Portrait of Maude Moore Latham

Maude Moore Latham (1871-1951) was the original chairman of the Tryon Palace Commission and served in that position until her passing in 1951. A native of New Bern, Latham held a life-long dream of seeing the Palace rebuilt. In 1939 she began actively campaigning for the reconstruction by financing the publication of Old Homes and Gardens of North Carolina, which advocated for the restoration of Tryon Palace. In January 1944 she established the Maude Moore Latham Trust Fund, for the restoration of the palace and later gave the remainder of her estate—$1,115,000—to the Tryon Palace Commission in 1951.