Aerial view of pari of I he- downtown business section of the city of Durham.
THE STATE.
Мдпен
19. 1949
THINGS OF INTEREST IN DURHAM COUNTY
By BRYAN GKIMfOIJ)
THE New South and Old South
side bv side that's what you
will see in Durham County,
it is. I believe, as good a place for
such an illustration as any you will
find anywhere in North Carolina.
The New South is typified by the
city of Durham, a city built by to¬
bacco and cotton whose first seeds
of growth were sown 84 years ago
in 1 865 when, where the city now
stands, Sherman's army lay en¬
camped opposing Johnston and the
last Confederate army in the field.
After Johnston's surrender, many
soldiers from both sides became ac¬
quainted with the fine tobacco of
the section and took samples home
with them. Thus began the indus¬
try that was to make many
fortunes and draw farmers, plant¬
ers. slaves and carpetbaggers to¬
gether to form a new city.
The Old South, too. has its asso¬
ciations in the county. Not so long
after the Civil War. Durham Coun¬
ty was formed from the eastern
portion of Orange County, one of
the stale’s oldest and one of the
earliest settled in the Piedmont.
Many houses, farms, and homes of
ante-bellum days remain scattered
throughout the countryside. A
drive through the northern sec¬
tion of the county would reveal a
number of the old squarish com¬
fortable looking homes of the Pied¬
mont farmer-planters, many with
ancient stone chimneys. Probably
the most notable remainder of
these early days in Kairntosh Plan¬
tation, old home of the Cameron
family, considered to be a very
fine example of the architecture of
that period. It lies a few miles
north of the city and may be easily
found by an historical marker just
outside the city on Highway 501 at
Braggtown. Also two of the city's
oldest streets. Pettigrew and Ra’m-
seur. are named for two of North
Carolina’s outstanding Confederate
generals.
A Progressive City
Perhaps, however, you aren’t
particularly interested in the sig¬
nificance of Old or New South, but
are visiting Durham on business or
on a visit to friends and you would
like to see some of the things of
general and special interest in the
city and county.
in the first place, as you prob¬
ably know, the vast majority of the
$25 PER ARTICLE
We pay $25 for each of
these county articles. They
should he around 1.500 words
in length and should eontnin
a general description of points
of interest. In other words,
your article should answer
this question: "If you had
a friend visiting you and
wanted to take him on a tour
of your county, what would
you show him?”
Counties which have been
written up thus far:
Beaufort, Carteret. Avery.
Ilyde. Onslow. Orange. Surry.
Gaston. Cherokee. Chowan,
and now Durham.
county’s population lives in the
city of Durham (around 75.0001,
which is the county seat and is
situated approximately in the cen¬
ter of the county. It may be entered
by highways 15 and 55 from the
south, by 70 and 70A from the
southeast, by 264 from the east, by
15 from the northeast, by 501 from
the north and by 70 from the west.
The city and county both derive
their name from Bartlett Durham,
a country doctor who lived and
owned land in these parts. A
eque on the side of the Depositors
nk building at Corcoran and
Main streets in the downtown sec¬
tion marks the spot where his
house once stood. Five Points, the
approximate center of the city, was
once a country crossroads known
as Durham’s Station.
One of the first things in the city
that you will notice are the to¬
bacco factories with their pungent
odors. The main concerns are The
American Tobacco Company. Lig¬
gett and Myers, and The Imperial
Tobacco Company. You might like
to visit one of them and see how
Luckies. Chesterfields. Pall Malls
and other brands are made; or you
may. during season, visit one of the
numerous warehouses and see the
leaf itself bought and sold.
Educational Center
The fruits of Industry have made
Durham something more than just
an industrial center. It is an educa¬
tional center also. A visit to the
city would be incomplete without
seeing the campuses of Duke Uni¬
versity. endowed by the great
