February 20, 1882 – October 1, 1951
by David Curtis Skaggs, Christ Episcopal Church, New Bern, NC, 2016
Minnette Chapman Duffy - Photo courtesy of New Bern Historical Society Foundation, Inc.
Beginning in the 1920s, Christ Church’s Minnette Chapman Duffy championed one of the longest running and most important projects in the history of New Bern – the rebuilding of Tryon Palace. The wife of New Bern physician Richard Nixon Duffy, Minette was a native of Knoxville, Tennessee, who accompanied her husband to his hometown in 1907. She immediately became involved in the history of the community, helping to found what is now the New Bern Historical Society in 1923 and becoming its president in 1926.
A gracious hostess, Minette was instrumental in securing Governor O. Max Gardner’s support for a giant celebration of New Bern’s past in 1929 that was known the “New Bern Historical Pageant.” About this same time the idea of reconstructing Tryon Palace arose for what Our State magazine later said: “Of all the unlikely ideas presented to North Carolinians, this seemed at the time the wildest.” Tryon Palace reconstruction involved the purchase of numerous private homes and businesses, the re-routing of a highway that ran in front of the property, and a considerable, presumably public, expense for its construction and maintenance.
In the middle of the Great Depression Minette sought a major public expenditure for which many thought was a ridiculous idea. Several New Bern city officials belittled the proposal saying “Nobody will come to see an old house.” Leading the opposition was Charles L. Abernethy, Jr., who represented disgruntled property owners. He called the project “a pig in a poke.”
But Minette Duffy and Miss Gertrude Carraway recruited an important ally in native New Bernian, Mrs. Maude Moore Latham, wife of a very successful Greensboro businessman. After seeing what was being done in Williamsburg, Maude said, “North Carolina should not fall behind the State of Virginia in promoting its history.” She promised a gift in excess of $1.5 million if the state would maintain and staff the property. The influence of Minette, Maude and Gertrude reached fruition in 1945 when the General Assembly enacted a law allowing the use of eminent domain to purchase the necessary properties. In 1951 Maude’s will bequeathed the balance of her estate for the rebuilding of Tryon Palace. Although Minette also died before this project’s completion, we know she would be proud that her “passion” brings more than 100,000 visitors to New Bern each year. That is certainly a profitable “pig in a poke” for the colonial capital of North Carolina.
Minette also made other historical contributions to the community and state. She secured a copy of the multi-volume History of the De Graffenried Family (Swiss founders of New Bern) for the local public library. She pushed for the preservation of the historic Stanly House and Judge William Gaston’s law office in her husband’s hometown. Collectively these were indeed important legacies of this “young lady from Tennessee” to her adopted home state of North Carolina.