Dispatches From the Parks: Guilford Courthouse National Military Park
While the National Park Service does a solid job of preserving some of the American Revolutionary War’s biggest battles (Battles of Saratoga at Saratoga National Historical Park and the Siege of Yorktown at Colonial National Historical Park), the Service also does a pretty good job at preserving some of the lesser-known battles of the war. One of those is Guilford Courthouse National Military Park in North Carolina. The Battle of Guilford Court House began the campaign that led to the Siege of Yorktown even if the battle itself resulted in a British victory. I was able to visit the park just last week and found the park to be quite interesting.
The best place to start your visit to this park is obviously the visitor center. The visitor center is one of the more memorable ones in the entire park system. The park rangers there do a great job of orientating you with the area as soon as you walk in. Besides the friendly presence of the rangers, a classical soundtrack plays throughout the building. It’s reminiscent of the one at George Washington Birthplace National Monument in Virginia. Beyond the ranger desk is a pretty sizable gift shop, but the most interesting portion of the visitor center is to the left where the main exhibit is located. The main exhibit does a great job of not only introducing the Battle of Guilford Court House to you, but also giving an overview of the entire American Revolutionary War. Taking time with everything in the exhibit will only cost you about thirty minutes of a time, so the exhibit really does a good job of cramming in a lot of information into a rather small building.
Beyond the visitor center you can either take a driving or walking tour. The walking tour goes to a lot more of the commemorative statues of the grounds, but they both hit the same major points. I did a partial tour by walking the grounds as I was running out of time. However, I was able to enjoy a beautiful fall day there. The fall foliage was really kicking in. The area does seem to be a favorite area for locals to get some walking in, so the park was rather crowded even though I went on a weekday. The highlight of the tour comes rather quickly as you walk from the visitor center. It’s a plaza that has a rather large statue of Nathanael Greene, American hero and general for the colonies during this particular battle, as well as the tomb of multiple signers of the Declaration of Independence (such as William Hooper).
If you are able to go to Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, it really is a nice day trip. Be sure to set enough time to make the most of the visitor center as it is the true highlight of the park.
