Take a stroll along the Duke Gardens pathways

Before moving on down the road on U.S. Route 70 from Durham toward Raleigh, stop to smell the roses and other posies on the Duke University campus in the Sarah P. Duke Gardens, one of the university’s most treasured landmarks. 

The American Public Gardens Association ranks the 55-acre Duke Gardens as one of the top 10 public gardens in the country.

 

As background, Trinity College in Durham was rechartered in 1924 as Duke University, named in honor of Washington Duke, an American tobacco industrialist, who lived from 1820-1905. 

The benefactors were his sons, Benjamin Newton Duke (1855-1929) and James Buchanan “Buck” Duke (1856-1925). 

In the 1930s, Dr. Frederic M. Hanes, a neurologist and member of the founding faculty of Duke’s medical school, and a passionate horticulturist, developed a plan to convert a neglected, debris-ridden ravine near the hospital into a garden spot. 

He approached Sarah Pearson Angier Duke, the widow of Ben Duke, about his idea. She agreed in 1934 to contribute $20,000 to transform the site into a lush garden (about $405,500 in today’s dollars).

 

“By 1935, more than 100 flower beds were in glorious bloom in the area that is now the South Lawn,” a university spokesperson said. “They included 40,000 irises, 25,000 daffodils, 10,000 small bulbs and assorted annuals.” 

Heavy rain destroyed the original garden, but Dr. Hanes refused to give up. After Sarah Duke died in 1936, he worked with her daughter, Mary Duke Biddle, to rebuild the gardens bigger and better than ever. 

Ellen Biddle Shipman, a pioneer in American landscape design, was selected to design the plans for both the construction and the plantings for the new gardens. The “new and improved” Sarah P. Duke Gardens was dedicated in April 1939.

 

There are five miles of allées, walks and pathways throughout the botanic gardens. More than 300,000 visitors from all over the world visit annually. Admission is free, and the gardens are open from 8 a.m. to dusk, 365 days a year. 

It’s an easy walk from the gardens to the majestic Duke Chapel, the centerpiece of West Campus. The Duke family wanted the church to be the central building in order to have a profound influence on the spiritual lives of the students. 

Its cornerstone was laid on October 22, 1930. It was formally dedicated on June 2, 1935.

 

Entombed in the “Memorial Chapel” are Washington Duke and his two sons, Ben Duke and Buck Duke. 

Down below in the basement is the “Crypt,” which contains the remains of other Duke dignitaries. The crypt seats about 30 people for prayer meetings and Bible studies. 

“Tuesdays in the Crypt,” an evening worship, became a Duke tradition. 

Needless to say, the Crypt is hallowed (if not haunted) ground a Duke.

 

More uplifting, perhaps, is the bronze statue titled “The Sower,” which was acquired by Buck Duke in Leipzig, Germany, and installed on the Duke campus in 1914. The subject is a 17th century peasant sowing his fields, planting seeds from his knapsack by hand.

 

The university archivist said: “At a time women students were permitted only three dates a week and these were carefully defined, students could stroll about certain areas of campus without it counting as an allowed date.” 

Hence, “The Sower” assumed the role of Cupid. “Couples started placing pennies in the statue’s open hand; if the coins were gone the next time the couple visited, the gentleman could claim a kiss.” 

The campus caretaker was instructed to collect the coins regularly and deposit them in the university coffers.