| Twenty miles northwest of Raleigh,
DURHAM
found itself at the center of the nation's tobacco industry after farmer Washington Duke came home from the Civil War with the idea of producing cigarettes - by 1890 he and his three sons had formed the
America Tobacco Company
, one of the nation's most powerful businesses. The
Duke Homestead Historical Site
, 2828 Duke Homestead Rd, about a half-mile north of I-85 (April-Oct Mon-Sat 9am-5pm, Sun 1-5pm; Nov-March Tues-Sat 10am-4pm, Sun 1-4pm; free), incorporates an even-handed and lively museum covering the social history of tobacco farming.
In 1924 the Duke family's $40 million endowment to the previously small-scale Trinity College enabled it to expand into a world-respected medical research facility, swiftly changing its name to
Duke University
. It's well worth visiting the campus: the
Museum of Art
on Campus Drive (Tues, Thurs & Fri 10am-5pm, Wed 10am-9pm, Sat 11am-2pm, Sun 2-5pm; free; tel 919/684-5135) has good African, pre-Columbian, medieval and Asian collections. The Gothic west campus centers on the soaring cathedral-style
chapel
(tel 919/681-1704 for hours and services), which boasts one of the most powerful Flentrop organs in the world. Also on campus, the terraces and bowers of the beautifully landscaped
Sarah P. Duke Gardens
are a blaze of fragrance and color surrounded by pine forest, especially in May. More Durham information... |
Call toll free..
US and Canada: 1-800-780-5733
Europe: 00-800-11-20-11-40
Use discount code: 89865
