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Duke Homestead
Ancestral Home Of The Family
administered by DIVISION OF ARCHIVES AND HISTORY NORTH CAROLINA HISTORIC SITES
See also: Duke Homestead - An excellent site covering the Duke Homestead - By Mark C. McCarthy - at Sunsite.unc.edu. Duke Homestead - At North Carolina Historic Places
Tobacco's but an Indian weed, "Weed" always has been important to North Carolina, but it was the discovery of lightbodied Bright Leaf in the 1850's that began the state's modern tobacco history. The Civil War generated an increase in demand for this tobacco; after the war a tobacco manufacturing industry grew. By the beginning of the twentieth century, tobacco cultivation and successful business practices had combined to make North Carolina the center of a worldwide tobacco empire. Washington Duke spent half of his life as an Orange County farmer. His first wife, Mary Clinton, died in 1847. leaving two sons, Sidney and Brodie. Five years later, Washington married Artelia Roney and the couple moved into a new house on Dukes homestead. Three additional Duke children-Mary, Benjamin, and James, were born in this house which is well preserved. Artelia and her stepson Sidney died of typhoid fever in 1858, and Washington Duke was again a widower A year or so later, he planted his first tobacco crop but soon decided to quit farming and manufacture tobacco products instead. By that time, however, the Civil War was underway; Duke, who was then forty-two, was drafted into the Confederate army before he could begin his enterprise. The Civil War ended in 1865. Penniless, Washington Duke began a long walk from New Bern back to his farm. When he finally reached his homestead near Durham Station, he undoubtedly heard the news that the last major Confederate surrender of the war had been negotiated a few miles away at the Bennett Place. At the same time that negotiations were taking place, Union and confederate troops were helping themselves to Bright Leaf tobacco stored in the area. Later, as civilians, these former soldiers remembered the fine smoking tobacco; their requests for more of the same helping to create a market for Durham area tobacco products.
Washington Duke Washington Duke soon rejoined his children and together they began a factory in a tiny log building on the homestead. Their product was smoking tobacco; cured Bright Leaf was flailed, sifted, and packed into cloth bags; a hand-lettered yellow tag bearing the words "Pro Bono Publico," meaning "for the public good:' was attached to each bag. After a few months of work, Washington loaded a brokendown wagon with Pro Bono Publico, some chewing tobacco, and two barrels of wheat. He and his youngest son James, known as "Buck:' then began a successful trip peddling these products in eastern North Carolina. Within a few years, the Duke's business had grown enough so that Washington needed a second and then a third tobacco processing factory at the homestead. in 1869, with his father's help, Brodie Duke began a small smoking tobacco factory within the town of Durham, taking advantage of the railroad shipping service and the farmers' tobacco market there. Washington Duke moved his own operation to Durham in 1874. Duke and his sons formed a successful business team and began, in the 1880s, the first mechanical mass production of cigarettes. With this advantage, the Duke family eventually controlled the largest tobacco company in the world. Some profits from their huge empire were invested in other fast-growing southern industries, particularly in textiles and hydroelectric power. Other profits were used for humanitarian causes. Churches, hospitals, and colleges including Trinity, later to become Duke University, benefitted from the Duke family contributions.
Tobacco Pack House Duke Homestead State Historic Site portrays the Duke family in the years just after the Civil war. The site includes the main house itself, which consists of a simple four room dwelling with a kitchen addition; the reconstructed first factory; the original third factory; two outbuildings; a tobacco pack house; and a curing barn. owned and operated by Duke University for forty-three years, the Homestead was given to the state in 1974. A modern visitor center/museum has been completed. This building contains exhibits and programs depicting the history of the Dukes and tobacco culture. Activities on the Homestead demonstrate tobacco farming and the early manufacturing processes used by Washington Duke and his family during the 1860s and 1870s. An organization called Tobacco History Corporation has been formed to support the growing project at the Homestead, designed to tell the story of tobacco and its historical impact on North Carolina.
James Buchanan "Buck" Duke
Admission is Free April 1 through October 31 November 1 through March 31 Hours may vary. Contact site manager for details. Address: 2828 Duke Homestead Road
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