Getting to know Greensboro, North Carolina…

In March, we spent a few weeks in North Carolina near Greensboro and the Triad area, volunteering with cleanup efforts after the ice storms brought down trees and damaged houses.  While we were there, the littles and I were able to explore the area, and we found so many fun, family-friendly stops!

One of our favorite finds was the Greensboro Historical Museum, a free museum that is located in scenic downtown Greensboro (there are several fabulous destinations in downtown Greensboro, all within easy walking distance of each other).
The museum’s historic brick building houses a myriad of engaging and interesting displays covering the history of Greensboro. While the first floor is mainly museum offices, the second level of the museum opens with lovely reproduction rooms out of a local mansion, a pottery collection, and a tasteful gift shop where you can find all sorts of fun Greensboro branded items.  Following this is also a section that covers, chronologically, the history of Greensboro from settlers to present day.  We especially enjoyed the fun hands-on activity in the Revolutionary War section; we found that we were, hands-down, American Patriots (as opposed to holding Quaker (pacifist) or Tory views – no surprise there! LOL!).   There were even exhibits on local citizens who have served in the military, a section of the original “Woolworth’s” counter which was the site of the historic civil rights sit-in, and Greensboro in the media.

On the third floor, the museum continues with a room full of photos of everyday life by a local professional photographer.  I was surprised at how interesting I found this exhibit! Upstairs is also the home of the John M & Isabelle F Murphy Collection of Confederate Firearms – considered to be the world’s largest collection of Confederate-held Civil War era long guns.  The guns each have information about their owners and use in battle, and the area has wonderfully detailed painting depicting CW scenes.  We spent a considerable amount of time in this area as the stories of the men behind the firearms were fascinating!
The 3rd floor also contains a small mock section of ‘The Gate City’, which is the nickname for Greensboro as it was a major railway hub.

Feel free to take a lunch with you to enjoy in the museum’s outside acreage; the landscape is appealingly dotted with flowering trees and bushes, and there are several old homes/buildings on the grounds.

The Greensboro Historical Museum was a great first stop for our family to learn about the area we were visiting!  We spent several hours here, and would recommend you set aside at least 2 hours to walk through the museum if you like to read about some of the exhibits.  There are restrooms available, the museum has elevators and is ADA accessible, and the price is just right!