Duke Homestead

Washington Duke (1820-1905) was a farmer in the Raleigh/Durham area. During the civil war he was conscripted into the Confederate Army. During his brief military career, Duke was captured by Union forces and imprisoned in Richmond, Virginia. At the end of the war the Federals released and shipped him to New Bern, North Carolina. Lacking money and transportation, the veteran walked back to his homestead--a distance of 135 miles. After he returned he focused on growing bright leaf tobacco, which the Union troops had taken a liking to.

He was married twice, producing 2 children with his first wife, and 3 children with his second. Both wives died young, leaving him to raise his children alone.

The Duke Homestead, built in 1852.

He and his children would process smoking tobacco and label it with hand-lettered tags bearing the name "Pro Bono Publico", latin for "for the public good".

This was the "Third Factory". The original factory was a small building on the side of the house. Son Brodie had established a second factory in town, but Duke chose to continue operations at the homestead. By 1873, the Dukes were producing around 125,000 pounds of smoking tobacco annually.

I especially loved this wagon. Lester's grandfather hand carved a replica of a wagon similar to this that was have in our home.

Although W. Duke, Sons and Company enjoyed a healthy trade in smoking tobacco, the Dukes began to manufacture cigarettes in 1881. The practice of using cigarettes had spread from the European countries to the United States around 1860.

The invention of the Bonsack 'rolling machine' was instrumental in cutting the cost of cigarette manufacturing in half. Up until this time, all cigarettes were rolled by hand.


Duke used his influence to have Trinity College moved to Durham. The institution opened its new campus in 1892 with he and son Benjamin as its principal benefactors. In 1896, Duke gifted the college with $100,000 (about $2,200,000 in 2005 dollars) on the condition that it open its doors to women. Trinity College was renamed in honor of Duke in 1924, becoming Duke University.