History | Discover Durham

Every corner of the Bull City reveals chapters of American history—from tobacco and textiles to Black Wall Street and the nation's first sit-ins. You'll feel how our past has shaped a powerful present and an even more compelling future.

Durham's Three State Historic Sites

Durham is home to more state historic sites than any other county in North Carolina. Each invites you into an essential American story:

Stagville State Historic Site

Stand in the living quarters where enslaved people laid every brick by hand. You'll see their fingerprints in the clay – literal impressions left behind by the people who built one of the largest plantations in the South. Through powerful programming centered on their lives and cultures, you'll connect with stories that rarely get told but demand to be heard.

Bennett Place State Historic Site

Walk the grounds where the largest troop surrender of the Civil War took place, effectively ending the bloodiest conflict in American history. This quiet farmhouse, one of five Civil War Trail markers in Durham County, became the setting for a pivotal moment when reconciliation began to replace bloodshed. You'll understand why this place mattered then and matters now.

Duke Homestead State Historic Site

Trace our transformation from a small tobacco farm to the cigarette capital of the world. You'll see how Durham's story has come full circle – from the City of Tobacco to the City of Medicine, a testament to our ability to evolve and reinvent.

The Civil Rights Movement in Durham

Our legacy of activism extends far beyond historic sites. Durham is where the Civil Rights Movement gained significant traction, where one of the nation's premier Black universities was built, and where you can walk the same streets where history was made.

The Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice

Step into the childhood home of someone who changed America. Pauli Murray's scholarship influenced Brown v. Board of Education, Reed v. Reed and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This is one of only 2% of National Register sites that document the intersection of African American, women's and LGBTQIA+ history. You'll leave inspired by what one person's courage can accomplish – and what yours might too.

The Hayti Heritage Center

Experience the cultural heartbeat of Durham's original Black Wall Street. For five decades, this center has been a cornerstone of Durham's historic African American community, offering programming that entertains, educates and sparks meaningful dialogue.

Carolina Theatre: Confronting Change Exhibit

Witness where courage met resistance on a summer day in 1963. The Carolina Theatre's Confronting Change exhibit brings you face-to-face with Durham's own sit-in movement, when activists challenged segregation at this historic venue. You'll understand how a local theater became a battleground for equality – and how that fight reverberates in the century-old theater that still brings our community together today.

Royal Ice Cream: Where It All Began

See relics of the site of the South's first sit-in, three years before Greensboro made headlines. In 1957, Reverend Douglas Moore and a group of activists took seats at the Royal Ice Cream counter and refused to move, igniting a movement that would change the nation.

Living History, Modern Discovery

Our 21st-century Museum of Durham History tells the complete story of our city, while walking tours uncover hidden narratives in downtown streets and historic neighborhoods. You'll find lighter moments, too, like exhibits on the baseball card's origins alongside the weightier chapters that shaped a nation.

Come ready. Leave changed, equipped, and steeled for whatever comes next.