Greensboro

About Greensboro

Greensboro was laid out in 1808 around a courthouse square in the middle of Guilford County, and it still sits at the crossroads of North Carolina, where Interstates 40, 73 and 85 meet. The largest city in the Piedmont Triad grew on textiles, tobacco and furniture, and today it pairs a compact downtown with leafy neighborhoods and more than 70 miles of trails.

History is the main reason many visitors come. In 1960, four college students sat down at the Woolworth's lunch counter on Elm Street and launched the sit-in movement; the building now houses the International Civil Rights Center and Museum. North of town, Guilford Courthouse National Military Park preserves the 1781 battlefield that helped set up the British surrender at Yorktown, and Blandwood Mansion is one of the earliest Tuscan Italianate houses in the country.

Downtown Elm Street mixes antique shops, galleries, restaurants and the restored Carolina Theatre, and First Friday brings out crowds every month. Families head to the Greensboro Science Center, the Bog Garden boardwalk and the Arboretum, while summer evenings mean minor league baseball downtown and concerts or college basketball at the Greensboro Coliseum.