Green comes in many shades. When Duke Farms fully reopens on
Earth Day 2011, the general public will be granted the type of
access to the 2500 acre estate that they haven’t enjoyed in over
a century. It was on September 7, 1906 that tobacco king James
B. Duke announced that he was being forced to close the grounds
of his Hillsborough estate, known popularly as “Duke’s Park”,
because of vandalism. This was the first of several closings and
reopenings over the next few years until the estate was finally
closed for good. The estate had always been used for public
recreation since it was opened several years earlier. By 1906,
Duke was spending $4000 a week on upkeep – only to see his
beautiful grounds being destroyed by unruly picnickers who not
only overran the lawns with their automobiles, picked flowers,
and uprooted shrubbery, but also did extensive damage to the
electric light system and shattered the slab on the floor of the
spring house. The NEW Duke’s Park is being designed with the
environment in mind. I