He commissioned one of his female guides to begin the research; however, the project was never completed due to an unforeseen stoppage. The idea of the woman's history and heritage tour was shelved until 2009 when Mr. Whipple decided to dust off and complete the project himself.
"The timing is a lot better for this type of tour because women have made a much larger impact on the Queen City since 2002" says Whipple. "Back then there were just a hand full of women contributors to highlight, today, you have a much larger pool of notable women to highlight which allows for at least a three hour tour."
Charlotte's first Women History and Heritage Tour™ highlights the contributions of notable area women from the past and present such as Doris Duke (Duke Energy) who was born on November 22, 1912 in New York City. She was the only child of James and Nanaline Duke of Durham, NC. At the early age of 12, she became the richest woman/little girl in the world after inheriting her father′s fortune worth reportedly $300 million dollars. In order to become the sole heir of her father′s estate she had to sue her own mother whom some blamed for his death in 1925. She reportedly never had any real childhood friends and hence was known as the poor little rich girl.