Guilford County celebrates its 250th birthday in 2021! Established on April 1, 1771, Guilford was named for an English Earl with royal connections, but the county was formed to segregate early settlers who did not welcome royal rules. To celebrate Old Guilford’s semiquincentennial, Preservation Greensboro will hold a series of monthly lectures on Zoom to…
Location: Zoom Approximate Length: 45 minutes to one hour This meeting serves as Preservation Greensboro’s annual General Membership Meeting that will include election of board and presentation of Preservation Awards. In addition to awards and a community update, attendees will learn more about special new initiatives of the organization. Dr. Goldie Wells will provide an…
Greensboro’s Civil Rights history is unparalleled in North Carolina. With keystone institutions such as NCA&T, Bennett College, and Dudley High School, Greensboro has (at times) been a national leader in Civil Rights. According to historian William H. Chafe, “In some ways Greensboro simply exemplified national trends; in others, it helped to create them, particularly with…
Older than Greensboro and High Point, the Town of Jamestown holds deep roots in Guilford County history. The area was settled by Quakers in 1752 who established grist and saw mills along the forks of the Deep River. By the time of the arrival of the North Carolina Railroad in 1856, others settled the community,…
Over the course of our 250 years, Guilford County witnessed three major turning points in American history: The Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and the Civil Rights Movement. Our connection with the Revolutionary War is memorialized at the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park. The conflict was the largest battle of the Southern Campaign, and it…
The Tour of Historic Homes & Gardens is one of our favorite fundraising events each year, and we won't dare cancel it due to COVID-19! So, like last year...we are going virtual! The tour will go live on our website for a two-week window, from May 15th through May 31st. Tour videos include detailed 7-minute…
Guilford County is unusual in North Carolina, and perhaps the American South for having a treasure trove of Black historic sites that include the acclaimed International Civil Rights Museum and Center, the Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum at Palmer Memorial Institute, and the John Coltrane Childhood Home, as well as a significant collection of institutions such…
College Hill has the distinction of being Greensboro’s best-preserved nineteenth century neighborhood. The narrow streets lined with Queen Anne cottages and charming bungalows are enhanced by offbeat boutiques and eateries that cater to a hipster clientele from nearby colleges. Packed with history and centrally located, College Hill blends quaint architecture with amenities to create one…
As Greensboro grew to become the second largest city in North Carolina by 1970, the city gained affluence through income from textiles, cigarettes, electronics, banking, and insurance. Wealth and prosperity led to corporate confidence which translated into progressive designs that drew from global conversations on architecture. For the decades between 1930 and 1980, Greensboro was…
North Carolina A&T State University is the largest historically black college or university in the United States. Founded by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1891, it is one of only two in the state to be established under the provisions of the Morrill Land-Grant Act, and the first for people of color. It is…
Established among Quaker settlements in 1859 at the intersection of the Great Fayetteville and Western Plank Road and the North Carolina Railroad, High Point was destined to be a center of commerce and manufacturing from its start. Growth of the furniture industry in the 1890s and textile manufacturing in the twentieth century brought great wealth…
The East White Oak School was constructed by the Cone family around 1916 to serve grades 1-5 for children of African American mill workers. It has been on the National Register since 1991 based on Criteria A - through associations with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history…