The New Bern Academy, established in 1764, became the first charter school in North Carolina and is one of the city’s most famous landmarks. Governor William Tryon described the institution as “the first (school) established in this province by legislative authority.” The school was occupied by Union forces during the Civil War, used as a field hospital and became the location of the formation of the 35th Regiment of the United States Colored Troop. The New Bern public school system incorporated the academy in 1899 and it served as a school until 1972.
The current building was built circa 1810. In 1977 a fire damaged the building, and the long missing cupola, shown on Jonathan Price’s map of 1810, was reconstructed between 1977-1985. In the years since, the building had fallen into disrepair.
Tryon Palace and the Tryon Palace Foundation worked diligently to address issues with the building, and private funding was raised for the restoration. Fortuitously, HistoriCorps, a non-profit organization that uses skilled preservation specialists along with volunteers to preserve America’s historic structures, agreed to take on the project.
In Spring of 2019 HistoriCorps arrived to begin repointing the brickwork throughout the exterior. HistoriCorps returned later in the Fall to replace the columns and clean and paint deteriorated decorative elements of the front portico. The Palace Building Trades staff began to work on the historic windows including removing battered shutters, repairing sashes and frames.
This past October 2020, HistoriCorps returned to work on the cupola including reglazing the window sashes, scraping, painting, and replacing old, rotted wood to the cupola, posts and walkway. The Palace Building Trades staff sized and painted shutters and shutter hardware on the first floor. Second floor windows were primed and painted with 16 sills and 8 individual panes replaced. Shutters will be hung on the second-floor windows.
The New Bern Academy is temporarily closed due to the pandemic, but we are looking forward to its reopening so that the workmanship of HistoriCorps and our dedicated staff, made possible by our generous supporters, can be showcased. The Academy is home to permanent exhibits telling stories of the Civil War and Architecture in New Bern, and we are grateful that it will prevail for future generations to learn about New Bern’s historic past.
By William J. McCrea, Executive Director, Tryon Palace
Tryon Palace • 529 South Front Street • New Bern, NC 28562 • 252-639-3500 • www.tryonpalace.org