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Accessibility

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:

Kitchen and Stable offices ... 1 step
Stanly House .................... 4 steps
Dixon House ...................... 5 steps
Museum Gift Shop .............. 5 steps
Craft & Garden Shop ........... 1 step
New Bern Academy.............. 2 steps


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.



Tryon Palace Historic Sites & Gardens is a part of the Division of State Historic Sites
within the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources.