FIELD TRIPS

Visit us for engaging, hands-on field trips. We've got something for all ages! 

Teachers can choose 1 of the below fieldtrip themes/focuses for their students. Each program will have 4 activities, which students will rotate between. We require at least 2 weeks advanced notice for scheduling.  Programs are 2 hours each, and we require a firm minimum of 15 participating students.

Please email us at duke@dncr.nc.gov for ticket pricing and information.

Duke Homestead is closed on Mondays and cannot offer field trips.

WORK AND PLAY: LIFE ON A 19TH CENTURY FARM 

KINDERGARTEN-8TH GRADE

What was life like in the mid 19th century for children? Children worked hard on farms and in factories, but also had time to play. Students will compare and contrast daily chores and work expectations between the past and present, and between rural and urban life. During this program, students will participate in a hands-on daily work activity, and also learn historic games. 

ARCHAEOLOGY AT DUKE HOMESTEAD 

3RD-6TH GRADE

While the Duke Family left many records, they did not write down all the details of their everyday lives while living at Duke Homestead from the 1850s-1870s. In this program, students learn basic principles of archaeology and its importance in uncovering the lives of people who did not or could not leave written records. Students will participate in hands-on archaeological simulations, explore the museum, and discover how to read artifacts to tell us about the past.  

DUKE'S EMPIRE: MONOPOLIES, WORKING CONDITIONS, AND HEALTH 

6TH-12TH GRADE

By the 1890s, the company Washington Duke and his sons started thirty years prior grew to be the largest tobacco trust in the United States, controlling up to 90% of tobacco production in the nation. In this program, students will learn about the monopolies, labor and racial inequalities in tobacco, and the health hazards and working conditions faced by those working in tobacco. Students will learn about the unique conditions that allowed North Carolina to become a stronghold for the tobacco industry in the United States, led by the Duke Family. Students will learn about monopolies and their influences on labor conditions and labor laws and will learn about how these monopolies solidify racial and gender inequality in the workplace. Students will participate in hands on activities related to 19th century manufacturing and processing. 

DAILY LIFE, MUSIC, AND CULTURAL ARTS 

KINDERGARTEN-8TH GRADE

During this program, students will gain more understanding on societal and cultural norms of the late 19th century through fashion, dance, and leisure activities. Students will also be able to compare and contrast what different groups may have participated in these activities, and will be able to note the labor divisions among class and race in the late 19th century. Students will participate in historic games and dance. 

THE AFRICAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: FREEDOM VS. EQUALITY 

KINDERGARTEN-12TH GRADE

Participants will learn about the experiences of African Americans in Durham and in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. Students will examine the lives and work of local African American communities from slavery to the Civil War to Reconstruction. Through the context of a small farm and home factory, participants will discuss enslaved labor in rural North Carolina, post-Emancipation inequalities, factory labor, sharecropping, and post-war Jim Crowe sentiments.

EARTH SCIENCES AND 19TH CENTURY HOMESTEADING 

6TH-12TH GRADE

Participants will learn about Earth Sciences, Plant Biology, and simple Chemistry through a variety of exciting hands-on activities rooted in learning about life, technology, and agricultural techniques on a 19th century homestead. Focusing on Earth Sciences, with activities also based on principles of plant biology and simple chemistry, this program will explore the role of science on a 19th century homestead. Students will review copies of period documents in order to understand the role that weather played in 19th century farming as well as actively complete some basic farm work themselves. Additionally, they will discuss the technology and role of medicine(laundry) in a 19th century home to understand how life has changed.