Guilford Courthouse National Military Park: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, National Park Service

Goetcheus, Cari; Callahan, Peter

Guilford Courthouse National Military Park (GUCO), in the city of Greensboro, North Carolina, consists of three contiguous areas subdivided by two heavily traveled roads. The gently rolling land is wooded and crossed by two creeks. A once-agrarian setting, the landscape has essentially been absorbed into the expanding suburban development of Greensboro. According to the National Register nomination, the park’s period of significance dates to 1781 when a Revolutionary War battle was fought here. A later amendment to the nomination added the National Park Service (NPS) Park Development Era years 1933-1942. A significant period of landscape development from 1887-1917, during the tenure of Guilford Battle Ground Company, has not been added to the nomination as little remains from this period. The extant significant features include the woodland setting, New Garden Road (central to the Revolutionary War battle), early commemorative monumentation, and Park Development structures and infrastructure. The Guilford Courthouse National Military Park is the site of the March 15, 1781 Battle of Guilford Courthouse, a major Southern Campaign battle of the Revolutionary War. The landscape encompasses the core of the battlefield where the armies of General Charles Cornwallis and General Nathanael Greene clashed. With a greater number of troops than The Earl Cornwallis, Greene positioned two militia lines to the west of the courthouse and used the forest, fences, and elevated geography near this sparsely-populated agricultural community to his strategic advantage. The Continental army was pushed back, reformed, and eventually retreated as Cornwallis claimed victory in Guilford. The casualties of the battle were not without consequence, resulting in Cornwallis’s eventual defeat in Yorktown, Virginia in Fall of 1781. This evolving landscape is also significant for the designed landscapes superimposed on it, primarily related to the Guilford Battle Ground Company and Park Development Eras. The site is notable for the preservation and commemoration efforts of the Guilford Battle Ground Company, which substantially influenced the acquisition, layout, and design of the site (1887-1917). The integrity of this period has been compromised by subsequent efforts of the NPS to restore the battlefield to its 1781 appearance, resulting in the removal of many monuments and recreational features built by the Guilford Battle Ground Company to enhance interpretation and pleasure of battlefield visitors. Finally, the site retains distinctive characteristics of a Public Works Administration (PWA) program to improve National Park facilities (1933-1942). Structures reflect a design approach adapted for new parks in the Eastern United States during this time, drawing upon compatible regional architecture. Prior to the battle, the site existed as a rural farming community consisting of a county courthouse, approximately four residential structures with associated outbuildings, and fields carved out of the woodland. Documentation and excavations at the site may yield further historical information about the site of the courthouse, torn down sometime during the mid-nineteenth century. At the core of the site, the current condition offers a woodland setting with scattered monumentation. Toward the periphery of the site, the encroaching development and modern uses of adjacent properties become increasingly apparent as a reminder of changing land use. The park retains a significant portion of the features that contributed to Guilford's historic identity at the time of the battle in 1781. Be they natural landforms, such as tactically important elevations, or cultural resources, such as the Salisbury (New Garden) Road trace, the extant historic features serve as tangible reminders of America’s struggle for independence.

Guilford Courthouse National Military Park: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, National Park Service

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