Guilford Courthouse, NC

Local Events

Reenactments, heritage festivals, and living history programs — experience the Revolution where it happened.

Upcoming This Year

May

Festival

Colonial Heritage Festival at Tannenbaum Historic Park

Tannenbaum Historic Park, Greensboro, NC

An annual living history festival held at the Tannenbaum Historic Park, located adjacent to the Guilford Courthouse battlefield. The event showcases 18th-century colonial backcountry life with demonstrations of blacksmithing, weaving, open-hearth cooking, and woodworking. Costumed interpreters portray militia families and discuss the daily lives of the settlers who lived in the Guilford County area during the Revolutionary War era. Children's activities and colonial games are featured.

FreeTypically held in spring, often in May; contact Tannenbaum Historic Park or the Greensboro History Museum to confirm exact dates.

Jul

Ceremony

Independence Day Celebration at Guilford Courthouse National Military Park

Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, Greensboro, NC

A Fourth of July patriotic observance held at the park featuring readings of the Declaration of Independence, musket and cannon firing demonstrations by living history volunteers in Continental Army uniforms, fife and drum performances, and ranger-led talks about the role North Carolina and the Southern Campaign played in achieving American independence. The Nathanael Greene Monument serves as a focal point for the ceremony.

FreeTypically held July 4 or the nearest weekend; contact Guilford Courthouse National Military Park to confirm scheduling.More info →

Oct

Lecture

Lecture Series: The Southern Campaign and the Road to Yorktown

Guilford Courthouse National Military Park Visitor Center, Greensboro, NC

An annual lecture or speaker series hosted at or in partnership with Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, featuring historians and authors discussing the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution. Topics have included Nathanael Greene's strategy, the Race to the Dan, Cornwallis's march from Guilford Courthouse to Yorktown, and the experiences of Loyalists and Patriots in the Carolina backcountry. Often held in autumn to connect thematically to the October 1781 British surrender at Yorktown.

FreeTypically scheduled in October near the anniversary of the Yorktown surrender; contact the park or Greensboro History Museum to confirm dates and speakers.

Earlier This Year

Mar

ReenactmentFeatured

Battle of Guilford Courthouse Anniversary Reenactment and Commemoration

Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, Greensboro, NC

Annual living history reenactment and commemorative ceremony marking the March 15, 1781 Battle of Guilford Courthouse. The weekend event features a large-scale tactical battle reenactment with hundreds of costumed participants representing American and British forces, artillery demonstrations, period military encampments, colonial civilian life demonstrations, and a wreath-laying ceremony at the battlefield monuments. Rangers and historians offer guided battlefield walks along the American defensive lines and the New Garden Road approach route.

FreeHeld on or near the weekend closest to March 15; typically a two-day event on Saturday and Sunday. Check with Guilford Courthouse National Military Park for exact dates each year.More info →

Mar

Guided Tour

Guilford Courthouse Battlefield Guided Anniversary Tours

Guilford Courthouse National Military Park Visitor Center, Greensboro, NC

Special ranger-led walking tours of the Guilford Courthouse battlefield offered around the battle anniversary each March. Participants follow the course of the engagement from the first American line of North Carolina militia through the second Virginia line and up to the desperate fighting at the third Continental line near the courthouse site. Tours cover tactical decisions by Greene and Cornwallis, the terrain's role in the battle, and the aftermath that sent Cornwallis retreating toward Wilmington.

FreeOffered on multiple days around mid-March in conjunction with the anniversary commemoration; check the NPS event calendar for specific tour times.More info →