In the short time that I have been in Durham, I have primarily been enjoying the downtown area. Anything beyond downtown Durham and my mind map begins to get a little fuzzy. One of the many areas that I enjoy and that interest me is the American Tobacco Campus (ATC).
The American Tobacco Campus has been a Durham fixture since the early 1900’s. I am told that before production ceased in the late 80’s, you could smell the sweet scent of the tobacco being processed downtown. Not in a burning, secondhand smoke kind of way, but a smell of sweet, rich curing leaves. Nearly a century after being built, the warehouses were abandoned and left to deteriorate.
The previously abandoned American Tobacco Campus was repurposed and reopened in 2004. It has since grown to house many businesses, offices, restaurants and shops. The red, brick smoke stacks still help define the Durham skyline.
Burt’s Bees headquarters sits at the north end of campus. The Art Institute of Raleigh-Durham and the Durham Bulls Athletic Park help bookend the south. Immediately east is the ever-popular Durham Performing Arts Center. Live music is played on the lawn underneath the shadow of the large Lucky Strike water tower. The base of the water tower doubles as a stage.
Looking through windows while walking through the ATC, you will see a variety of businesses and office spaces. Many contain beautiful exposed brick, polished hard wood, exposed ventilation, cement floors and steel supports. The combination of the historic red brick warehouses with the modern urban style offices go hand in hand. You may even wander into the underground corridor where tech companies set behind glass walls and recline in their chars to view multiple monitors. Personally, I would go down there for the free arcade games.
The vibrant and diverse downtown area is only elevated by the rich history that it has experienced. If you know which windows to look through, and aren’t afraid to press your face near a dusty windowpane, you can see the old tobacco processing equipment. Almost as if you were looking through a window to the past.
