[2] The site belongs to the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural resources and commemorates the place where Washington Duke founded the nation's largest early-20th-century tobacco firm, the American Tobacco Company.

This property is where the Dukes did their early tobacco processing, eventually moving into downtown Durham in 1874.

In 1931, the farm was purchased by Duke University, and in 1966, the Duke Homestead was designated a National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service.

The very first building in which they worked, a log barn, was destroyed by fire, and was reconstructed in 1931.

Today, the site is a museum where tourists can view the restored 1852 Duke Homestead with four furnished rooms, tobacco barns and various artifacts.