Guilford Courthouse park preserves Revolutionary War battlefield in Greensboro

About six miles north of downtown Greensboro, Guilford Courthouse National Military Park preserves the ground where the Battle of Guilford Courthouse was fought on March 15, 1781. It stays open as a free public landscape rather than a sealed monument. For families, newcomers, and anyone hosting out-of-town guests, that means an easy way to see where the battle happened.

Why this park still matters in Greensboro

Guilford Courthouse was the nation’s first national park established at a Revolutionary War site, and the park’s mission is to interpret, commemorate, and preserve the battlefield, monuments, and graves tied to that fight. It preserves about 250 acres of the original battlefield. The site is an urban battlefield in the middle of Greensboro.

It works as a no-cost weekend outing, a quick lesson for children, and a place to bring relatives who want a sense of local identity beyond restaurants and shopping centers. Guilford County does not have many free attractions with national significance, and this one pairs both without requiring reservations or a long drive.

Start at the visitor center

The best place to begin is the Battlefield Visitors Center at 2332 New Garden Road, Greensboro, NC 27410. The park is open every day from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. The visitor center is open Wednesday through Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and there is no entrance fee and no timed entry requirement.

Inside, you will find museum exhibits, two interpretive films, a park store, and restrooms. Start here to get a map before heading onto the battlefield, which is easier to follow once you understand how the troop movements unfolded. If you want a fuller introduction before walking outside, the center also shows a 31-minute dramatized film, *Another Such Victory*, and offers an illustrated Battle Map program.

A free self-guided audio tour through the National Park Service app gives first-time visitors another option. That is especially helpful if you are visiting with children, older relatives, or guests who prefer to move at their own pace. The audio tour lets you hear the story on the ground, where terrain and distance matter more than they do on a classroom map.

What you can see on the battlefield

The park includes historic structures, trails, monuments, and a self-guided driving and tour road. The battlefield itself holds 28 monuments, and one memorial contains the graves of William Hooper and John Penn, two North Carolina signers of the Declaration of Independence.

Historic Hoskins Farm is open daily, though its buildings are open only for special events. That means the larger park stays available for walking and exploring even when the farm structures are not hosting a program. If you want a quieter visit, the park’s walking and biking access gives you an easy way to take in the landscape without trying to do everything in one stop.

The battle in plain numbers

The Battle of Guilford Courthouse pitted General Nathanael Greene’s American forces against Charles, Earl Cornwallis, and his British and Hessian army at a small courthouse community that is now part of Greensboro. National Park Service estimates put the fight at about 2.5 hours, with roughly 4,400 Americans against about 1,900 British and Hessian soldiers. The British won the field but took such heavy losses that the campaign shifted in a way that weakened their position.

The park FAQ puts British Crown Forces casualties at 28 percent and American casualties at 6 to 7 percent. Cornwallis later summed up the fight this way: “I never saw such fighting since God made me. The Americans fought like demons.”

The fuller story the park is now telling

National Park Service research documents at least 44 Black Patriots at Guilford Courthouse, and the park has a Juneteenth program focused on their service. It also offers interpretation on women at the battle and on Quakers in the surrounding New Garden community, including how that pacifist community still ended up caring for wounded soldiers and being pulled into the conflict.

The park has also made its participant research more accessible. Its soldier database can document more than 2,500 American veterans, and in May 2024 the park launched a project to transcribe pension files for veterans of the battle.

How to build a visit that fits a Guilford County day

A good visit usually works in layers. Start at the Battlefield Visitors Center for the exhibits and film, then use the map or audio tour to walk the battlefield, and finish with the tour road, the monuments, or Historic Hoskins Farm if your schedule allows. If you are showing someone around Guilford County, that sequence gives them both the story and the setting without requiring a full day.

Because it is open daily and free, it can fit between errands, a lunch outing, or a Saturday afternoon drive. With the nation’s 250th anniversary approaching, the park is also building special programs.