Duke Homestead State Historic Site is a state historic site and
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...
in
Durham Durham most commonly refers to:
*Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England
**County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham
*Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States
Durham may also refer to:
Places
...
,
North Carolina
North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
.
[ The site belongs to the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural resources and commemorates the place where Washington Duke founded the nation's largest early-20th-century tobacco firm, the ]American Tobacco Company
The American Tobacco Company was a tobacco company founded in 1890 by J. B. Duke through a merger between a number of U.S. tobacco manufacturers including Allen and Ginter, Goodwin & Company, and Kinney Brothers. The company was one of the or ...
.
History
The Duke Homestead was built about 1852 by Washington Duke, on a farm that was about in size when the American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
broke out. During the war, the property was, like many others, looted by Union Army. With little left beyond a small supply of tobacco, the family shifted from tobacco farming to tobacco processing, introducing cigarette
A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into Rolling paper, thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhale ...
s in 1881 to compete with loose-leaf tobacco.
This property is where the Dukes did their early tobacco processing, eventually moving into downtown Durham in 1874. The Duke business was incorporated as the American Tobacco Company
The American Tobacco Company was a tobacco company founded in 1890 by J. B. Duke through a merger between a number of U.S. tobacco manufacturers including Allen and Ginter, Goodwin & Company, and Kinney Brothers. The company was one of the or ...
in 1890, and was the largest tobacco company in the world until an antitrust suit broke it up in 1911.
In 1931, the farm was purchased by Duke University
Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...
, and in 1966, the Duke Homestead was designated a National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...
by the National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...
. It became a North Carolina State Historic Site in 1974, administered by the North Carolina State Division of Archives and History.
Description
The property now consists of more than of the original Duke lands, on which stand the original Duke Homestead and several barn-like "factory" structures in which the Dukes cured, processed, and packed their tobacco. The very first building in which they worked, a log barn, was destroyed by fire, and was reconstructed in 1931.
Museum
Today, the site is a museum where tourists can view the restored 1852 Duke Homestead with four furnished rooms, tobacco barns and various artifacts. The visitor center features the Tobacco Museum, with exhibits about tobacco farming, processing and the history of tobacco. Various readings and presentations are available in the Visitor Center.
See also
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References
External links
Duke Homestead and Tobacco Museum
- North Carolina State Historic Sites
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Museums in Durham, North Carolina
Historic house museums in North Carolina
D
Open-air museums in North Carolina
National Historic Landmarks in North Carolina
Houses completed in 1852
Duke family residences
History of Durham, North Carolina
Buildings and structures in Durham, North Carolina
University museums in North Carolina
Agriculture museums in the United States
North Carolina State Historic Sites
Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina
Tobacco buildings in the United States
National Register of Historic Places in Durham County, North Carolina
Houses in Durham, North Carolina
1852 establishments in North Carolina
Barns in North Carolina