History Field Trips
 By Martha Shuping

We recently discovered two free and very enjoyable field trips in Greensboro. First, we visited The Greensboro Historical Museum. One room shows memorabilia of Dolley Madison, who grew up in the Greensboro area. Other exhibits relate to O'Henry, also a Greensboro native. (We read his short stories "The Ransom of Red Chief" and "The Gift of the Magi" as preparation before seeing the exhibit.) One section showed various stores and businesses, as they would have appeared in O'Henry's time. A room showed about 200 years of fashion history, with beautiful old clothing on display. Military guns and uniforms were shown in another room. Piedmont furniture of various periods, Indian artifacts and information on the various settlers are all displayed. The museum is small enough to be completely seen in two or three hours, with exhibits that are small enough to be enjoyed by children with short attention spans; you can move along quickly with a good bit of variety. Behind the museum are two houses from the late 1700's. One of the houses was used as a hospital during the Revolutionary War after the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. You can take a private guided tour on the hour, on request. The museum is on 130 Summit Street in Greensboro. They are closed Mondays but open Tuesday through Saturday 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., and Sunday 2:00-5:00 p.m. The phone number is 373-2043 and their website is www.greensboro.lib.nc.us/museum.

Our second discovery was the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, the actual battle site of the Revolutionary War Battle of Guilford Courthouse, located at 2232 New Garden Road, Greensboro. You can drive your car on a paved road, stopping to get out at numerous markers to read about specific people who participated in various parts of the battle, or to commemorate specific incidents from the battle. This moves along quickly, and Jennifer really loved it. The visitor center has a movie telling the story of the Revolution through the letters of a soldier to his family. It covers many of the events that led up to the Battle at Guilford Courthouse, as well as the final surrender at Yorktown which was soon after. A shorter video shows demonstration of muskets, rifles and cannons being loaded and fired, and other small exhibits show the uniforms and information about some of the key men of the Revolution and of this Battle. The bookstore at the visitor center is incredible, with a great collection of historical books for children, including coloring books of the various military uniforms, and of women of the Revolution. We spent about three hours here altogether, including both the battleground and visitor center, and may go back; we all enjoyed it. The twenty-minute movie would be worth seeing a second time. In good weather, you can walk the grounds rather than drive. Weekdays, the hours are 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. for the grounds and the center. For more information (and for weekend hours), call 288-1776. Both these activities could easily be done in a day by one homeschool family, or a small group of homeschooling friends, and fit in well with either U.S. or N.C. History classes for any age children.

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