Set amid the shaded residential streets of New Bern, the multi-building complex features restored and re-created buildings from the 18C and early 19C. Centerpiece of the complex, stately Georgian Tryon Palace is a reconstruction of the structure built in the late 1760s as the official colonial assembly meeting place and residence of Royal Governor William Tryon. After the American Revolution, the building served as the North Carolina capitol until it burned to the ground in 1798. Attached to the palace by curved colonnades are two brick dependencies: the Kitchen Office (east side), where costumed interpreters demonstrate 18C cooking; and the Stable Office (west side), the only palace building to survive into the 20C. Surrounding the palace, flower-and-boxwood parterred gardens are reminiscent of colonial landscaping.