Get to Know Leigh Farm Park
By Katrina Wood, Cultural Heritage Master Program Specialist
As one of DPR’s representatives at Leigh Farm Park, I often hear visitors say “I didn’t know this was here.” And you might not either! Leigh Farm Park is one of the department’s two cultural heritage parks, the other being West Point on the Eno. Leigh Farm is located near I-40 and Highway 54, right before you head into Chapel Hill. After driving past an office park and apartment complex the visitor enters the park’s gates and is treated to a view of a different era.
Each building on the Leigh Farm site contributes to the historical background. Though visitors begin at the park’s Visitor’s Center, the 1830s Leigh Farm House anchors the old farm. It features multiple additions that were built over 120 years as the Leigh Family (and their financial success) grew. Richard Stanford and Ann Leigh came from prominent families and continued to be prominent on their own land, a wedding gift from Stanford’s father. Stanford was a county magistrate whose general store and sawmill on New Hope Creek fulfilled many of his community’s needs with items like foodstuffs, marriage licenses, medicine, coffins, and more. The park also includes numerous farm buildings, two enslaved peoples’ cabins, and a 100-year-old scuppernong grapevine. Leigh Family members are buried in the park, in the family’s cemetery; this is typical for area 19th century farms.
Stanford and Ann Leigh had 15 children, not all of whom survived to adulthood. In 1861, Ann passed away giving birth to twins. Several years later, Stanford married Leathy Hudgins and added 5 more children to the family. The size of the Leigh Family tended to come with many needs in the way of sewing, cooking, and farming. The Leighs enslaved 16 people—1860 census records note that the majority of the enslaved people were children.
Following Stanford’s death in 1898, General Roberson purchased 87 acres of the farm (other parcels were inherited by Stanford Leigh’s children). Born into slavery, Roberson was able to accrue 237 acres by his death in 1927, quite an accomplishment given that the average farm size at the time was 100 acres. Leigh Family descendants and tenant farmers lived on Leigh Farm through the 1970s.
Today, Leigh Farm Park’s 91 acres offer visitors multiple options in its hiking trails, a disc golf course, guided and self-guided park tours, and frequent cultural programs. Our onsite partner, Piedmont Wildlife Center, maintains the park trails and offers nature camps, programs, and a bird sanctuary. I hope you’ll visit and glean something from Durham’s history through this Cultural Heritage Park.
As one of DPR’s representatives at Leigh Farm Park, I often hear visitors say “I didn’t know this was here.” And you might not either! Leigh Farm Park is one of the department’s two cultural heritage parks, the other being West Point on the Eno. Leigh Farm is located near I-40 and Highway 54, right before you head into Chapel Hill. After driving past an office park and apartment complex the visitor enters the park’s gates and is treated to a view of a different era.
Stanford and Ann Leigh had 15 children, not all of whom survived to adulthood. In 1861, Ann passed away giving birth to twins. Several years later, Stanford married Leathy Hudgins and added 5 more children to the family. The size of the Leigh Family tended to come with many needs in the way of sewing, cooking, and farming. The Leighs enslaved 16 people—1860 census records note that the majority of the enslaved people were children.
Today, Leigh Farm Park’s 91 acres offer visitors multiple options in its hiking trails, a disc golf course, guided and self-guided park tours, and frequent cultural programs. Our onsite partner, Piedmont Wildlife Center, maintains the park trails and offers nature camps, programs, and a bird sanctuary. I hope you’ll visit and glean something from Durham’s history through this Cultural Heritage Park.
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