Durham (North Carolina) is a city in central North Carolina and seat of Durham County, over the Eno River and the Piedmont Plateau. Durham is an important center for medicine, education, and research; it is nearby Research Triangle Park, the nation's largest university-related research park and home to numerous companies involved in advanced scientific development. The city has also manufacturing facilities producing electrical components and communications equipment and is also a center of the insurance industry. The city is served by Raleigh/Durham International Airport.
Duke University (1838), North Carolina Central University (1910), as well as a community college can be found in the city. Of interest in Durham are the homestead of the Duke family, founders of the American Tobacco Company and patrons of Duke University; Duke University Museum of Art; North Carolina Museum of Life and Science, an interactive science museum; and the Downtown Historic District. Bennett Place State Historic Site is the location of the surrender in April 1865 of the Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston to the Union general William T. Sherman during the American Civil War. Nearby is West Point to the Eno, a historic mill community. The American Dance Festival takes place in Durham each summer season.
Durham began during the early 1850s as a stop for the North Carolina Railroad, on land donated by Dr. Bartlett Durham, for whom the city is named. It incorporated within 1867, and in the ensuing years its economy grew to be based on the tobacco and textile industries.