Duke Homestead, Durham, North Carolina - Photos Then and Now on Waymarking.com

Washington Duke was the patriarch of the Duke family in North Carolina. He spent most of his life as a farmer. In 1852 he came to what is now the Duke Homestead near Durham Station.

Near the start of the Civil War, he planted his first tobacco crop. He soon decided to concentrate his efforts not on farming but on manufacturing tobacco products. Duke was then drafted into the Confederate Army, making him set aside his fledgling enterprise.

It was on his arrival back at the homestead that he first learned of Union soldiers' love of the local Bright Leaf tobacco. With his children, he began a factory in a small log structure on the homestead, processing smoking tobacco.

His product proved to be so popular that after only a few years Duke was in his third, much larger factory. In 1869 Duke's son Brodie began a small smoking tobacco factory within the town of Durham to take advantage of the town's railroad and tobacco market.

Duke and his other sons, Buck and Ben, also moved their business there in 1874. Ten years later, the Dukes began mechanical mass production of cigarettes.

Many of the profits were used to invest in land and to develop fast-growing southern industries such as electric power and textiles, but many also were used for humanitarian causes. Trinity College, later to become Duke University, benefited from the family contributions.

Duke Homestead State Historic Site preserves the Duke Homestead in much the same condition as it was in the 1860's and is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday from 10 am to 4 pm. Admission is free.

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Duke Homestead in 1856. Washington Duke is on the steps:

Duke Homestead in 2005: