Duke Homestead State Historic Site050

Duke Homestead State Historic Site is the former home of Washington Duke, a farmer and tobacco entrepreneur who helped transform North Carolina into a worldwide tobacco empire. The family used much of its wealth to support of Trinity College, which later became Duke University.

The museum serves as a "living museum of tobacco history," offering demonstrations of early farming techniques and tobacco manufacturing processes.

In addition to visiting Duke's home, visitors can see the homestead's well house, smokehouse, a reconstructed version of the family's first tobacco factory, the family's third tobacco factory (built in 1869), a tobacco curing barn, and pack house. The site also houses a visitor center, which features informative exhibits detailing the history of tobacco farming.

The site features a small gift shop. There are picnic tables on the grounds for those who want to picnic at the site.