Durham welcomes residents to new park that was historic farmstead

Curtis Booker spent the last 40 years and fought an interstate to preserve the story that his family’s farmstead tells about Durham.

Booker, 66, joined Durham city and Parks and Recreation officials Saturday to cut the ribbon on the new Leigh Farm Park. The entrance is off N.C. 54, just east of Interstate 40. Booker got the state to reroute the highway and save the farm, but it took his house instead, he said.

The property was deeded to Preservation North Carolina, which signed an agreement to have the city develop and use the farm as a historical park.

“It’s been quite a journey involving lots and lots and lots of wonderful people, many of whom are no longer with us, like (environmentalist) Margaret Nygard and (former county commissioner) Becky Heron,” Booker said. “They worked tirelessly to see that this happened.”

Leigh Farm Park, which dates to the 19th century, is nearly 83 acres and mostly wooded. About 7 acres have been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1975. That core includes the Leigh House, built around 1835; two slave cabins; a former speakeasy moved there in the 1950s; and a tobacco barn, dairy, and the smokehouse and corn crib, both of which were raided by Union soldiers in 1865.

Family patriarch Richard Stanford Leigh had 20 children and 89 grandchildren, Booker has said, and roughly a thousand Durham-area families are descendants today.

The city’s renovation of the property started in 2007. It now has a visitor’s center – Durham’s old, doublewide “Amshack” train depot, which was moved to the property in 2009 when the building was replaced – disability access and paved parking. The city also renovated the buildings as part of the $1.5 million project, paid for with voter-approved bond funding.

The park also is home to three local groups: Piedmont Wildlife Center; Bountiful Backyards, an edible landscaping company that manages the orchard and garden; and the Durham-Orange Recreational Disc Association. It also has an 18-hole recreational- and professional-level disc golf course.

Zion and Perry Tankard, of Durham, were among a few dozen families who spent the morning wandering the park with their children. The family is a strong supporter of Durham Parks and Recreation programs, Zion Tankard said. She was excited to hear what the city was doing with the farm-park.

They’ve been to other African-American history sites, but being inside the slave cabin at Leigh Farm Park was surreal, she said.

“It just makes the hair stand on your neck,” she said. “It brings out an emotional suspense in you. You can read about it in books, but it’s nothing like when you visit it. That’s why I want my kids to have that experience.”

This story was originally published October 11, 2014 at 6:45 PM with the headline "Durham welcomes residents to new park that was historic farmstead."