Durham Scavenger Hunts – 48 Finds at Duke and Downtown

How it works

A 210-foot chapel tower, a garden where every flower is white and a courthouse with lawns on its roofs: these Durham scavenger hunts hold 48 finds, each free to see.

Read the full guide

Two hunts at Duke, two downtown

Duke Chapel and campus and Duke Gardens sit side by side. The old tobacco district and Downtown Durham join about two miles east. Choose an area in the menu, then press Print this list.

Proof on paper

Most finds ask for a name, a count or a year, so teams prove a find by writing it. The note under each is the judging rule.

Tips

Start among the turtles and terraces in the Gardens, then walk up to the chapel; its 210-foot tower shows the way.

Questions and answers

Can you do a scavenger hunt at Duke?

Yes. West Campus and Duke Gardens are open to visitors on foot. Stay on paths, keep out of dorms and classrooms, and keep voices low near the chapel.

Are these Durham scavenger hunts free?

Yes. Every find is seen from paths, plazas and sidewalks. The theater, arts center and ballpark are ticked from outside, and nothing needs a ticket or a purchase.

Is it good for kids?

Yes, with an adult in every team. Duke Gardens suits children best, with turtles, ponds and terraces. Keep back from the water and well back from the railroad tracks downtown.

All 48 finds

Duke Chapel and campus 12

A bell tower copied from an English cathedral The chapel's tower is modeled on Bell Harry Tower at Canterbury Cathedral. Count the pointed windows on one face.
A campus sign with a map on it Find the gardens on it and point the way.
A carved face or creature on a campus wall Sketch it.
A Gothic chapel tower 210 feet tall Duke Chapel, finished in 1935, stands on the highest ridge of West Campus. Tick it from the quad.
A housing quad named for a Duke president Craven, Crowell, Few and Kilgo quads are among them. Write the name on the one you found.
A pointed stone arch you can walk under Walk through it and write what is on the other side.
A stone wall in a dozen shades of brown and gray The chapel's stone came from the Duke Quarry near Hillsborough; the trim is Indiana limestone. Write three colors you see in one wall.
A tree growing in a stone courtyard Write what kind of leaf it has.
Carved stone figures around the chapel door Figures from Methodist and American history are carved over the entrance. Count the ones you can see.
The chapel's 50 bells ringing The heaviest bell weighs 11,200 pounds, the lightest 10.5. Stand near the tower and write the time you heard them.
The chapel's stained glass seen from outside The chapel has 77 windows. Count the ones along one side.
The quad in front of the chapel Julian Abele, the first Black graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's architecture school, designed West Campus. Count the doors facing the quad.

Show all 48 finds (36 more)

Duke Gardens 12

A flower bed with more than five colors By 1935 the lawns held 40,000 irises and 25,000 daffodils. Count the colors in bloom today.
A garden bench with a name plate Copy the first word.
A garden of plants native to the Southeast The H.L. Blomquist Garden of Native Plants is one of the gardens' four parts. Copy one plant name from a label.
A garden of trees and plants from Asia The Culberson Asiatic Arboretum is another part. Write one thing that tells you where its plants come from.
A garden where every flower is white The Page-Rollins White Garden sits in the Doris Duke Center Gardens. Name one white flower, or count its benches.
A long walk between two straight rows of trees The gardens hold 5 miles of allées, walks and paths. Walk one allée end to end.
A pine cone longer than your hand Measure it against a hand, then leave it where it lay.
A turtle sunning on a rock or log Count them. Do not wade in.
An arbor covered in vines Stand under it and write whether it lets in sun.
Garden terraces stepping down a hill The Terraces, in the Italianate style, were designed by Ellen Biddle Shipman. Count the levels.
The name of the mother the gardens honor The gardens are a memorial to Sarah Pearson Angier Duke. Find her name on a sign.
Water you can look into, in a pond or pool Keep back from the edge; write what moves in it.

The old tobacco district 12

A 10,000-seat ballpark from 1995 Tick it from the street and write the color of its seats if you can see them.
A brick tobacco factory from 1874 The W. T. Blackwell building is a National Historic Landmark and now holds apartments. Tick it from the street.
A brick warehouse from about 1900 with arched windows Hill Warehouse (1900) and Washington Warehouse (1902 to 1907) are in the district. Count the arches on one side.
A loading dock on an old warehouse Write how high it is compared with your knee.
A performing arts center built in 2008 The Durham Performing Arts Center opened as the largest in the Carolinas. Tick it from the plaza.
A rounded corner on a newer factory building The Fowler, Strickland and Crowe buildings (1939 to 1953) are Art Moderne. Point to a curve.
A tall brick smokestack Count the bands of color on it.
A walkway under or over the tracks Cross it and write what you see from the middle.
A year set into a brick wall Write it down.
Old painted lettering on a brick wall Copy one word you can still read.
Railroad tracks that made the town Durham grew around a railway depot set up in 1849. Stay well back and count the tracks.
Two identical warehouses with a courtyard between Brightleaf Square's two warehouses went up in 1904, each seven bays wide. Count the bays on one end.

Downtown Durham 12

A 17-story Art Deco tower from the 1930s The Hill Building, finished in 1937, had the Empire State Building's architects as consultants. Count its floors.
A 1902 mill with a six-story tower Durham Hosiery Mill in Edgemont, east of downtown, has a Romanesque Revival tower. Count the windows on the tower's front.
A ballpark from 1926 north of downtown Durham Athletic Park was the city team's home from 1926 to 1994. Tick it from Foster or Washington Street.
A bronze bull in a downtown plaza Write what it stands on. Do not climb it.
A clock on a downtown building Write whether it shows the right time.
A courthouse with lawns on its roofs The Durham County Justice Center opened in 2013 with roof lawns that catch rain. Spot green on a roof.
A mural on a downtown wall Write its biggest color.
A sign that calls Durham the Bull City Write where you found it.
A theater sign in downtown Durham The Carolina Theatre is owned by the city. Copy one word from its sign.
An arts park with a market pavilion Durham Central Park on Foster Street holds the farmers' market pavilion. Write the market day if it is posted.
Five Points Plaza Count the streets that meet here.
Parrish Street, once called Black Wall Street Black-owned businesses such as North Carolina Mutual, founded in 1898, centered here. Find a marker and write its title.

How this list was compiled: Written for this page in September 2026: 48 finds on foot in Durham, North Carolina, on Duke University's West Campus, in Sarah P. Duke Gardens, in the old tobacco district and downtown, sorted by area, all scored from public paths, plazas and sidewalks with nothing bought and no ticket. Nothing was copied from another list; no brand, bar or brewery is named. Levels are our judgment. Names, dates, sizes and places in the notes were checked on 2026-09-24 against English Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ followed by Durham,_North_Carolina, Duke_Chapel, Duke_University, Duke_University_West_Campus, Sarah_P._Duke_Gardens, American_Tobacco_Historic_District, W._T._Blackwell_and_Company, Watts_and_Yuille_Warehouses, Durham_Performing_Arts_Center, Durham_Bulls_Athletic_Park, Durham_Athletic_Park, Hill_Building, Durham_County_Justice_Center, Carolina_Theatre_(Durham), Durham_Central_Park, North_Carolina_Mutual_Life_Insurance_Company and Durham_Hosiery_Mill. Licence: own work