Twenty miles northwest of Raleigh, DURHAM found itself at the center of the nation's tobacco industry after farmer Washington Duke came home from the Civil War with the idea of producing cigarettes - by 1890 he and his three sons had formed the America Tobacco Company , one of the nation's most powerful businesses. The Duke Homestead Historical Site , 2828 Duke Homestead Rd, about a half-mile north of I-85 (April-Oct Mon-Sat 9am-5pm, Sun 1-5pm; Nov-March Tues-Sat 10am-4pm, Sun 1-4pm; free), incorporates an even-handed and lively museum covering the social history of tobacco farming.

In 1924 the Duke family's $40 million endowment to the previously small-scale Trinity College enabled it to expand into a world-respected medical research facility, swiftly changing its name to Duke University . It's well worth visiting the campus: the Museum of Art on Campus Drive (Tues, Thurs & Fri 10am-5pm, Wed 10am-9pm, Sat 11am-2pm, Sun 2-5pm; free; tel 919/684-5135) has good African, pre-Columbian, medieval and Asian collections. The Gothic west campus centers on the soaring cathedral-style chapel (tel 919/681-1704 for hours and services), which boasts one of the most powerful Flentrop organs in the world. Also on campus, the terraces and bowers of the beautifully landscaped Sarah P. Duke Gardens are a blaze of fragrance and color surrounded by pine forest, especially in May.

Elsewhere, the city has more of a blue-collar feel and takes pride in its vibrant black heritage . Based in a number of surprisingly small old plantation homes, set in 71 acres seven miles north of town in rural Treyburn Park, the Stagville Preservation Center (Mon-Fri 9am-4pm; free; tel 919/620-0120) is not a museum as such, but hosts various workshops and living history demonstrations, illustrating plantation life from the early 1800s to Reconstruction through the works of local black craftspeople.

At 5109 Farrington Rd, between Hwy-54 and Old Chapel Hill Road, and worth a detour, Patterson's Mill Country Store (closed Monday), at the end of a rutted country lane, looks like something straight out of The Waltons , selling everything from old signs and used books to crafts, candy, soap and spices. A back room is stuffed with vials and potions, and upstairs there's a bewildering panoply of tobacco memorabilia.