The story of Guilford College/New Garden begins around 1750 with Quaker settlers emigrating from Pennsylvania and New England. They formed a worship group and erected a meeting house approximately six miles west of the present center of Greensboro.

A stone on the Guilford College campus marks a corner of the property purchased in 1757 for New Garden Friends Meeting and Burial Ground.

New Garden was a peaceful farming village when British and American soldiers skirmished on the morning of March 15, 1781 leading up to the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. The meeting house was used as a field hospital and Quakers cared for wounded soldiers and buried the dead.

Quakers were actively involved in the anti-slavery movement and New Garden was part of the network of trails and safe places used by runaway slaves. The first documented case of Underground Railroad activity was in 1819 when Vestal Coffin aided local slave John Dimrey.

After the Civil War New Garden Quakers helped previously enslaved African Americans to establish communities such as Collins Grove, Persimmon Grove and Woodyside.

The Story

A stone on the Guilford College campus marks a corner of the property purchased in 1757 for

New Garden Friends Meeting and Burial Ground.

Guilford College New Garden

Heritage Community

A Guide to Historical Markers &

Points of Interest

The Heritage Community Program recognizes areas of Greensboro that have important stories to tell

about the City’s past.

greensboro-nc.gov/HeritageCommunities

Archdale Hall

New Garden Hall

Founders Hall

Greensboro-High Point Airport circa 1940

In 1890 the Town of Guilford College was chartered. By 1935 the population had grown to 2500. After World War II, the rural character of the community began to give way to suburban expansion. Family farms were subdivided to meet the growing demand for housing and commercial development. In 1972 the Town of Guilford College was annexed by the City of Greensboro.

Today, street names are reminders of the community’s rich history. Friendly Avenue is a reference to the Religious Society of Friends. Dolley Madison Road was named for the wife of President James Madison. Cannon Road was named for Joseph Gurney Cannon who was Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1903 to 1911. Muir’s Chapel Road was named for Reverend Thacker Muir of Muir’s Chapel United Methodist Church, established in 1822. Lindley Road was named for the Quaker family that established Lindley Nurseries, the first of its kind in North Carolina. J. Van Lindley donated part of his vast land holdings for Lindley Park and Lindley Field, now Piedmont Triad International Airport.

The CollegeState Highway Historical Markers

Points of Interest

The Town

Guilford College began as New Garden Boarding School in 1837, the first co-educational institution of higher learning in the South.

Built in 1885, Archdale Hall is the oldest building on campus. It was named for the Quaker governor of the Carolinas in the late 1600s, John Archdale.

New Garden Hall, built in 1912 in the Neo-Classical Revival style, was the meeting house until the present building was constructed.

The current Founders Hall is a 1970s replica of the 1837 building that housed the New Garden Boarding School.

New Garden Friends Meeting and Cemetery Revolutionary War soldiers are buried here along with notable figures like Vestal Coffin, regarded as the first “conductor” of the Underground Railroad, and legendary baseball players Rick and Wes Ferrell.

Randall Jarrell Randall Jarrell taught at the Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina (now UNCG) and was one of Greensboro’s foremost literary figures and Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (U.S. Poet Laureate).

Battle of New Garden The skirmishes that took place in the morning on the day of the pivotal Revolutionary War Battle of Guilford Courthouse are known as the Battle of New Garden.

Guilford College Listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1990, Guilford College is the state’s fourth oldest degree-granting institution and the only four-year college in North Carolina established by the Religious Society of Friends.

Levi Coffin Levi Coffin was a leader in the abolition movement and known as the “President of the Underground Railroad”.

Mary Nicholson Mary Nicholson, one of the country’s first female pilots, delivered planes from factories in the United States to the Royal Air Force in England. She died in a crash in 1943 delivering planes.

Dolley Madison Born Dolley Payne in a log house in 1768, she was the unofficial White House hostess during Thomas Jefferson’s administration.

Site of Ballinger Ordinary Ballinger Ordinary was an eighteenth century inn that hosted President George Washington during his tour of Southern battlegrounds.

Dealus Ballinger and Henri Ballinger Farmsteads The Ballinger property was originally a land grant and portions of the two farmhouses date to the early nineteenth century.

Site of Jefferson Standard Country Club In the 1920s Jefferson Standard Life Insurance Company purchased farmland that once belonged to Vestal and Alethea

Coffin for a country club for their employees that operated for over 75 years. Today it is the site of the Kathleen Clay Edwards Family Branch Library.

Jefferson Village In 1946 the Jefferson Standard Life Insurance Company built homes on their property for employees returning from military service during World War II. The area was dubbed “Jefferson Village”.

Arcadia Built in 1910 for Guilford College president Lewis Lyndon Hobbs and his wife Mary Mendenhall Hobbs, it was moved from its original location on New Garden Road. The Hobbs hosted national and state dignitaries at Arcadia. It later became the center of a summer camp for boys and girls.

Curt Victorious In 1939, Jewish economist Curt Victorius and his wife Gertrude fled Nazi Germany with the help of Guilford College. They lived in one of the faculty houses on campus and Curt taught economics at Guilford for the next 30 years.

Henri and Dealus Ballinger Houses

circa 1946

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photo courtesy of Carol W. Martin/Greensboro History Museum Collection

photo courtesy of Greensboro History Museum

Guilford College Woods During the Civil War “The Woods” was a hiding place for Confederate deserters and Quaker men avoiding conscription. Today it is an oasis of unspoiled natural beauty and a wildlife sanctuary in a rapidly developing part of the city.

Coble Farm The Coble farm was one of the last active farms in Greensboro. The dairy barn was built with the help of German prisoners-of-war quartered at the Overseas Replacement Depot on Summit Avenue.

Guilford College Entrance Gates In 1915 brick gate posts capped with stone were constructed at the intersection of Friendly Road and Guilford Station Road (now College Road) to

mark the entrance to the campus.

Worth House Guilford College acquired the Worth farm around 1930. The house was remodeled for the president’s office and the pastures were used for athletic fields and Dana Auditorium.

Dolley Madison Cottage and Monument This replica of a one story Quaker cottage was moved from West Friendly Avenue to George White Road. A monument to Dolley Madison placed in front of the cottage remains in its original location.

Mackie Furniture Company In 1955 the Mackies signed a letter by a Guilford College religion professor that appeared in the local newspaper calling for school desegregation. Many of the signers lost their jobs and the Mackies went out of business.

Hodgin House Built for the Hodgin family around 1904, this unusual house with its fieldstone chimney and porch piers is one of the most architecturally distinctive structures in the community.

J. H. Armfield House Armfield is a prominent name in the community. William Armfield fought in the battles of New Garden and Guilford Court House and was Sheriff of Guilford County from 1820-1825. Guilford College’s football complex is named the Armfield Athletic Center.

Kimrey-Haworth House The 1925 Kimrey-Haworth House is an exceptional example of the Italian Renaissance Revival style. Samuel Lee Haworth was a national Quaker leader and taught religion at Guilford College.

Hinshaw House In 1957 the Hinshaw farm on Lindley Road became the Boxwood Acres subdivision. The farmhouse was left standing on a separate lot.

McCracken House Portions of this well preserved farmhouse are said to date from the 1850s. It was the home of Dr. Franklin J. McCracken who, legend has it, accepted money and livestock for his medical services.

Persimmon Grove A.M.E. Church The Persimmon Grove A.M.E. Church began in 1882 in a one room log building on the old Winston-Salem Road (now West Market Street). In 1958 the present church opened on Dolley Madison Road. There has always been a close relationship between the Persimmon Grove community and Guilford College. The college

provided employment for many of the residents, and in 1971 the New Garden Friends School opened in the basement of the church for children of all colors and backgrounds.

Guilford Grange Hall The Guilford Grange Hall was constructed in 1948. Grange Halls have been the center of social activity in rural communities since The Order of Patrons of Husbandry was founded in 1867 to provide assistance to farmers.

Site of Guilford Public School In 1924 Guilford Public School was constructed on Guilford Station Road (now College Road). It served students from elementary grades through high school.

Guilford College Fire Station Built in 1946 the Guilford College Fire Station was the first rural fire station in Guilford County and one of the first in the state.

Leroy Edgerton House Edgerton built this house on Lindley Road around 1925 with timber harvested

from his farm. He used yellow quartz for the foundation and chimneys that came from the McCulloch Gold Mill in Jamestown.

Site of Guilford College Station Generations of Guilford College students arrived by train and were escorted to campus in a horse drawn carriage.

John Woody, who taught surveying, had his students lay out a road between Founders Hall and the train station in the 1880s.

Persimmon Grove Cemetery The Persimmon Grove Cemetery is still in use today.

Woodyside In the late 1800s Quakers John and Mary Woody purchased land and made lots available to African Americans so they could build homes. In 1924, the Woody’s son Waldo donated land for a Rosenwald School. Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears, Roebuck and Company, helped build over 5,000 schools for black children in the rural south between 1917 and 1932.

Westridge Road Westridge Road originally served as a by-pass around the Old Salisbury Road (now New Garden Road) which became impassible in mud season. Many Mid-Century Modern homes were built on Westridge Road in the 1950s. The ample windows and open floor plans were ideal for taking full advantage of the natural setting.

Dr. McCracken House and Office

Woodyside Colored School

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photo courtesy of Greensboro History Museum

photo courtesy of Greensboro History Museum

copyrighted image by William Mangum

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Persimmon Grove Cemetery

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One of the surviving homes from the Persimmon Grove

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This giant tulip poplar in the Guilford College Woods dates

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