stagville plantation

This is a little known historical gem in Durham. Formerly a working plantation, original house, slave quarters, and the most beautiful handmade barn ever seen.

Off the beaten path, we missed it the first time we looked. Very interesting and several antebellum buildings remain. Sites are spread out. Be sure to see everything. Take bug spray especialy in the barn area. Free.

One would think the homestead of the family who represent such a huge influence on Durham's development would really be focused on the plantation wealth, its evolution, and the family's philanthropy and influence on the area, but it seemed the tour was primarily concerned with the lives of the slaves on the plantation and their living quarters, which although interesting period information and conducive to the AA tourism industry, are not unique to the Duke Homestead.

This is a very nice site, but there seems to be something lacking. Site management seems to feel cheated by not getting more attention, but they need to realize that they actually have to work at getting that attention. Just because you're a historic location doesn't mean everyone should go to your site

Stagville is a 30 minute drive from Raleigh, or at least from North Raleigh where we were coming from. It's North of Durham. We went on one of their music festival days. They do these all summer. It wasn't crowded. They had a nice bluegrass band playing near the slave cabins as well as some craftspersons. The slave cabins are very well preserved and interesting. The most interesting is the big barn, which was the largest agricultural structure in N.C. at the time of the Civil War. The plantation house across the street is also nice to see. They have a visitors center with a movie. We didn't see the movie. They had tour guides in all the buildings and by the time we made it to the visitors center we felt we had heard the Stagville story. I would suggest doing the visitors center first.I would definately recommend this site if you are the least bit interested in American and N.C. history. It's very well done.

We visited the Stagville Plantation and loved it. Despite this attraction being listed in Raleigh, it is actually north of Durham. The grounds are beautiful and have nice walking trails, but the guided tour was the best. The tour visits three sites, the plantation house, the slave quarters, and the large barn. The tour guide was great, and all three sites were intesting. Worth a trip!