the games that were played by members of the household. Here they are being shown how to play the game of lawn bowling.

I have been to Tryon Palace on a few different occasions, growing up here it is one of those field trips you can count on. This was, by far, the best visit I have ever had. The girls, whom I believed to be kind of borderline about how much they would actually get out of the visit, really enjoyed themselves and thought that it was great.

Tomorrow we are going to Beaufort, the third oldest town in NC. Beaufort is a real colonial shipping/merchant town. My ancestors settled here in the late 1600's, as whalers from Massachusetts. Today the girls got to see how the wealthy lived during the colonial period, tomorrow they will see how most everyone else lived.

Peace,

Amy