Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:15 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

REDEEMED FROM

OBLIVION:

An Administrative History of

Guilford Courthouse

National Military Park

by

Thomas E. Baker

March 20, 1995

National Park Service

U.S. Department of the Interior

TABLE OF CONTENTS

guco/adhi/adhi.htm

Last Updated: 24-Feb-2003
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Table of Contents)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhit.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:16 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cover

Foreword

Chapter 1: Early Preservation Efforts

Chapter 2: The War Department Years

Chapter 3: The National Park Service Comes To Town

Chapter 4: Origins Of Identity Problems

Chapter 5: NPS Land Acquisition Program

Chapter 6: Local Land Acquisition Agitation

Chapter 7: The War Years And Post-War Museum Improvements

Chapter 8: The Martin Trespass Case

Chapter 9: NPS Land Acquisition Efforts And Mission 66

Chapter 10: A Bridge Over Troubled Waters

Chapter 11: NPS Final Solution Spurs Local Intervention

Chapter 12 1968 Master Plan Revision

Chapter 13: The Pace Of Urban Development Quickens

Chapter 14: Road Controversies

Chapter 15: Vandalism

Chapter 16: Another Master Plan Revision

Endnotes
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Table of Contents)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhit.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:16 PM]

Property Acquisition at Guilford Courthouse NMP

(click on image for an enlargement in a new window)

<<< Previous <<< Contents >>> Next >>>

guco/adhi/adhit.htm

Last Updated: 10-Feb-2003
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Foreword)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi0.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:17 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

FOREWORD

The rising world shall sing of us a thousand

years to Come

And tell our Children's Children the Wonders We

have Done. [1]

It is clear that one of the principal motivating factors for Americans of the Revolutionary

War generation was the certain knowledge that their posterity would revere them for their

sacrifices. Public and private writings of the period plainly suggest that although relatively

few in number, the rebels "often felt the presence of tens of millions more and looked at their

own conduct through the eyes of the unborn." [2] Revolutionary polemicist Thomas Paine

gave voice to this sentiment in "The American Crisis," Number 1:

The heart that feels not now is dead: the blood of his children will curse his

cowardice, who shrinks back at a time when a little might have saved the whole,

and made them happy.

National parks associated with Revolutionary War occurrences are among the most important

means chosen by Americans of succeeding generations to preserve the memory, to "sing" of

those whose sacrifices established the nation, and gave substance to the bold statements of

principle contained in the Declaration of Independence. Guilford Courthouse NMP, the first

Revolutionary War battlefield set aside as a national park, is important not only for the event

it was established to commemorate, but also for its role in the development of the American

historic preservation movement. It was the first National Military Park that was not a Civil

War battlefield. It was the only National Military Park created during a period in the first

quarter of the twentieth century when Congress grappled with the question of how best to

preserve notable American battlefields. Unfortunately, it is likewise noteworthy as an

example of the negative consequences of urban encroachment upon a historic site, and of the

absolute necessity of "planning beyond park boundaries."

This administrative history was undertaken to provide a tool for park managers whereby they

could understand in fairly short order how this area developed, the forces that shaped it,

mistakes that have been made along the way, and the lessons that can be learned from our

corporate successes and failures. Because we like to think of the National Park Service as the

nation's leading conservation agency, it is altogether fitting that we preserve and learn from

our own organizational history. American history supplies many examples that can inspire us.

Like any other aspect of human endeavor, it also provides ample opportunities to consider the

effects of human error. Fault-finding is not a particularly pleasant task, but it is necessary if

we are to learn from our past. This park is much more than the sum of its enabling legislation

and planning documents. As in military history, assessment of individual performance is

critical to evaluation of strategy and tactics. Mistakes have been made, but they need not be

repeated endlessly.

Endnotes
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Foreword)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi0.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:17 PM]

1 A song copied into the orderly book of the Second New York Regiment, quoted in Almon

W. Lauber, ed., Orderly Books of the Fourth New York Regiment, 1778-1780 [and] the

Second New York Regiment 1780-1783 (Albany, New York, 1932), p. 633.

2 Charles Royster, A Revolutionary People at War, the Continental Army and American

Character, 1775-1783 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1979), pp. 4-10.

<<< Previous <<< Contents >>> Next >>>

http://www.nps.gov/guco/adhi/adhi0.htm

Last Updated: 10-Feb-2003
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 1)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi1.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:18 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

CHAPTER 1:

Early Preservation Efforts

Shortly past noon on Thursday, March 15, 1781, a fierce two-hour battle broke out around

the hamlet called Guilford Court House, seat of government for eighteenth-century Guilford

County, North Carolina. [1] The keystone of the Revolutionary War's decisive Southern

Campaign and the only engagement in which the campaign's principal antagonists, American

Major General Nathanael Greene and British commander Lord Charles, Second Earl

Cornwallis, were present and directing events, Guilford Courthouse was a Pyhrric victory for

the redcoats. So costly was this "triumph" that Cornwallis's troops could neither pursue the

defeated rebels nor remain in North Carolina as an army of occupation. After two days spent

caring for the wounded and burying the dead, the nominal victors turned their backs on the

doleful field of Guilford Courthouse and marched away on the first leg of the journey that

would lead them to final defeat at Yorktown, an outcome fore-shadowed by the serious loss

of British manpower suffered seven months earlier at Guilford Courthouse. [2]

For a brief period following the battle local residents left the area, complaining of foul odors

and the presence of spirits moving about the battlefield. They gradually returned and began

the process of expanding their subsistence farms by clearing the virgin forest that covered

three-quarters of the battlefield's one thousand acres. [3] Technically the village of Guilford

Courthouse ceased to exist in 1785 when the North Carolina General Assembly chartered the

new community called "Martinville" at the old county seat. To the disappointment of

Guilford County's first generation of land developers, Martinville failed to thrive. When the

Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions was moved to newly chartered Greensboro in 1809,

Martinville began a half-century slide to extinction. [4]

The first local effort to commemorate the battle of Guilford Courthouse was initiated in 1857

when a group called the Greene Monument Association was organized and began fundraising activities to erect a memorial to the American general in his namesake city. The

Association's work was interrupted by the outbreak of civil war and interest in

commemorating the glories of the Revolutionary generation was effectively deflected until

the end of the Reconstruction period. [5]

1876 was a watershed year in that it combined the centennial of the Declaration of

Independence with the tainted presidential election of Rutherford B. Hayes. The withdrawal

of the last Federal occupation troops from the South the following year inaugurated an era of

national reconciliation. Patriotism and nationalism were on the ascendant in this period and

widespread public support developed for the establishment of memorials to George

Washington, the Revolutionary War generation and the principles for which they fought;

principles that were the common heritage of both North and South.

First fruit of this impulse included centennial year Congressional appropriations of $244,000

to erect monuments at Yorktown, Bennington, Saratoga, Newburg, Cowpens, Monmouth,

Groton, and Oriskany. Similar bills were introduced but not acted upon for Brandywine,

Bemis Heights, King's Mountain, and Guilford Courthouse.
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 1)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi1.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:18 PM]

Further evidence of the nation's interest in commemorating the founding generation's

struggles was manifested by the action of the House of Representatives' Committee on the

Library in commissioning historian Benson J. Lossing to make recommendations regarding

Revolutionary War sites that were deserving of monumentation. His report, submitted 2

February 1884, identified fifteen battlefields "of considerable note" that should receive

funding for "substantial monuments." Guilford Courthouse was identified as one of these

sites. A bill, H.R. 2475, to erect the recommended monuments was introduced but not acted

upon. [6]

It was in this period of resurgent nationalism and reflection on America's past glories that

business brought David Schenck to Greensboro. Born in Lincoln County, North Carolina in

1835, Schenck was a successful attorney and Superior Court judge. In 1881 he accepted the

post of General Counsel of the Richmond and Danville Railroad. The demands of this

position led him to remove his family to more centrally located Greensboro in May, 1882.

Greensboro was described at this time as "awakening from a sleepy village to a more

progressive town." Schenck aligned himself with progressive elements in his new hometown

by actively campaigning for a successful 1887 bond issue that provided $100,000 for

municipal improvements and winning election to the Board of Town Commissioners. [7] At

about this time Schenck became interested in the battle of Guilford Courthouse.

Judge Schenck later wrote that when he came to town in 1882:

Out of a population of 3000 people in Greensboro he could not find a half dozen

persons who could point out to him the scene of the battle.

He persevered, however, and located the battlefield six miles north of Greensboro on the road

to Madison. At that time it consisted of "a few wooded areas surrounded by abandoned and

eroded fields covered with broom sedge and field pines." [8]

Schenck spent many weekends walking across the "abandoned and eroded fields" with a

copy of his favorite reference on the battle of Guilford Courthouse, Reverend Eli Caruther's

Interesting Revolutionary Incidents: And Sketches Of Character, Chiefly In The "Old North

State" (Philadelphia: 1856). Carefully studying the maps in this volume Schenck was

perfectly confident that he could identify all the major scenes of action in the battle. [9]

In October 1886, almost three years after Benson J. Lossing's report to Congress categorizing

Guilford Courthouse as a Revolutionary War site "of considerable note", Judge Schenck had

the flash of insight that would perpetually link his name with the effort to preserve this

battlefield. He later described this event in his journal.

Last fall, I visited Mr. Hoskins, who lives on part of the Battle Ground, and as I

drove over the sacred spot on my return home, I suddenly conceived the idea of

purchasing it and endeavoring to persuade the United States or the state, or

wealthy individuals to erect suitable monuments thereon to preserve the memory

of the men who here crippled Cornwallis, so that he began the race of escape

which ended in his capture at Yorktown. [10]

Resolving to act on this idea Schenck bought the first thirty acres of battlefield property at ten

dollars per acre from farmer Emsley Sikes who, in Schenck's words, "owned all that part of

the battle field south of the Salisbury or New Garden Road." Shortly thereafter he obtained

an additional twenty acres north of the road from the "Dennis heirs" for twenty dollars per

acre. With these purchases Schenck believed he controlled the position occupied by the

American third line of battle, site of the heaviest fighting at Guilford Courthouse. Pleased

though he was by these acquisitions, Schenck clearly felt victimized by the prices he was
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 1)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi1.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:18 PM]

forced to pay for this land.

No consideration was extended to the sentiment which underlaid the object of

the purchase. The land was taxed at two dollars per acre but he was compelled to

give the enormous prices above mentioned simply because the owners had the

power to require it. [11]

Although his railroad salary of $5000 per year, supplemented by occasional private retainers,

provided comfortably for his growing family, Schenck clearly saw that he could not single

handedly carry out his purpose to "redeem the battlefield from oblivion." [12] He then

approached several Greensboro businessmen with the idea of establishing a non-profit

corporation to preserve the battleground. Assured of their support, Schenck drew up a charter

and with its approval by the North Carolina General Assembly in March 1887, the Guilford

Battle Ground Company was born. At the company's organizational meeting held 6 May

1887, Schenck was elected president [13]

The company's charter authorized the issuance of one thousand shares of capital stock at

twenty-five dollars per share to finance the purchase of as much as two hundred acres of the

battlefield property. Advertisements that were distributed across the nation included a

remarkably conservative estimate of two thousand dollars to purchase and restore the

battlefield. [14]

The Guilford Battle Ground Company quickly went to work, in its first year spending almost

three thousand dollars to acquire sixty-two acres of land (including Schenck's original fifty

acres bought at his cost of seven hundred dollars) to erect a caretaker's cottage with reception

room and museum, and to begin the long process of "beautification" of the grounds. [15]

That year also saw the construction of the first monument erected on the battlefield, a granite

marker donated by an area stoneworks to memorialize Captain Arthur Forbis, the most

prominent local casualty of the battle of Guilford Courthouse. [16]

The Guilford Battle Ground Company's charter defined the organization's purpose as

"preserving and adorning the grounds on and over which the battle of Guilford Court House

was fought...." [17] In 1893 Judge Schenck reflected that at time of purchase, "[The

battlefield] was a tangled wilderness of briars, old field pines, broom sedge and every species

of wild growth which comes up on old worn out fields." The company undertook the task of

site redemption by hiring a foreman and six laborers to cut the scrub pines, remove brush,

plough the fields and plant a "luxuriant crop of oats." [18]

Judging by Schenck's words and the actions of the company under his leadership,

beautification, or adornment, to use the term that appeared in the company's charter, was

preservation. This view of preservation did not countenance the restoration of the battlefield

to its rugged, largely wooded appearance of 1781. Rather it envisioned the transformation of

the doleful field of battle into a lovely sort of "pleasuring ground", with monuments to the

heroic dead, where grateful Americans could contemplate the glories of the nation's past

amidst beautiful surroundings. Most notable of these battlefield beautification projects was

the 1892 damming of a Hunting Creek tributary to form artificial Lake Wilfong between the

American second and third lines "to improve the attractiveness of the grounds." Similar

enhancement efforts led to the construction of two spring houses and a restaurant to

accommodate the thousands of visitors who came to the site by train from nearby Greensboro

to attend annual commemorations of the organization of the Guilford Battleground Company.

[19]

It appears that no thought was given to the idea of preserving the whole battlefield. The

Guilford Battle Ground Company charter, written by Schenck, countenanced the purchase of
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 1)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi1.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:18 PM]

no more than two hundred acres of battlefield land. Whether this self-imposed limitation was

a reflection of Schenck's preservation philosophy or was born of the disillusioning

experience of negotiating with shrewd landowners, this policy essentially foreshadowed the

Antietam Plan dictum of preservation by purchase of key sites. With limited financial

resources and lacking the power of eminent domain, this was perhaps the best the Battle

Ground Company could do. It had an unfortunate consequence, however, in that the

interpretation of the battle was made to fit the company's land holdings rather than an

objective test of historical accuracy. Specifically the location of the American third battleline

was shifted almost a quarter-mile west from its true location within sight of the courthouse to

a site that was encompassed within Schenck's original fifty-acre land purchase. This

misrepresentation affects interpretation of the final stage of the battle of Guilford Courthouse

to this day. [20]

At about this time Schenck proposed that the Guilford Battle Ground should be designated as

North Carolina's official Revolutionary War cemetery. The General Assembly never acted

upon this proposal, but Schenck was able to convince the descendents of several of North

Carolina's notable revolutionaries to remove their ancestors' remains to the Battle Ground.

Among those reinterred were the remains of North Carolina signers of the Declaration of

Independence William Hooper and John Penn, and Continental Brigadier General Jethro

Sumner. None of these luminaries had served at Guilford Courthouse. In this way an

unfortunate precedent was set whereby the park was viewed as an acceptable venue for the

commemoration of a variety of individuals and events having no discernible connection to

the battle of Guilford Courthouse. [21]

By the early 1890s the Battle Ground Company had expended most of its capital. Although

the company's charter called for the sale of one thousand shares of capital stock, less than

twenty per cent of this total was actually sold. [22] Clearly some other revenue source was

required. To this end Schenck lobbied the General Assembly for a bond issue to support the

park. Instead the first of a series of annual appropriations in the amount of two hundred

dollars, restricted to "improvement and preservation of the grounds," was enacted. Sixty per

cent of this sum was expended as salary for a grounds keeper, leaving only the eighty dollar

balance for improvements. Shortfalls were generally eliminated by appeals to the

stockholders, but it was clear that the Guilford Battle Ground Company could not perpetually

preserve the battlefield without governmental assistance. [23]

Judge Schenck had apparently foreseen this eventuality. As early as July 1887 he had noted

in his journal that the battlefield should be offered to the United States Government after it

had been restored and marked. [24] In making this judgment he anticipated by three years the

creation of the first National Military Park, Chickamauga-Chattanooga, in 1890.

The process of federalization of the Guilford Courthouse battlefield was lengthy, requiring

thirty years from the date Schenck broached the idea in his journal. Initial delay resulted from

the local determination to first mark the site. Schenck and Company made no effort to mark

the field with anything like the cast-iron interpretive signs that typified the early National

Military Parks. Clearly monuments were the order of the day. By the time of Judge Schenck's

death in 1902 sixteen monuments, most funded by private donations, had been raised on the

battlefield.

The following year Guilford received its first infusion of Federal funds when Congress

appropriated ten thousand dollars to erect a pair of Romanesque arches in memory of slain

North Carolina generals Francis Nash and William Lee Davidson. It is tempting to interpret

this action as a sort of tacit Federal recognition of the legitimacy of the Battle Ground

Company's efforts. It was nothing of the kind. Congress appropriated the funds but left the

task of site selection to Governor Charles B. Aycock. A spirited lobbying campaign followed
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 1)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi1.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:18 PM]

with several communities making bids for one or both monuments. In the end, Governor

Aycock designated Guilford Battle Ground as the site for both structures even though at least

two other cities offered more plausible thematic rationales, and in spite of the fact that both

Nash and Davidson were killed prior to Guilford Courthouse. Aycock's decision indicates

how clearly the Guilford Battle Ground Company had succeeded in establishing their park's

claim as the state's single Revolutionary War shrine. Emboldened by this success, in 1904 the

Company launched its effort to make Guilford Battle Ground a National Military Park. [25]

In 1901 Joseph Morehead, vice president of the Guilford Battle Ground Company, noted that

a group of Pennsylvania residents were meeting resistance in their efforts to have the United

States take possession of the Valley Forge encampment site because Congress was unwilling

to provide necessary funding. Perhaps a bit smugly Morehead reflected that such difficulties

would not arise out of the transfer of Guilford Battle Ground because the North Carolina site

would be "freely tendered the general government upon the sole condition that it shall be

preserved as a National Park forever." [26] Morehead, who succeeded to the presidency of

the Battle Ground Company on Judge Schenck's death in 1902, was overly optimistic.

Between 1901 and 1904 Congress was inundated with thirty-four bills to create twenty-three

national parks in nine states and the District of Columbia. Concern about the ultimate cost of

these proposals led the House Committee on Military Affairs to hold hearings in April 1902.

One outcome of these hearings was the promulgation of the "Antietam Plan," the notion that

fragments of historic sites could be preserved to successfully interpret battles and other

memorable places and events at minimal costs. The other significant outgrowth of these

hearings was the introduction of H.R. 14351 to create a "national military park commission. .

. to restore, preserve, mark and maintain. . . such battlefields, forts, cemeteries, or parts

thereof. . ." from all of America's wars, "and to establish military parks thereon." This bill

proved to be controversial and was never acted upon; but it was introduced in 1902, and

reintroduced in 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906 and 1910. With Congressional attention focused on

this proposal for almost a decade, followed shortly by America's entry into World War I,

special acts to establish national military parks were essentially suspended. [27]

The first attempt to transform the Guilford Battle Ground into a national park came in the

first year of this interregnum. In 1904, North Carolina Congressman W.W. Kitchin, at Joseph

Morehead's behest, introduced a bill to establish Guilford Courthouse National Military Park.

It was not acted upon, nor were similar bills introduced in 1905 and 1907. [28]

Stymied, the Battle Ground Company and its legislative advocates decided to assume another

line of attack. Between 1888 and 1908 thirteen bills were introduced in Congress to erect a

monument to Major General Nathanael Greene at the Guilford Battle Ground. None were

enacted. In 1910 Joseph Morehead prevailed upon Senator Lee S. Overman to introduce

another Greene monument bill. This bill passed and was signed into law 13 February 1911.

This act provided thirty thousand dollars to erect a suitable monument at the Guilford Battle

Ground, provided the Battle Ground Company would deed to the United States sufficient

land on which to erect the memorial. This was done and on 3 July 1915 the Nathanael Greene

Monument was dedicated. [29]

National Park Service Historian Ronald F. Lee, in his seminal work The Origin and Evolution

of the National Military Park Idea (p.45), identifies the passage of the Greene Monument bill

as the first step in the creation of Guilford Courthouse National Military Park. The third of an

acre donated for this heroic equestrian memorial provided a Federal toehold and perhaps

inclined Congress to respond favorably when Representative Charles M. Stedman introduced

another bill to establish Guilford Courthouse National Military Park. Signed into law 2 March

1917, this act provided:
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 1)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi1.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:18 PM]

That in order to preserve for historical and professional military study one of the

most memorable battles of the Revolutionary War, the battlefield of Guilford

Courthouse, in the State of North Carolina, is hereby declared to be a national

military park. . . . [30]

Guilford Courthouse, by this time grown to one hundred twenty five acres marked with

twenty-eight monuments and graves, was the first Revolutionary War battlefield preserved as

a national park. It was the only national military park created in the period 1900-1925. It was

apparently the only site offered to the Government at no cost. It took longer than either

expected, but at last David Schenck's dream and Joseph Morehead's prediction had come true.

<<< Previous <<< Contents >>> Next >>>

http://www.nps.gov/guco/adhi/adhi1.htm

Last Updated: 10-Feb-2003
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 2)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi2.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:19 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

CHAPTER 2:

The War Department Years

My first impression of this historic spot was one of extreme annoyance. A group

of patriotic citizens, animated by the very best intentions, acquired the

battleground some years ago. They have since decorated it lavishly with granite

tents, boulders, pyramids, and triumphal arches until it now resembles a

suburban cemetery. The patriotism that inspired the great effort involved is not

questioned; the good taste is. Bronze figures of Clio and statues of former

presidents of the Battle Ground Company--no matter how public spirited these

citizens may have been--seem sadly out of place upon this historic field. I wish

to except from this criticism the great equestrian statue of Nathanael Greene that

has recently been unveiled. Had it stood alone dominating the landscape, the

impression would have been noble and effective. [1]

Judgments in matter of taste are clearly subjective. This acerbic analysis, unusual in that it

was written by a disinterested observer, suggests that newly-minted Guilford Courthouse

National Military Park was not the model of historic preservation that the gentlemen of the

Guilford Battle Ground Company believed it to be.

It was certainly unlike the other national military parks. At one hundred twenty-five acres it

was much smaller than the great and growing Civil War sites. As Peixotto observed, it also

had plenty of monuments, and some like the bronze figure of Clio, the muse of history, were

of questionable taste. Of course the Civil War parks also had plenty of monuments; and none

of them had a history quite like Guilford's, which at various times was considered North

Carolina's general purpose Revolutionary War memorial and in some quarters was looked

upon as the state's Revolutionary War cemetery. Little wonder, then, that some monuments

did not relate specifically to the battle of Guilford Courthouse. At least twenty-five of the

twenty-eight did relate to some phase of the Revolutionary War in North Carolina.

One of the things that set this place apart was the fact that its founders had no sense of

restoring the site to its historic appearance. At about the same time the Guilford Battle

Ground Company was creating Lake Wilfong, the Gettysburg National Military Park

Commission was replanting forests that had been cut since 1863, restoring stone fences that

had figured in the fighting, and signing leases with tenants to occupy and cultivate battlefield

farms. They were also diligently marking the battlefield with cast-iron signs that interpreted

the battle with almost scientific precision. Gettysburg was being prepared to fulfill one of its

most important mandates: to serve as a place of instruction for the professional military.

Guilford shared a similar legislative warrant. What Guilford needed was a complete break

with the Guilford Battle Ground Company's philosophy of historic preservation.

The 1917 act that created Guilford Courthouse National Military Park gave the Secretary of

War responsibility for preserving the site "for historical and professional military study."

Immediate direction was entrusted to three commissioners. The commission's chairman would

be a resident of Guilford County. He would be assisted by one commissioner each from
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 2)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi2.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:19 PM]

Maryland and Delaware, states whose Continental regiments had figured prominently in the

fighting at Guilford. The commission was charged with ascertaining and marking, "with

historical tablets or otherwise," all lines of battle and points of historical interest "within the

park or its vicinity." They were likewise directed to permit any state whose troops fought at

Guilford Courthouse to permanently mark the positions of its troops "with monuments,

tablets, or otherwise." To make such sites accessible they were to open or repair roads as

necessary. [2]

The first resident commissioner was Paul Schenck, youngest son of founder David Schenck

and last president of the Guilford Battle Ground Company. Five years would elapse before a

Maryland commissioner, Professor John C. Daves, was appointed. The Delaware slot was

never filled. Not that this oversight mattered; there is no evidence that the commission ever

met. Mr. Schenck was very much in charge, and the park was managed in much the same

way that it had been under the Battle Ground Company's proprietorship.

It should come as no surprise that Judge Schenck's son managed the park essentially as his

father had. But Paul Schenck differed from his father in at least one significant sense: he

believed that Guilford Courthouse should be preserved as "a Battle Field rather than a Park."

This simple statement neatly summarized the historic preservation problem at Guilford, while

at the same time offering hope that at last the park had a manager who would reshape the

facility in a manner that was consistent with its new designation as a National Military Park.

This was a critical juncture in the history of Guilford Courthouse National Military Park.

Never again would this park have a manager who combined the "park as battlefield"

philosophy, with the tremendous local credibility borne of his family's long-term interest and

involvement with the site. This would have been the perfect opportunity to reshape this site

and to transform the growing local perception of it as a recreational facility. Unfortunately

the opportunity was allowed to pass unexploited.

There is evidence that Paul Schenck did attempt to bring about the park-to-battlefield

metamorphosis. To this end he engaged a landscaper to assist him in preparing a plan for

road-building and general park development. There is no evidence that this development plan

was completed or submitted to the Quartermaster General for review, so no judgment can be

rendered as to its merit. But neither did the Quartermaster General offer suggestions for site

improvement or dispatch engineers or other specialists to Greensboro to prepare more

professional proposals. Lacking meaningful guidance, park operations gravitated toward the

simple preservation of the status quo. [3]

The only notable change in this period was the completion of four new monuments, bringing

the park's total to thirty-two. None were of the sort prescribed to mark battlelines, although

two were dedicated to American officers who fell in action. Three were financed by patriotic

organizations, and the fourth by a descendant. [4]

Funding was tight in this period as the country became embroiled in World War I at about the

same time Guilford Courthouse became a national park. In the resident commissioner period

annual appropriations for Guilford Courthouse National Military Park never exceeded $9200,

of which $2480 was consumed by salaries. Schenck's largest budget request was for $18,885

in fiscal year 1922 for operating expenses and repairs to two rapidly deteriorating spring

houses and a speaker's pavilion, all artifacts of the Guilford Battle Ground Company. As

these structures were considered incongruous, funding for these projects was denied. [5]

In March 1922 the official association of the Schenck family with the Guilford Courthouse

battlefield ended when Democrat Paul Schenck was replaced as resident commissioner by an

appointee of the Harding administration, Edward E. Mendenhall. Mendenhall's background

included stints as a traveling salesman and as a wholesale grocer. More to the point, he had a
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 2)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi2.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:19 PM]

long history of involvement in local and state Republican Party politics, a fairly distinctive

credential in the Solid South of the 1920s. What he lacked was a history of association with

the Guilford Battle Ground Company. [6] This appointment did not look promising; and

indeed, it immediately produced unfortunate consequences for the park.

When Resident Commissioner Paul Schenck left office he removed most of the artifacts from

the park museum. Claiming these items as the property of his late father, Schenck contended

that they had been on loan to the Guilford Battle Ground Company. As such they had not

been included in the transfer of property to the United States and were now returned to their

rightful owners, the Schenck heirs.

In fact, Judge Schenck had been an inveterate collector of historical memorabilia. A

Greensboro newspaper, The Workman of 11 November 1885, carried an article describing

Schenck's collection of "Indian relics of curious manufacture," including "Tecumseh's Pipe."

Schenck made use of his collecting instincts as president of the Guilford Battle Ground

Company, as he informed the stockholders in his Annual Report of 15 March 1888: "I have

been able to collect quite a number of relics from the battlefield which lend much interest to

our museum. . . ." In its heyday the Battle Ground Company Museum contained some of

Schenck's native American curiosities, but also included the sword of British Lieutenant

Colonel James Stuart of the Brigade of Guards found near the spot where he was killed,

"USA" buttons from the grave of three Continental soldiers who were reinterred under the

Delaware Monument, and many other battle-related weapons and accouterments.

Mendenhall did not attempt to recover these items because the park had no documentation of

ownership. Many of the artifacts were subsequently donated to the Greensboro Historical

Museum where they were on display with legible "Guilford Battle Ground Company" tags as

late as 1975. [7]

Unpropitious as this beginning certainly was, the situation degenerated still further.

Commissioner Mendenhall continued some of the Battle Ground Company's ill-advised

resource management practices such as removing undergrowth from the floor of the

remaining forested areas. He went further by ordering the extirpation of all wild plants and

shrubs from the park. Mendenhall reserved his most creative treatments for cultural

resources. He gilded the park's five bronze statues and had a number of stone monuments

painted, some in alternating white and black stripes. [8]

Letters of complaint with "Greensboro" postmarks began to arrive at the Quartermaster

General's Washington office. Army inspectors soon appeared in Greensboro and poisonous

evaluations followed.

The tendency of the present Resident Commissioner has been to do too much in

the way of ornamentation and too little in the way of marking historical sites of

the park, outlining the points of battle, et cetera. Close supervision is required or

he is apt to destroy features of the landscape connected with the battle, with a

view of attempting to turn the park into a beautiful site, in other words he is

inclined to look upon the park as a picnic ground, not as a historical monument.

[9]

The high point of the Mendenhall administration was the 1931 sesquicentennial

commemoration of the battle of Guilford Courthouse. Arranged by a committee of civic

leaders, the centerpiece of this observance was a battle reenactment staged by North Carolina

National Guard units. A crowd of 25,000 attended on a blazing hot July 4. [10]

The Democratic landslide in the 1932 elections signalled the end of Resident Commissioner

Mendenhall's term at Guilford Courthouse. He survived by a few months the transfer of
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 2)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi2.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:19 PM]

Guilford Courthouse and all the other national military parks and cemeteries to the National

Park Service, but on 14 October 1933 he was replaced by James H. Roane, a Greensboro

stockbroker with strong ties to Sixth District Democratic Congressman William B. Umstead.

[11]

The Mendenhall years had produced their share of controversy and occasionally aberrant

management decisions, but little in the way of permanent damage or change. The loss of the

museum collection was a stunning blow that was occasioned by Mendenhall's appointment,

but for which Mendenhall can not be blamed. It is regettable that Mendenhall did not attempt

to recover this material but the virtual lack of archival documentation almost certainly would

have doomed any such attempt. As a result it would be almost a half century before the park

could mount respectable museum exhibits. Beyond this the harshest criticism of Mendenhall

would be that his administration had adhered to the policies of the Guilford Battle Ground

Company that seemed to prefer picnic grounds to battlefield preservation. The Army

inspector's 1930 report that criticized Mendenhall's inclination to turn the park into a

"beautiful site" or "picnic ground" was eerily similar in spirit and tone to Peixotto's 1917

characterization of the battlefield as a "suburban cemetery." This is supremely ironic, given

that the appointment of Mendenhall, the outsider, had certainly been an affront to long-term

park supporters. His view of the park was too much like theirs.

<<< Previous <<< Contents >>> Next >>>

http://www.nps.gov/guco/adhi/adhi2.htm

Last Updated: 10-Feb-2003
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 3)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi3.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:20 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

CHAPTER 3:

The National Park Service Comes To Town

In connection with the comment that the Park looks more like a city cemetery

than a Park, and the recommendation that less of this appearance be presented, it

is reported that this is a matter of time. . . . [T]here is the work of forty-five years

to undo. [1]

No one was quite certain how the transfer from the War Department to the Department of the

Interior would affect Guilford Courthouse National Military Park. A change of parent agency

and site manager clearly suggested that other modifications likely would follow. So they did.

But after a fast start, the pace of change slowed markedly and park management assumed a

reactive stance in the face of rapid development in the surrounding community. In so doing

the stage was set for a dark age of park history that lasted two decades, and was terminated

only by the timely intercession of Greensboro civic leaders. In the near term, however, the

park's future seemed bright.

On 19 October 1933, five days after Resident Commissioner Roane entered on duty, readers

of the Greensboro Daily News awoke to the headline: "Guilford Historic Site Will Be

Brought Up To National Level." Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes announced that

$97,000 had been allocated to Guilford Courthouse from a total appropriation of $4,392,500

to the Public Works Administration for improvements at national military parks and national

battlefields. The article elaborated that inspectors from the Office of National Parks,

Buildings and Reservations (the temporary redesignation of the National Park Service) had

visited Guilford and produced a "conservative program for park improvements."

Subsequently Representative William B. Umstead met several times with P.W.A. staff and

argued for a more expansive renovation effort that would make the park "a credit to the

nation." The Daily News piece concluded with the optimistic prediction that the "Guilford

Project would insure work for a considerable number of men" during the coming winter, a

worthy goal in itself as the nation entered the fifth year of the Great Depression.

The following January a high-level delegation of "parks service officials" headed by

Associate Director A.E. Demaray came to Greensboro to inspect the park and decide how

best to spend the $97,000 windfall. Demaray told the Greensboro Record (15 January 1934)

that $30,000 would be expended to improve park roads and trails, with the balance devoted to

"physical improvements." Included would be construction of a new fireproof museum and

administration building, a superintendent's residence, and a utility building. Demaray also

noted that the Davidson and Nash arches would likely be "relocated" to permit widening of

New Garden Road to accommodate two-way automobile traffic, provided the State of North

Carolina would deed the roadway to the United States. Finally, he indicated the Service

would accept an offer made by the Guilford County Board of Commissioners to donate the

eight and one half acre site of the 1781 courthouse to the park. In turn, the Park Service

would construct "a replica" of the original structure that lent the battle, and in turn the park,

its name.
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 3)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi3.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:20 PM]

The first phase of this program was accomplished in November 1935 with the completion of

the buildings and installation of a sewer system. The museum-administration building and

the residence were essentially identical two-story brick structures said to be reminiscent of

eighteenth century homes built in Salem, a Moravian community twenty-five miles west of

the battlefield. The courthouse reconstruction was deferred in hopes of finding historical

documentation for the structure. [2]

The park benefited from another Depression-era recovery program when a Civil Works

Administration Historical Program was established in Greensboro in June 1934. Directed by

a recent graduate of Duke University, Joseph C. Robert, Ph.D., a staff of five untrained

historical technicians searched for primary source material, inventoried and labeled the

remaining museum objects, compiled a bibliography, traced land titles, and searched futilely

for descriptions of the original courthouse building. Terminated 19 April 1934, this program's

results were not spectacular; but this effort represented the first on-site research done at

Guilford since Judge Schenck's day. [3]

Guilford Courthouse National Military Park's first master plan was completed in 1936. The

premise of this seminal planning document was succinctly stated in one sentence:

The work to be done . . . attempts to remedy conditions and to restore the area as

much to its original condition at the time of the battle as possible.

Envisioned was a definitive break with the park's past as a beautiful picnic ground. To

produce a more authentic period "open woodland" appearance, a number of actions were

directed. Foremost among these was the obliteration of Lake Wilfong and its dam. The

cleared ground surrounding the two-acre lake bed was slated for reforestation with 22,000

hardwood trees of five indigenous species. Understory planting would be done in existing

wooded areas to "bolster up" the forest, whose floor had been reduced to bare red clay by

years of raking. Exotic trees and shrubs, principally in the area of the Nathanael Greene

Monument, would be removed, as would formal gardens "with bulbs arranged in rows, circles

and crescents." Screen planting would follow removal of exotics in the area of the new

museum-administration building and the superintendent's residence. A half-mile park road

that looped around the lake was scheduled for obliteration, and the two public roads that

traversed the park, U.S. Highway 220 and New Garden Road, were to have revisions of

grade and alignment, and were to be paved with bituminous macadam. The Southeast

Boundary Road (Holt Avenue) and the West Loop Road (First Line Road) were to be

similarly resurfaced. [4]

The execution of such sweeping changes was far beyond the capabilities of a part-time

resident commissioner, particularly so in that prior to the "regionalization" of the National

Park Service in August 1937 there were essentially no intervening supervisory levels between

the resident commissioner and the Park Service directorate in Washington. A first step was

taken in filling this management vacuum on 15 March 1936 when Guilford Courthouse was

placed in the Revolutionary Areas Group under the direction of Coordinating Superintendent

B. Floyd Flickinger of Colonial National Historical Park. Flickinger dispatched Rogers W.

Young to Greensboro as Acting Historian to supervise historical and educational programs at

Guilford, King's Mountain National Military Park and Cowpens National Battlefield Site.

Also sent to Guilford was "Mr. Llewellyn to perform visitor contact work and assist with

administrative functions." It would be May 1937 before Guilford Courthouse received its first

full-time, permanent National Park Service staff appointment. William P. Brandon was

assigned to the park as Junior Historian, but functioned as Acting Superintendent, supervising

the maintenance staff, and performing all administrative and public contact tasks. Resident

Commissioner Roane stayed on the payroll, occupying the superintendent's residence, but

doing little more than signing paperwork. [5]
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 3)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi3.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:20 PM]

With Brandon on board major renovation projects got underway. By 1939 when the Master

Plan was revised all of the major elements of the 1936 Master Plan had been completed with

the exception of the screen planting around the superintendent's residence and the museumadministration building. [6]

Two items on the 1936 Master Plan agenda that required the cooperation of the State of

North Carolina were the proposals to improve New Garden Road and U.S. Highway 220.

New Garden Road traversed the park on an east-west line along the route of an eighteenth

century wagon road that ran from Hillsboro to Salisbury. On 15 March 1781 the British

advanced along this roadway and the American defenders deployed across it. As such it was

the axis of the battle of Guilford Courthouse. Fallen into disuse in the nineteenth century it

was reopened locally with the assistance of employees of the Guilford Battle Ground

Company. As Greensboro grew in the twentieth century New Garden Road was destined to

become a heavily traveled east-west connector. U.S. Highway 220 bisected the park on a

north-south line, running parallel to the tracks of the Atlantic and Yadkin Railroad. Through

the park it ran along a road bed that was constructed about 1890 and was locally known as

Battle Field Road, later Battle Ground Road. It was paved and designated as part of the

Federal Highway System in 1925.

The Master Plan proposals for these roadways called for "grade revision. . . for the purposes

of drainage, alignment, and aesthetic improvement with the necessary surface treatment of

bituminous macadam. . . ." Also contemplated was the relocation of three hundred fifty feet

of New Garden Road to "the old original roadbed." To facilitate this work a request was

made to the State to donate both roads to the United States. The State willingly acceded to

this proposal regarding New Garden Road, conveying eleven and one-half acres to the

United States by a deed executed 6 April 1937. Title was obtained by virtue of a 1935 act of

the North Carolina General Assembly that permitted taking of lands required for Federal

parkway construction upon the State Highway and Public Works Commission's filing of

"proper maps" with the local Register of Deeds. [7]

The State was unwilling to make the same accommodation regarding U.S. 220. A 1928 map

commissioned by the Guilford Battle Ground Company identified U.S. 220 as a "sixteen foot

asphaltic pavement." The State claimed a sixty-foot right-of-way. Permission was readily

granted to raise the grade and make other improvements to this road, but State officials were

unwilling to deed the right-of-way to the National Park Service. Two reasons were cited for

this decision. This road was part of "a State and Federal Highway" and loss of control of the

quarter-mile stretch through the park might interfere with maintenance of the entire highway.

Furthermore:

Other complications and vexatious questions might arise at some future date over

which neither the present Highway Commission nor any agency of the Federal

Government could foresee, and therefore could not make any agreement or

arrangements that might take care of such questions in the future. [8]

The future would be full of "complications and vexatious questions" regarding U.S. 220.

Forty years later the National Park Service would have cause to regret the State's decision in

this case. But in 1936, the Service had "no objection to the State's continuing to control and

maintain the road." The renovation of U.S. 220, along with the improvement of New Garden

Road and the paving of approximately two miles of other park roads, was accomplished by

contract with the Bureau of Public Roads of the Department of Agriculture. These projects

were completed in February 1938. [9]

Shortly after the departure of the road crews, Acting Superintendent Brandon was surprised

by the unheralded visit of a Region One landscape architect who announced that he was to
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 3)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi3.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:20 PM]

lay out an amphitheater in the area immediately west of the Nathanael Greene Monument.

Brandon was mystified because no such construction had been contemplated by the 1936

Master Plan. As a historian he was horrified because the chosen site was near the center of

the second American battleline, scene of a furious firefight between advancing redcoats and

defending Virginia militiamen. More to the point, this proposal was a throwback to the

Guilford Battle Ground Company's discredited philosophy of preservation by ornamentation.

Brandon's objections notwithstanding, the amphitheater was built. The lawn running west of

the Greene Monument toward U.S. 220 was heavily landscaped to create an artificial riser

effect, and a brick stage with a sort of wooden portico was constructed at its apex.

In 1939 a revised Master Plan was issued. The only significant distinction between the 1936

and 1939 plans was an ex post facto provision for the amphitheater construction. [10]

As the amphitheater project neared completion the North Carolina Highway and Public

Works Commission decided to adjust the route of U.S. 220 to a new line about one-half mile

beyond the park's western boundary. Completed in April 1941 this realignment removed a

considerable amount of long-distance through traffic from the park. It also presented the

Service a golden opportunity to renew its request to transfer the old right-of-way to the park.

No such request was forthcoming. The old line of U.S. 220 was rechristened State Road

2340, locally called Old Battleground Road, a unit of the State-maintained county road

system. It remained a lightly traveled rural byway until the City of Greensboro overran the

park in the early 1980s. [11]

<<< Previous <<< Contents >>> Next >>>

http://www.nps.gov/guco/adhi/adhi3.htm

Last Updated: 10-Feb-2003
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 4)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi4.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:21 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

CHAPTER 4:

Origins Of Identity Problems

Land acquisition projects were not high priorities at Guilford Courthouse National Military

Park in the 1930s. This is hardly surprising given the severity of the economic Depression

that gripped the country in the decade prior to the outbreak of World War II. Nonetheless the

park grew a bit in this period. Between April 1934 and the end of 1939 the park acquired an

additional 23.49 acres in seven land transactions. All were donations, most being made to

facilitate road paving projects. The largest of these accessions was the State grant of eleven

and one-half acres that comprised the New Garden Road right-of-way. Four additional

donations from Guilford County and the City of Greensboro totalling 3.49 acres were made

for road development along the park's southern and eastern boundaries. Another donation was

made in the interest of preserving local history when the eight and one-half acre site of the

eighteenth century courthouse was presented to the park by Guilford County and the

surviving members of the Guilford Battle Ground Company. With these acquisitions the park

had grown to 148.49 acres, more or less. [1]

Park boundaries at this time were described as a "haphazard, zig-zaggy affair," made even

more eccentric by the addition of the courthouse site, three-eighths of a mile east of the main

body of the body of the park and connected only by the one hundred foot right-of-way of

New Garden Road. [2] In 1930 the area surrounding the park was distinctly rural. Farmland

abutted park boundaries on all sides. There were no telephones in the area prior to the

installation of a line to park headquarters in 1935. The only retail establishment in the vicinity

was a country store (with several outlying sheds and a pig sty) that stood at the intersection

of U.S. 220 and Holt Avenue, one of two primary entrances to the park. In such a bucolic

setting perhaps the park's precise boundary lines were not so important. It could be argued

that in a manner similar to Antietam, the surrounding countryside was at least suggestive of

its historical use and appearance. While it was not the "open woodland" of 1781, neither was

it a developed urban center.

Unfortunately for the historic setting of the park, Greensboro was more like Atlanta, Georgia,

than Sharpsburg, Maryland. Both Greensboro and Atlanta experienced rapid urban growth

from starts as railroad hubs. By 1886 when the line of the Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley

Railroad was completed from Greensboro to Mount Airy, crossing the battlefield along the

way, six railroads converged on Greensboro. Industries followed the railroads and by the turn

of the century Greensboro was becoming a major manufacturing center for textiles and

pharmaceuticals. A number of insurance companies also located in Greensboro, and for a

time the city was called the "Hartford of the South." In 1920 the city's population was 19,861.

The park was five miles north of the city limits. In 1923 the North Carolina General

Assembly revised Greensboro's charter, greatly expanding the city limits from four to more

than seventeen square miles. Population of the city increased to 43,525. The new city line was

about three miles south of the park. Access to the park became easier for Greensboro's

growing population in 1925 when State crews macadamized Highway 220 from Guilford's

northern to southern county lines. Within Greensboro Highway 220 was known as

Battleground Avenue. [3]
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 4)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi4.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:21 PM]

Clearly Greensboro was on the move. Judge Schenck had foreseen this as early as 1890 when

he reported that "Greensboro has the certain prospect of becoming a large city and extending

northward towards the Battle Ground. . . ." Schenck looked forward to this development with

pleasure, noting that the Battle Ground "must in the near future become the park of the City. .

. ." [4]

Greensboro's planners clearly shared this notion of the battlefield area as "the park of the

City," as they demonstrated by creating the Greensboro Country Park along the eastern

boundary of Guilford Courthouse National Military Park in 1932. Completed in 1934 with

Public Works Administration funding, the Country Park included "miles of paved drives, a

small zoo, a boat and swimming house, a keeper's residence, numerous picnic sheds, rustic

seats, and three lakes for swimming, boating, and fishing. . . ." [5]

In a sense this was a favorable development for the military park. Coupled with the 1930

establishment of Forest Lawn Cemetery on the southern face of the battlefield, Guilford

Courthouse National Military Park was insulated from less desirable forms of urban

encroachment as the city expanded to the north and west. As suggested in the 1936 Master

Plan the proximity of the Country Park's extensive recreational facilities offered a singular

opportunity for the National Military Park to divorce itself from its traditional local identity

as a picnic ground, and to establish its bona fides as a historic site. It is equally true that the

Country Park and municipal cemetery development began the essentially irreparable

destruction of the battlefield's historic landscape. At the same time Lake Wilfong was being

drained, three equally anachronistic lakes were being created within site of the park's eastern

boundary, in an area that Earl Cornwallis had described a century and a half earlier as a

region of "deep ravines," whose passage had slowed the progress of the British right wing as

they advanced to attack the American third line in the "clear ground near Guildford court

house." Equally lamentable was the placement of the new city zoo on the very hill from

which British cannon had fired cannister rounds to break the force of an American counter

attack. In fact a battlefield visitor could take one step across the National Military Park

boundary and enter the zoo. [6]

This development did not go completely unchallenged. In the last week of December 1933,

Elbert Cox, Assistant Historian in the Branch of Historic Sites and Buildings, visited the

park. On his return to Washington he dispatched a memorandum to his superior Verne E.

Chatelain protesting the construction of both city facilities because "a part of this

development is on ground actually fought over during the battle." He was particularly

incensed by the discovery that "in digging graves, already bits of human bone and teeth have

been discovered," suggestive of earlier battle-related internments. Cox concluded: "I believe

that this development. . . should be arrested and the land acquired for the park." At Cox's

suggestion Resident Commissioner Roane conveyed a request to the municipal authorities

that no new graves should be dug pending an archaeological survey of the area. The city

seems to have turned a deaf ear to this request and development of the Forest Lawn

Cemetery and the Country Park continued. [7]

By all accounts the Country Park was an instant success, particularly as a site for water

sports. The proximity of superior recreational facilities, however, did not enable the National

Military Park to establish its separate local identity as a historic site. There were no fences or

other physical demarcations between the Federal and city sites. In fact two roads led directly

from the National Military Park into the Country Park. The public seems to have been

unaware that there was a distinction between the two areas. Local media did nothing to

clarify the situation, as exemplified by a 25 June 1933 Greensboro Daily News article that

announced: "Residents. . . who like to swim and fish will soon be able to enjoy three fine

lakes at Guilford battleground, part of the city-county recreation center now under

construction." Resident Commissioner Mendenhall reported in his Narrative for September
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 4)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi4.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:21 PM]

1935, the first month in which Guilford Courthouse had telephone service, that most

incoming calls were inquiries about facilities at the Country Park.

Clearly a sort of local identity crisis was developing. Rather than two parks with differing

rationales, the public recognized only one park, commonly referred to by the old Schenck-era

name "Battle Ground Park," that encompassed a battlefield and lakes, picnic areas and a zoo.

This all too common misconception continues to this day.

<<< Previous <<< Contents >>> Next >>>

http://www.nps.gov/guco/adhi/adhi4.htm

Last Updated: 10-Feb-2003
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 1)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi5.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:22 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

CHAPTER 5:

NPS Land Acquisition Program

More or less protected from encroachment on its eastern and southern boundaries by the

Greensboro Country Park and the Forest Lawn Cemetery, Guilford Courthouse National

Military Park remained vulnerable on its northern and western approaches. Problems

developed on both of these fronts in the spring of 1940.

Acting Superintendent Brandon's Narrative Report for April 1940 (6 May 1940) noted that

the Richardson Realty Company, a branch of the Vick Chemical Company and owner of two

key tracts along the park's contorted northern boundary, planned to build a residential

subdivision on these holdings. This could have been very serious because Richardson's

eastern tract encompassed the scene of the heaviest fighting of the battle's last stage, while

the western tract's boundary was barely one hundred feet north of the park's new

administration-museum building.

Three days later, 9 May 1940, Brandon submitted "A Land Acquisition Program For

Guilford Courthouse National Military Park." This proposal recommended the acquisition of

five small tracts, about forty acres, to round out the park's boundaries. Included was a fiveacre tract with a small house and outbuildings located immediately north of New Garden

Road and west of the courthouse site, the property of Minnie H. Webb. Immediately west of

the Webb property and running to the eastern terminus of the main body of the park was the

twelve-acre eastern tract owned by Richardson Realty. Possession of these parcels would

unite more securely the courthouse area with the balance of the park, block potential

development of a key portion of the battlefield, and would permit the removal of the existing

anachronism that was home to the Webbs.

The third parcel recommended for acquisition was a protective strip measuring two hundred

by 1350 feet, running along the south side of New Garden Road from the main park body to

the eastern end of the courthouse site, terminating at Hillsdale Road (later renamed Lawndale

Drive). Two hundred linear feet on the western end of this tract was under easement to the

city as part of Lake Caldwell, the northern-most Country Park lake. The balance belonged to

Charles O. Martin, whose reputation, Brandon reported "is that of a man who takes almost

any opportunity to make and realize [profit] upon an investment." Brandon characterized this

area as ideal for "small home development," and clearly felt the park needed a buffer to

protect its property from the rapacious Mr. Martin. Within a few years Brandon's evaluation

of C.O. Martin would be amply confirmed.

Two remaining tracts ran along the eastern periphery of the original line of U.S. Highway

220. South of the Holt Avenue entrance, between the highway and the tracks of the Atlantic

and Yadkin Railroad, successsor to the CF&YV, was an "open field," part of two undivided

estates. The southern tip of this property terminated at the Joyner Memorial Church, roughly

a quarter mile from the park boundary. Brandon recommended the purchase of six to twelve

acres of this property to match the line of park holdings on the west side of U.S. 220. This

would extend park holdings in the area occupied by the left wing of the second American
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 1)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi5.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:22 PM]

battleline, and would block development at one of the primary park entrances.

Immediately north of Holt Avenue was the property that Brandon identified as the park's

foremost land acquisition priority. Less than one acre, this very small tract contained a twostory frame house with outbuildings and pig sty, the country store and domicile of merchant

Dick Woods. Brandon described this place as a "distinct eyesore" that gave visitors using the

Holt Avenue entrance a miserable initial impression of the park.

Conspicuously omitted from Brandon's list was the Richardson Realty property one hundred

feet north of the administration-museum building. Historically, this tract was occupied by

part of the right wing of the second American battleline; but Brandon characterized it as

"unsuitable for acquisition." He did not elaborate, but this judgment was probably based on

the presence of a railroad siding that contained several petroleum storage tanks. This facility

was shielded from the administration-museum building by intervening forest. Federal

acquisition of this property would not have extinguished the railroad right-of-way, and the

presence of the oil tanks made it undesirable as a site for subdivision. For these reasons

Brandon likely concluded that purchase was inadvisable and unnecessary. [1]

Conservative as was the recommendation that forty additional acres be acquired, Brandon's

plan would have increased this small park's area by one-fourth. It took many years but most

of the recommended sites were eventually incorporated into the park. A few more unlisted

acres were also obtained, but Brandon's plan remained at the heart of park land acquisition

programs for almost a quarter century. In spite of persistent local demands that it be

expanded, it remained unaltered until changes were compelled by events outside of the park's

control.

Endnotes

1 William P. Brandon, "A Land Acquisition Program For Guilford Courthouse National

Military Park," 9 May 1940, 602-01, GUCO, RG 79, National Archives, microfilm.

<<< Previous <<< Contents >>> Next >>>

http://www.nps.gov/guco/adhi/adhi5.htm

Last Updated: 10-Feb-2003
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 6)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi6.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:23 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

CHAPTER 6:

Local Land Acquisition Agitation

Acting Superintendent Brandon stated in the preamble to his 1940 land acquisition program

that "interested parties in Greensboro" planned to "obtain the introduction in Congress of a

bill to authorize the funds necessary" to radically extend the area of Guilford Courthouse

National Military Park. Circumstances certainly suggest that it was this locally initiated

movement to enlarge the park rather than the rumored development plans of Richardson

Realty that led to the formulation of Brandon's acquisition plan. In either case, the notion that

the park should be substantially enlarged was the brainchild of two Greensboro businessmen

who combined their keen interests in history with considerable energy and local political

influence. This pair, attorney James G.W. MacClamroch and stockbroker McDaniel Lewis,

were formidable advocates for their point of view. MacClamroch was clearly the dominant

member of this small pack; and for the next twenty years he would be a central figure in park

history.

Born in Greensboro shortly after the turn of the twentieth century, James Gwaltney

Westwarren MacClamroch was a graduate of the University of North Carolina and the Yale

University School of Law. In the 1920's he returned to Greensboro where he established a

successful law practice and began to establish his credentials as an advocate of progressive

change. Over the course of a long career he championed a number of causes including reform

of North Carolina's antiquated judicial system, regional development of water resources, and

expansion and improvement of the state's highways. He was an aggressive advocate for his

hometown, working through the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce to initiate the movement

that led to the first major expansion of the city limits in 1923. Later, as a member of the State

Highway Commission, he worked successfully to obtain funding for a model urban

expressway system for Greensboro. These developments were major contributors to

Greensboro's rapid growth in the twentieth century; and as Greensboro grew, James

MacClamroch prospered as an attorney, and later as a developer.

Clearly a man of diverse interests, MacClamroch was best known for his passionate interest

in local history. In this he was seconded by McDaniel Lewis, of whom MacClamroch said:

"McDaniel Lewis has aided and abetted me on everything I have ever done." Throughout the

years this pair indulged their interest in a number of constructive ways. They worked

tirelessly to preserve historic sites both in Greensboro and across the state. Both served with

distinction on state and local historical advisory commissions, and both were officers of

countless historical and patriotic organizations. [1]

In 1940 two of MacClamroch's interests were drawn together by a plan to realign U.S.

Highway 220. Convinced that efficient transportation systems stimulate economic

development, MacClamroch was an extremely active member of the Greensboro Chamber of

Commerce's Good Roads Committee. This organization enthusiastically supported the North

Carolina Highway Commission's decision to reroute U.S. 220 to a new, more direct line

about a quarter mile west and south of the park's boundaries. MacClamroch was troubled,

however, by preliminary drawings that showed the new route crossing a site clearly
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 6)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi6.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:23 PM]

associated with the battle of Guilford Courthouse: the eighteenth century farmstead of Joseph

Hoskins. The British had deployed around Hoskins's cabin and crossed his fields as they

attacked the first American battleline, whose center was drawn up behind rail fences Hoskins

had constructed to protect his crops. At battle's end the British had used the Hoskins house as

a field hospital. Within sight of the cabin they dug a mass grave for their slain troops. Clearly

this was historic ground and MacClamroch employed all of his influence in successfully

lobbying to move the highway just west of the Hoskins property. [2]

MacClamroch the visionary, the "Idea Man" as he was later christened by the local media,

was heartened by this success. In turn he was inspired to act upon another of his beliefs: that

the entire area covered by the battle of Guilford Courthouse should be included in Guilford

Courthouse National Military Park. To this end he launched a letter-writing campaign to the

North Carolina Congressional delegation urging that legislation be introduced to acquire all

lands between the park's western boundary and the new line of U.S. 220, including the

Hoskins property. He drew upon his most eminent contacts in state historical and patriotic

societies as reenforcements. [3]

Brandon clearly did not share MacClamroch's view of the importance of this property. He

nonetheless thought it advisable to placate MacClamroch and recommended that "the Service

should ostensibly fall in with [the] local proposal" to buy the western battlefield lands,

trusting to unspecified "practical difficulties" to discourage its proponents and ultimately

block this initiative. Brandon believed that to do otherwise would lead the "local interest" to

"refuse to cooperate, if not actively oppose the addition of the other more important tracts."

[4]

Of course MacClamroch was not the type to be discouraged by difficulties of any sort. At his

instigation Representative Carl T. Durham of the Sixth Congressional District contacted the

National Park Service directorate to request a study of areas that should be added to Guilford

Courthouse NMP. Acting Director A.E. Demaray wrote directly to MacClamroch at the close

of 1940 to inform him that such a study had been performed (by Brandon) and that a map

was in preparation showing "proposed extensions." Demaray concluded with a cautionary

note:

The prospect of acquiring additional lands with Federal funds is not very bright

at the present time. As you know, the national defense is receiving first

consideration in the expenditure of funds. [5]

As the new year dawned battle lines were becoming more clearly drawn in Europe as well as

in Greensboro, North Carolina. The war in Europe was real enough as Great Britain, with

material and financial support from the United States, struggled alone to stem the tide of Axis

aggression. It was the cost of this assistance to Great Britain combined with the monumental

catch-up effort to improve the defenses of the United States that made it unlikely that

Congress would appropriate funds for any but the most essential programs and services.

The metaphorical war in Greensboro was also intensifying. In his narrative for January 1941

Brandon reported that Charles O. Martin, owner of the property south of the courthouse tract,

was considering the subdivision of his property for residential development. [6] At the same

time an engineer was finishing a map that detailed MacClamroch's recommendations for the

expansion of Guilford Courthouse NMP. With his intimate ties to the Greensboro business

community MacClamroch was undoubtedly aware of Martin's suggested subdivision, and he

seized this opportunity to announce that the only acceptable means of protecting the

battlefield was to include the entire site, "all parts of it and everything pertaining to it" in the

park. Reflecting this judgment his map showed a proposed park area that encompassed

roughly five hundred acres, bounded on the north by Lake Brandt Road, on the east by
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 6)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi6.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:23 PM]

Hillsdale (Lawndale) Drive, and by the new line of U.S. 220 on the south and west. [7] The

Martin property was within the area proposed for acquisition.

National Park Service officials were stunned by the magnitude of this proposal. The official

response was an evolving effort to convince MacClamroch of the impracticality of his vision.

On 3 February 1941 Director Demaray wrote to MacClamroch:

[T]he National Park Service has no funds for the purchase of lands at the

Guilford Courthouse battleground. In consequence, any additions to the park

must be the result of donations or purchases made with donated funds.

Six weeks later Demaray wrote again, emphasizing the cost in lost tax revenues to the

Greensboro community, as well as increased maintenance, protection and management

expenses to be incurred by the National Park Service if the park were greatly expanded.

Again he noted that the park could obtain more land via donation, but seemed to temporize

when he added:

[E]specially at this time, proposed additions should be kept within bounds easily

justified by the needs of interpretation and economical park administration." [8]

MacClamroch was displeased by what he interpreted as the Service's miserly attitude toward

land acquisition at Guilford; particularly so in light of activities at Saratoga National

Historical Park, site of a battle that MacClamroch considered of less importance than

Guilford Courthouse.

I still can't understand how it is feasible for the National Park Service to take

over 1427 acres at Saratoga, New York, and spend a $50,000 additional

appropriation for land acquisition there, and it is not reasonable to ask the

cooperation of the National Park Service in acquiring the one hundred to two

hundred acres additional at the site of the battle of Guilford Courthouse to round

out the boundaries of the park and take in the entire site of the battle. [9]

Director Drury responded that although the size of National Military Parks varied

considerably, "the general policy is to include only such tracts as are necessary in telling the

story of the engagement and for administrative purposes." His conclusion was significant:

"[Y]ou may rest assured that the National Park Service will look with favor on any donation

of property within the proposed boundaries which it has considered." In other words, the park

would accept no land outside the scope of its land acquisition program even if it were

proffered by donation. [10]

MacClamroch replied acidly: "If only the land 'necessary in telling the story of the

engagement' were to be included in National Military Parks then a lot ten feet square might

be sufficient." He reiterated that the entire battlefield should be preserved, "with at least the

passive if not the active cooperation of the National Park Service," and concluded, "with or

without we expect to have the area extended." [11]

Grown tired of this long-distance debate over conflicting philosophies of historic

preservation, MacClamroch traveled to Washington in late May 1941 to meet with the

members of the North Carolina Congressional delegation, as well as his law school classmate

Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee. He apparently returned with a promise from

Representative Carl T. Durham that he would introduce a Guilford Courthouse land

acquisition bill, and shortly after his return to Greensboro MacClamroch wrote the

Congressman, "I believe it is now time for you to do so." [12]

The timely intercession of World War II spared the National Park Service the probable
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 6)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi6.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:23 PM]

embarrassment this bill would have occasioned. A year later Brandon would write that

enthusiasm for the land acquisition plan had cooled with the "local recognition that this is no

time for the Government to be concerned with the spending of money for land purchases."

[13] MacClamroch spent the war years haranguing local National Park Service officials,

distributing copies of his map, and working to generate local support for a post-war park

expansion drive. Park staff viewed this effort with some skepticism, echoing Brandon's

earlier judgment that although local support for MacClamroch's proposal was "strong and

sincere it is hardly deep enough to reach their pocketbooks." [14]

When Acting Superintendent Brandon departed for military service in March 1943,

MacClamroch undertook to convert to the expansionist point of view his replacement,

Charles S. Marshall. He failed in this effort as Marshall quickly concluded that MacClamroch

favored "an excessively large land acquisition program" based upon "inaccuracies and

misrepresentations" of the battlefield's size. He also hinted darkly, but without elaboration,

that MacClamroch "has a deliberate reason for this misrepresentation." [15]

A likely outcome of MacClamroch's lobbying efforts, National Park Service officials began

searching intently for means by which to obtain the five small tracts identified in Brandon's

Land Acquisition Program. Congressional funding being virtually impossible during the war

years, Acting Regional Director Oliver G. Taylor directed Superintendent Marshall to canvass

local property owners to determine their willingness to donate land to the park. All declined.

[16] Marshall also investigated property tax appraisals for the designated tracts on the

assumption that land acquisition funds would become available in the post-war period. He

found that these tracts were appraised at significantly higher values than similar property in

the area, leading him to conclude "the tax authorities have valued this land at a high rate

because the land adjoins the park." [17]

The park did receive one unsolicited offer of donated land in this period. Perhaps swept away

in a post-V.E. Day wave of patriotic fervor, County Commissioner J.A. Doggett telephoned

Superintendent Marshall with the news that he intended to sponsor a resolution granting the

original Guilford Courthouse site to the park, along with a commemorative marker to be

erected at County expense. As diplomatically as possible Marshall informed the

Commissioner that the park had owned the site for the past decade, but that the National Park

Service would gladly accept the proffered marker. The Superintendent noted the indignant

tone of Doggett's rejection of this proposal:

[I]f the Service had owned the site for ten years and done nothing towards

constructing such a marker he did not think the County should accept

responsibility at this late date. [18]

Commissioner Doggett's dismissive statement was a paradigm of park-community relations

in the 1940s. Reflecting the 1933 headline that Guilford Courthouse NMP would be brought

up to "national standards," the community was led to have very high expectations of what

National Park Service stewardship would mean for their battlefield. Expectations were

heightened by the flurry of construction and road projects completed in the late 1930s. Park

supporters failed to grasp the significance of the fact that all of these improvements were

funded through Depression-era recovery agencies. No one could foresee that such

governmental largesse would cease once the nation was fully immersed in World War II.

The strange case of James MacClamroch was a particularly lamentable aspect of parkcommunity relations in this period. Initially the park's leading local advocate, he would

emerge in the post-war era as the area's most formidable critic of National Park Service

policies. This transformation may have been inevitable, given MacClamroch's unrealistic

notions of the battle of Guilford Courthouse's significance, and his essentially egocentric
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 6)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi6.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:23 PM]

delusion that he could force the National Park Service and Congress to accept his

interpretation of history. The fact remains, however, that National Park Service

representatives did not deal with MacClamroch in a particularly straightforward manner.

Beginning with Brandon's recommendation that MacClamroch be allowed to believe that the

Service supported his park expansion program; followed by assurances that the park would

gladly accept donated land; concluding with a far more restrictive policy that the park would

accept only such land accessions as were countenanced by the park's planning documents, the

National Park Service appeared to be at best inconsistent. MacClamroch probably should

have been told in 1940 that it was the judgment of the National Park Service that the

historical importance of the battle of Guilford Courthouse did not justify substantial

expenditures for either the acquisition of additional property, or even for the administration

of larger holdings obtained by donation.

In short, Guilford Courthouse National Military Park was, and always would be a small park,

a judgment perfectly in keeping with the "Antietam Plan" conception of historic preservation

with minimal commitment of Federal resources. Unfortunately the Antietam Plan would

prove ill-suited to shield this small park from the forces of robust urban development in the

post-war world.

In September 1946 National Park Service representatives, mindful of James MacClamroch's

promises to revive his land acquisition campaign, traveled to Greensboro to gauge the depth

of local support for park expansion. A meeting was convened in the offices of the Greensboro

Chamber of Commerce where Coordinating Superintendent Edward A. Hummel, new

Guilford Superintendent Raleigh C. Taylor, and James MacClamroch met with chamber

officials. From the standpoint of park expansion advocates the timing of this meeting could

not have been worse. Six weeks earlier military authorities had announced the closing of the

652-acre Army Air Force Overseas Replacement Depot in northeast Greensboro, and the

local business community was transfixed by the goal of making a smooth transition to a

peacetime economy. It should have surprised no one when Chamber of Commerce Executive

Vice President John S. Patterson told the conferees "that the Chamber does not feel that it can

take on the park expansion project as an active program until the early part of 1947. . . ." This

answer essentially doomed the Guilford Courthouse expansion plan. MacClamroch, the plan's

originator and principal advocate, was soon embroiled in a a new controversy with the

National Park Service and would not resume his former position as ramrod on this issue.

Deprived of his leadership local support withered. Without his prodding, the National Park

Service was content to leave things as they were. [19]

<<< Previous <<< Contents >>> Next >>>

http://www.nps.gov/guco/adhi/adhi6.htm

Last Updated: 10-Feb-2003
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 7)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi7.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:24 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

CHAPTER 7:

The War Years And Post-War Museum

Improvements

Guilford Courthouse fared better than many national parks during the lean years of World

War II. Although budgets were cut and visitation initially fell dramatically, the park remained

in operation throughout. Over time the opening of a major military installation within

Greensboro's city limits led to a rebound in visitation. [1]

Staffing was the most critical problem in this period. Four positions were lost during the war.

Three laborers were inducted into the military and their positions were left vacant. Less

serious was the loss of the Resident Commissioner's sinecure which was abolished effective

31 October 1941 at the termination of James H. Roane's appointment. For most of this period

the staff consisted of a superintendent who handled all administrative and public contact

tasks, a maintenance foreman and one laborer. At such minimal staffing levels little could be

accomplished beyond the absolutely essential, and any distraction (such as the land

acquisition controversy) could seriously affect all aspects of park operations. Potentially

disastrous were two extended periods when staff levels fell still further because of the the

transfer of superintendents. The first of these occurred in October 1942 when Acting

Superintendent Brandon left for military service. He was replaced in March 1943 by Charles

S. Marshall who transferred from the Statue of Liberty. Marshall remained as Acting

Superintendent and Custodian (dating from 12 March 1944) until he returned to the Statue of

Liberty as Superintendent in September 1945. His replacement, Superintendent Raleigh C.

Taylor, formerly of Manassas National Battlefield Park, entered on duty 8 November 1945.

During these lapses Maintenance Foreman John A. Flowers acted with extraordinary

competence and devotion to duty. [2]

The first major initiative of the post war period was a program undertaken by Superintendent

Taylor to improve the park's museum exhibits. The museum collection had been decimated

by the removal of the Guilford Battle Ground Company's holdings a quarter century earlier.

Exhibits fashioned from the leftovers featured an assortment of incorrectly identified

anachronisms. Taylor's first step, taken in the winter of 1946, was to remove a "rack of 1873

rifles," replacing them with troop disposition and campaign maps, and portraits of Nathanael

Greene and David Schenck. From Colonial NHP he obtained the loan of several WPA-made

reproduction Revolutionary War uniforms which he displayed on "faceless mannequins." [3]

Taylor enlisted local media assistance in procuring more appropriate museum items for

display. A 12 January 1947 Greensboro Daily News article entitled "Park Needs Museum

Items" produced a number of offers to loan artifacts, including such notable pieces as a fusil

carried at Guilford Courthouse by a British sergeant in the Seventy-First Regiment of Foot,

and a shoe and razor case that belonged to the legendary American soldier Peter Francisco.

Interpretive exhibits were also improved with the installation of an electric campaign map

and a classic diorama prepared by the NPS Museum Division. [4]

The park's most noteworthy museum accession was obtained via the intercession of two local
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 7)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi7.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:24 PM]

D.A.R. chapters whose members cooperated to purchase at auction a splendid Revolutionary

War drum. The process of authentication, purchase and installation was completed and a

formal presentation held on 17 September 1954. Chief Historian Herbert E. Kahler visited the

park shortly after the drum's arrival and pronounced himself well pleased with the museum

improvements. [5]

Two months later Chief Curator Harold L. Peterson visited the park. He too was impressed

by the drum, but was less pleased by the condition of a portion of the battlefield that he

inspected. In 1781 the third American battle line had faced grass-covered, fallow farm fields.

On a 1952 visit Peterson had found this area "growing up in scrub pine that was yet only

seedlings." He had discussed with Superintendent Taylor the need to keep this area cleared of

trees. To his distinct displeasure Peterson found in 1955 "that the clearing has not yet been

done and that the trees are now three or four years larger than they were when the subject

was first discussed." He might also have noted that the courthouse area, also slated for

clearing, was overgrown with honeysuckle and other thick vegetation which lent the area a

jungle-like appearance.

Superintendent Taylor was unavailable to discuss these matters with Peterson. He had been

hospitalized after suffering a nervous breakdown, perhaps brought on by stress associated

with a long running legal dispute that had grown up between the park and neighboring

property owner Charles O. Martin. [6] At the time of Peterson's second visit the Martin

Trespass Case, as this controversy had come to be known, had monopolized park manpower

and resources for five years. It would be five years more before this case was resolved,

leading a frustrated National Park Service directorate to the brink of potentially catastrophic

errors of judgment that were averted only by the intercession of Greensboro's mayor. More

than any other modern event the Martin Trespass Case and its resolution shaped Guilford

Courthouse National Military Park.

<<< Previous <<< Contents >>> Next >>>

http://www.nps.gov/guco/adhi/adhi7.htm

Last Updated: 10-Feb-2003
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 8)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi8.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:24 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

CHAPTER 8:

The Martin Trespass Case

While Guilford Courthouse National Military Park was slowly developing, surrounding

Guilford County and nearby Greensboro were exhibiting impressive growth characteristics.

Even during the Depression the county's economy continued to expand.

Growth was constant. . . . Industrial expansion continued even during the Great

Depression, and World War II brought economic advantage rather than

disruption. After the war there was little dependence upon national defense as

Guilford's economy came to achieve a healthy diversification. [1]

Little wonder that Guilford County was a virtual population magnet. Census reports indicate

that rapid population gains that began in the decade 1920-1930 continued through World War

II and the "Baby Boom" years. The county's population which stood at 79,272 in 1920 had

tripled to 246,520 by 1960. In the same period the population of Greensboro, the county's

business and industrial heartland, grew from 19,861 to 123,334; from twenty-five to fifty per

cent of the county's total population. [2]

As Greensboro's population grew, city limits very naturally were extended. The park, which

since 1887 had billed itself as being six miles from Greensboro, as a result of a 1945

annexation of residential areas on the north side of town found itself a short two and one-half

miles from the city limits. There was plenty of evidence that the park's rural environs would

soon change. A study by Greensboro planners indicated that in 1940 population density was

one thousand persons per square mile at a distance of two miles from the city's center. By

1960 this same population density had extended three-quarters of a mile farther. Projections

indicated that by 1980 there would be one thousand residents per square mile at a distance of

four miles from the center, within two miles of the park. Expansion of Greensboro's city

limits kept pace and by 1964 the city limits ran along the park's south and east boundaries.

These areas were protected from more objectionable urban encroachment by the Greensboro

Country Park and the Forest Lawn Cemetery, but events would demonstrate that these

facilities were not impenetrable defenses. [3]

In January 1941 Acting Superintendent Brandon reported that he was approached by Charles

O. Martin with plans for a residential subdivision of twelve to fifteen homes that he intended

to build on his thirty-six acre tract that fronted the south side of the New Garden Road rightof-way, running 1350 feet from the New Garden Lawndale Drive intersection to the eastern

boundary of the park's main body. This property sat opposite the courthouse site and very

likely included archaeological remains of the post-Revolutionary War village, Martinville.

About two hundred feet of this property along the New Garden Road line was submerged

beneath Lake Caldwell, the northern-most Country Park lake, and as such was under

easement to the City of Greensboro. The balance was readily available for development.

Brandon noted that each of these homesites was to have direct access to New Garden Road

via driveway connection. A month earlier Brandon had discussed the question of access to
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 8)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi8.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:24 PM]

this park-owned road with Martin and his attorney. He informed them that the right-of-way

transfer had occurred prior to his posting to Guilford Courthouse. Nonetheless, it was his

understanding, based on conversations with former Resident Commissioner Roane and

officials of the Bureau of Public Roads, that the National Park Service had a "moral

obligation" to permit access, with the Service to be the sole arbiter as to type, number, and

location of such connections. Brandon concluded that the Service was "unlikely" to approve

twelve or more access points at this location and so informed Martin. [4]

World War II intervened. In the late summer of 1945 Martin informed Superintendent

Charles S. Marshall that he intended to construct two access roads from his property to

intersect with New Garden Road. Martin contended that he had conveyed right-of-way to the

National Park Service (by way of the State of North Carolina) with "the express reservation"

that he could construct access roads at intervals of two hundred feet. Informed by Marshall

that the Government was unlikely to grant such access, Martin turned the matter over to his

attorney, James G.W. MacClamroch. [5]

Of course attorney MacClamroch was well-known to officials of the National Park Service

because of his long-time advocacy of the expansion of Guilford Courthouse National

Military Park. MacClamroch wasted no time in telling the Director of Region One that

although the Martin property should be included within the park, this personal belief "has

nothing to do with my client's rights as to the land he owns." Specifically he argued that

although Martin had access to his property along its eastern boundary from Lawndale Drive,

this access was "inadequate for his full use of the property" and "undue hardship to him will

result" if he were denied access to New Garden Road. Region One Director Thomas J. Allen

replied that no authority existed to grant private access to a Government-owned road. [6]

The matter rested there until the summer of 1949 when Martin began grading operations on

his property to construct an unpaved connector between Nathanael Greene Road in the

Country Park and New Garden Road in the military park. Superintendent Taylor took

immediate steps to block Nathanael Greene Road Extension, as Martin's road was christened,

by erecting a barricade of concrete posts along the park property line. This barrier remained

in place until November 1949 when it was removed by "Martin or his agents." [7] In response

Taylor contacted United States Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina Bryce R.

Holt. In 1945 Holt had advised Taylor's predecessor to prosecute Martin for criminal trespass

in the event his (at that time) threatened road-building operations crossed the park boundary.

At this latter juncture, apparently without explanation, the U.S. Attorney failed to act. [8] A

14 April 1950 letter from the Secretary of the Interior to Attorney General J. Howard

McGrath also failed to elicit "appropriate injunctive proceedings" against Mr. Martin.

In January 1951 Coordinating Superintendent Hummel came to Greensboro to consult with

the involved parties. The situation had become more complex because another park neighbor,

Minnie H. Webb, had been emboldened by Martin's apparent success to build a similar

access road from her property on the north side of New Garden Road. [9] Shortly after this

round of meetings U.S. Attorney Holt wrote to Hummel stating that he believed Martin and

MacClamroch's contentions that the National Park Service had a moral obligation to provide

access to neighboring property owners "have a great deal of merit to them." [10]

Unable to induce U.S. Attorney Holt to take action, Mastin G. White, Solicitor of the

Department of the Interior, addressed a rousing letter to the Attorney General summarizing

the case and insisting that appropriate proceedings be instituted against Martin. Solicitor

White argued that the Service's responsibility to "preserve and protect this national shrine . . .

transcends any claimed moral rights of access." White concluded with a pointed request that

U.S. Attorney Holt be instructed to institute proceedings "without delay" and that a copy of

the Justice Department's letter of instruction be forwarded to the Department of the Interior.
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 8)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi8.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:24 PM]

[11]

There is no indication that the requested letter of instruction was ever sent. Instead there

followed a round of meetings between National Park Service officials and members of the

North Carolina Congressional Delegation, which in turn led to an October 1951 summit

conference in Greensboro. In attendance were C.O. Martin, his attorney J.G.W.

MacClamroch, Greensboro City Manager James R. Townsend, U.S. Attorney Holt, National

Park Service Chief Counsel Jackson E. Price, Region One Landscape Architect V.R. Ludgate,

and Superintendent Taylor. The presence of the City Manager suggested that the pro-Martin

forces were about to assume a new line of attack. They did so. MacClamroch argued that this

access road represented more than the simple exercise of his client's property rights. He

argued that it performed a public service in that it provided another entrance and exit for the

heavily used Greensboro Country Park. He argued further: "The National Park will be

benefited rather than inconvenienced by this extension," because it would reduce the flow of

traffic into and out of the Country Park by way of Holt Avenue, one of the National Military

Park's primary entrances. MacClamroch's contention was supported by City Manager

Townsend and, interestingly enough, by U.S. Attorney Holt. [12]

Failing to achieve a meeting of the minds, a second conference was held on 6 November

1951 at which the National Park Service tried a new tack of its own. Regional Landscape

Architect Ludgate presented a proposal to use the Martin property as a construction site for

"a restricted, high-type residential development without access to the Government road. . . ."

Martin and MacClamroch rejected this suggestion, and when queried refused to divulge the

nature of their plans for the tract. Service representatives speculated that they planned "a

tourist court or some other commercial development." [13]

What actually followed was a series of "improvements" that were probably conceived to

capitalize upon the considerable number of recreational users passing between the parks.

Martin's tract was essentially an undeveloped thirty-six acre woodland with six humble frame

rental houses along its southern boundary with the Country Park. When the construction dust

cleared, he had added the Park Drive-In Movie Theater, the Park Recreation Area (featuring

a go cart track) and the Park Barbecue Restaurant. [14]

This case took its next unlikely turn on 31 July 1952 when R. Brookes Peters, General

Counsel of the North Carolina State Highway and Public Works Commission wrote to NPS

Chief Counsel Jackson E. Price with news that yet another interested party had entered the

lists. At the request of "several local governing bodies," the Martin road had been included in

the State-maintained County Highway System. The State of North Carolina was now

requesting access to New Garden Road. [15] This indulgence was denied by Director Conrad

L. Wirth, who stated that to do otherwise would "nullify the character of New Garden Road

as a Park road," whose purpose was to "assist in the interpretation of the Battle of Guilford

Courthouse rather than as a public thoroughfare serving local interests for the benefit of

adjoining landowners." [16]

Local historian MacClamroch took exception to the characterization of New Garden as a

park road and to the implication that the Martin road would in any way harm the park. With

regard to the former point he correctly described New Garden as a local road of considerable

antiquity that extended for a number of miles beyond the park boundaries. In his view, the

fact that it passed through the park did not alter its essential character as a local roadway. As

to the latter implication that the Martin road constituted a threat to Guilford Courthouse

NMP, MacClamroch invoked his personal history as the park's leading advocate as a

guarantee that the exercise of his client's rights would do nothing to compromise the site's

integrity. Furthermore he asserted that local patriotic organizations were united in support of

the Martin road and promised to provide formal resolutions to that effect. No such
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 8)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi8.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:24 PM]

declarations were forthcoming and Superintendent Taylor found officers of area D.A.R. and

S.A.R. chapters to be unanimously opposed to the Martin road. [17]

The State made one final appeal in the spring of 1953. Director Wirth's response hinted

ominously that if access were somehow granted:

[I]t would be necessary for the Service to consider revising the boundaries of the

Park with a view toward eliminating those portions which may no longer be

consistent with or in the furtherance of the established purpose of Guilford

Courthouse National Military Park.

Access was denied. Superintendent Taylor was ordered to rebuild his barricades, and a stern

warning was conveyed: "The Attorney General will take action against trespassers." Of

course such threats were not new, but there was reason to suspect at this juncture that a

different attitude would pervade the office of the District Attorney for the Middle District of

North Carolina. The autumn 1952 elections had left the Democratic Party in control of North

Carolina and Guilford County governments, but Dwight Eisenhower had succeeded to the

presidency and his administration was unlikely to be as receptive to the appeals of North

Carolina's Democratic Congressional delegation in behalf of a long-time party stalwart of the

likes of James G.W. MacClamroch.

In obedience to the Director's instructions Superintendent Taylor blocked the Martin access

road on June 2, 1953. The barricade was removed by "grading machines" on June 29.

Replaced once more, the barrier was again demolished by heavy machinery. [18]

The seemingly endless cycle was broken on 21 July 1953. Four years after Martin first

directed his grading machinery across the park boundary and Superintendent Taylor initially

requested Justice Department assistance, a civil suit was finally filed in the Federal District

Court for the Middle District of North Carolina charging Martin with trespass and requesting

the removal of the road and the restoration of twenty feet of disturbed park land between the

boundary and New Garden Road. Four months later a predictable countersuit was filed

requesting dismissal of the Government's claim and requesting a judgment in the amount of

five thousand dollars for the "unlawful use, trespass upon, interference with and damage to

the property" of Charles O. Martin. Specifically, it was alleged that Martin had been

dispossessed of his property without compensation; and that Martin had made the conveyance

with expressed reservations regarding rights of access. Thrown in for good measure was the

assertion that the access road had been constructed with State assistance, in that the State

Highway Commission had seen fit to pave it. The Government's response to the counterclaim

asserted that tort claims against the United States were barred unless instituted within one

year from the date the claim accrues (Title 28, U.S.C. 1346) and that they must be prosecuted

in an original action (Title 28, U.S.C. 2401). The response also amended the Government's

suit to include as defendants the members of the North Carolina State Highway Commission.

[19]

The District Court's docket was exceedingly congested and it was clear that it would be some

time before this case would be heard. In the interval there was a flurry of activity aimed at

finding a compromise solution. The State opened the bidding with a proposal that would have

the United States return the eastern portion of New Garden Road in exchange for the North

Carolina Highway Commission's promise to maintain it. As this emphatically one-sided offer

would have left the Martin access road in place and would have technically severed the only

linkage between the courthouse site and the bulk of the National Military Park property, it

should have been rejected out of hand. That it was not sheds considerable light on the lengths

to which National Park Service management was prepared to go to make these problems

disappear. [20]
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 8)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi8.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:24 PM]

Early in December 1954 NPS Chief Counsel Jackson Price appeared in Greensboro to discuss

with Superintendent Taylor the idea of returning the courthouse site to Guilford County and

the New Garden right-of way to the State. In a memorandum to Regional Director Elbert

Cox dated 5 December 1954 Superintendent Taylor submitted his response to this proposal.

While admitting that the Service had done "little enough toward maintaining the site" and

that such a boundary reduction would "make the park easier to administer," Taylor

concluded: "I would be opposed to giving up a foot of this ground." His rationale was in part

historical ("The courthouse gave a name to the battle.") and in part personal, "possibly too

personal."

I spent a good deal of time trying to stop Mr. Martin from completing his road,

and after that was done, from using it. These efforts were not only useless and

somewhat expensive, but if the road is finally to remain open, then it seems that I

will be made especially ridiculous, not only personally but as a representative of

the Service whose instructions I was trying to execute. Damage to our aims in

this community would be considerable.

Taylor's objections were noted, but were rejected in favor of a compromise described by

Chief Historian Herbert E. Kahler as "three steps [that] will be taken in an effort to dispose of

this problem." The North Carolina Division of Highways and Public Works would be

requested to close New Garden Road to through traffic. Efforts would then be undertaken to

arrange a land exchange whereby the National Park Service would swap the courthouse site

for some portion of the Richardson Real Estate Company land holdings. The final element of

this equation would be consultations with Dr. C.C. Crittenden, Chairman of the North

Carolina Historical Commission, regarding the "historical problem" involved in this

exchange. [21]

Although undefined this "historical problem" was undoubtedly the question of whether the

battle of Guilford Courthouse could be interpreted adequately without the inclusion of the

courthouse site. Was it a "key point" in the Antietam Plan sense of historic preservation? No

less an authority than the Director of the National Park Service had characterized the

Guilford Courthouse site as an "important landmark during the battle."

It was the base of supplies for American troops and the spot where they made

their last stand and retired from the field. The courthouse was the most important

landmark in that vicinity and the battle was named for it. [22]

This judgment from the highest policy-making level of the National Park Service certainly

suggested that the courthouse area was a key site. Furthermore, Wirth concluded that at one

hundred fifty acres Guilford Courthouse National Military Park "is indeed inadequate to tell

the story of the battle." Three years later this key site had become a "historical problem" fit

for excision from a park "inadequate to tell the story of the battle." Why this was the case

was not clear at this point.

Within five months the three-step plan was dead. The State rejected the notion of closing

New Garden Road. Richardson Realty Company concluded that, "No suitable [land]

exchange could be accomplished." As a result, Dr. Crittenden had not been consulted

regarding the "historical problem." [23] This plan was abandoned but compromise efforts

continued. Edwin M. Stanley, the Eisenhower appointee who had at length succeeded Bryce

Holt as United States Attorney for the Middle District, reported that he had been approached

by MacClamroch with an offer to settle based on the Government's retaining title to New

Garden Road and Martin's access road remaining open. Like his predecessor Stanley noted

that the Martin road did serve a public interest in that it permitted access to the city park. He

noted further that if the case did come to trial he would have to defend the Government's title
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 8)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi8.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:24 PM]

to the right-of-way and this he seemed unwilling to do. [24]

MacClamroch's proposal was rejected, or at least not acted upon, and the case finally came

before Judge Johnson J. Hayes of Wilkesboro, North Carolina on 31 January 1956. Judge

Hayes issued a summary judgment dismissing the State Highway Commission members as

parties to the suit on their agreement to abide by the court's ruling in the case. The court was

also informed that Charles O. Martin had retired and conveyed his interest in the thirty-six

acre tract to his son, Floyd B. Martin, and to his daughter and son-in-law Raymond F. and

Hazel Martin Farrar. The Government's suit was amended to include them as defendants and

a trial date of 10 February 1956 was set. [25]

On 30 March 1956 the court issued its ruling. With regard to the assertion that Martin had

been deprived of his property with out consideration, and that the Government's title to the

New Garden right-of-way was therefore defective, the court ruled, "The United States is

owner and is entitled to full use and possession" of the roadway. Martin's contention that he

had reserved rights of access was also rejected and the defendants were "permanently

restrained" from constructing or using Nathanael Greene Road Extension or other such access

roads without the permission of the Secretary of the Interior or his designees. In short, the

Government's victory was complete; but it did not stand. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals

reversed the decision, ruling that Chapter 2, Public Laws of North Carolina, 1935, was

defective in that "mere registration of maps was not sufficient to divest the owners of title."

However, Government could establish title via prescriptive easement upon a showing that it

had exercised long-term "dominion and control" over the property. [26]

Remanded to the Middle District Court, former superintendents Brandon and Marshall, and

caretaker William J. Brown testified that the park had mowed, seeded, and sodded the

shoulders of New Garden Road since June 1937. The court ruled that the Government had

established title through the required exercise of dominion and control, but refused to order

the closure of Nathanael Greene Road Extension "until and unless" Martin, et al., were

compensated. The Government responded by filing a motion for an order to close the access

road. This motion was denied on the grounds that the court was not required to order the

closure, and that the road served a public purpose, in that it provided access to a recreation

area and a barbecue restaurant. This ruling was appealed. The motion was again remanded to

the District Court, which again refused to act. Again brought before the Fourth Circuit Court

of Appeals the petition was denied on the grounds that Martin had been denied "constructive

notice" of the taking of his reserved access. [27]

The ten-year run of the Martin Trespass Case ended on 20 October 1959 with a memorandum

from Edward A. Fritz, Acting Solicitor of the Department of the Interior, informing Attorney

General William P. Rogers that a decision had been made to cease the seemingly endless

round of petitions and appeals in this case. The grounds for this judgment had remarkably

little to do with Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, or the effect of the contested

road on the park, or even on the likelihood of success of further appeals. Rather this decision

turned upon the larger issue of the validity of the North Carolina statute designed to obtain

land for Federal parkways that had been employed by the State to obtain title to New Garden

Road and, not coincidentally, for much of the property that comprised the Blue Ridge

Parkway. Because the court's final ruling had hinged upon the State's failure to provide

Martin "constructive notice" of the rejection of his claimed reserved right of access to New

Garden Road, the effect of the ruling was considered to be limited to the specifics of this

case. Rather than open a Pandora's box of actions challenging the legality of State takings for

the Parkway, the National Park Service and Department of the Interior "decline(d) to file

petition for certiorari."

After a decade of contention, the courts' rulings had resolved nothing. The park's claim to the
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 8)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi8.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:24 PM]

New Garden Road right-of-way had been upheld, but Nathanael Greene Drive Extension was

still in use. In some ways the park's position had actually deteriorated in this period. The

formerly wooded Martin tract had been replaced by a trio of business enterprises that

drastically affected the historic scene of the courthouse area. An immense drive-in movie

screen loomed over the courthouse site, and nature's tranquility had been replaced by the roar

of go-cart engines and a peculiar aroma that was an amalgam of gasoline fumes and hickory

smoke. It was almost as if C.O. Martin had gone out of his way to convert his thirty-six acres

to uses that would be as incompatible as possible with the goals and purposes of the National

Military Park. One wonders if attorney MacClamroch, park expansion advocate turned

implacable National Park Service critic, played a role in this selection of uses. Perhaps he

saw in this a way to force the National Park Service to expand the area of Guilford

Courthouse National Military Park, while at the same time profiting his client. Was this the

motive former Superintendent Charles Marshall was suggesting when he wrote in 1943 that

MacClamroch "has a deliberate reason for this misrepresentation" regarding the true size of

the battlefield? [28]

Aside from speculative conclusions, several pertinent observations can be drawn from events

surrounding the Martin Trespass Case. The evidence supports the conclusion that in this

instance Guilford Courthouse National Military Park and the National Park Service could not

rely upon local, State, or even sister Federal agencies to support the park in its efforts to

preserve and interpret the Guilford Courthouse battlefield. While City and State agencies

quickly wheeled into line to support each other's positions (positions that were inimical to the

interests of the park), the passage of four years and a change of presidential political

affiliation were required before the National Park Service could induce the Justice

Department to initiate proceedings in its behalf. The fact that the case essentially represented

a defeat for the Government is beside the point. This case stretched over a decade, consuming

the park's human and financial resources, and diverting attention from other planning and

development needs. A decision, even a negative decision, reached four years earlier would

have been a great favor to the park and its small staff. Sad to say the future would reveal

other instances when this small park would find itself contending against the alliance of City

and State governments, and the indifference of other Federal agencies.

Evidence derived from this case also supports the observation that local perceptions of the

park and its purpose were garbled. Aside from MacClamroch's self-serving assertions that

the Martin access road would not be a detriment to the park, there are the frequent remarks of

District Attorney Holt to the effect that the Country Park and the National Military Park were

essentially indistinguishable, remarks that show the extent of his identification with local

rather than national interests, as well as his lack of understanding of the purposes and aims of

the National Park. Unfortunately the passing of time would demonstrate that his views were

fairly typical of those of the community at large. The Country Park was something like the

recreational safety valve NPS planners hoped it would be, but it also contributed to an

identity crisis that afflicts the park to this day.

Perhaps most significant of all are observations concerning NPS management tendencies and

their effects on Guilford Courthouse National Military Park. The trend toward inconsistency

in public statements regarding the park, first exhibited in reaction to MacClamroch's earlier

land acquisition proposals, continued. In one context Director Wirth asserted the importance

of the courthouse site. A short while later this position was reversed and it was decided that

the park could function adequately without it. Of course the argument can be made that this

was a tactical adjustment dictated by changing circumstances in the park community; that

inflexibility in the face of an evolving environment is an undesirable management

characteristic; and that in some circumstances it may be acceptable to dispense with even key

sites as a problem-solving technique. But to the layman such apparent deviations from basic

principles undercut one of the premises upon which the National Park Service stands: that
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 8)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi8.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:24 PM]

there are sites that are of such importance in the history of the nation and its people that they

should be preserved in perpetuity. That they are in effect, sacred places. How then, can a

sacred site become unconsecrated? Is sacredness not an eternal verity? If it is not, is it not

possible for reasonable people to conclude that Guilford Courthouse NMP really is no

different than the Greensboro Country Park? In recent memory a member of the Greensboro

City Council openly mocked the notion that park property was sacred and therefore

unsuitable for use in the expansion of a neighboring roadway, as such attesting to the

importance of consistency of principle and purpose regarding park resources.

Finally the evidence of this case (and others) will support the judgment that NPS

management has on occasion subverted the interest of one park in the interest of the NPS at

large. In at least one instance, a key decision in this case was made based on its perceived

effect on the Blue Ridge Parkway, rather than its impact on Guilford Courthouse National

Military Park. In this same general timeframe Superintendent Taylor reported an initiative to

request that the North Carolina General Assembly appropriate funds to purchase lands

designated in the park Land Acquisition Program. He did not specify whether this idea was

his own or that of a local constituency group. In either case, he was directed to halt this

effort, "as important as it is" because the Service was at that time working to obtain a similar

State appropriation for land acquisition at Cape Hatteras National Seashore. [29] Of course

such judgments are legitimate management prerogatives. In a world of limited resources they

are, in fact, management responsibilities. Such assessments are inherently neither good nor

bad. It is simply a fact that such judgments will be made; a fact that should be borne in mind

by managers of small areas like Guilford Courthouse. Among their greatest responsibilities is

the need to act as effective advocates for their parks. Small parks that lack such advocacy

will inevitably suffer.

<<< Previous <<< Contents >>> Next >>>

http://www.nps.gov/guco/adhi/adhi8.htm

Last Updated: 10-Feb-2003
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 9)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi9.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:26 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

CHAPTER 9:

NPS Land Acquisition Efforts And Mission 66

While the Martin Trespass case was the major issue involving Guilford Courthouse NMP in

the 1950s, there were significant developments that were unrelated to that case. Locally, most

important of these were efforts to obtain property specified in the park land acquisition

program. The notable victory in this campaign was the purchase of the one-acre eyesore at

the corner of Holt Avenue and Old Battleground Road. The park's premier land acquisition

priority since 1940, this property was obtained in May 1957 for $10,500. Its buildings were

demolished, the ground seeded, and the area allowed to return to a more natural appearance.

[1]

The park's second land acquisition priority also became available at this time. East of and

fronting Old Battleground Road for nine hundred feet from Holt Avenue south to Joyner

Memorial Church, this ten-acre tract paralleled park holdings west of the road. Obtained by

three local businessmen who foresaw the area's coming annexation by the city, the property

was bisected longitudinally by the tracks of the Atlantic and Yadkin Railroad, and was zoned

for light industry. With easy access to rail and road transportation systems, the owners

considered this a valuable site for commercial development. Nonetheless they were perfectly

willing to work with the park, willing even to allow an extended grace period to permit

programming of funds. Their asking price was $36,000. The park paid for an appraisal that

put the tract's fair market value at $35,120. Superintendent McKeown was satisfied with the

appraiser's work and strongly recommended that the land be acquired. It was not, essentially

because of a divergence of viewpoint regarding the railroad right-of-way. The owners

considered the tracks a business asset; the Branch of Lands saw the one hundred foot rightof-way as a liability, limiting the tract's usefulness as parkland. McKeown was authorized to

offer $30,000 for the tract. This offer was rejected, the tract was subdivided into nineteen

lots, and was sold piece by piece for business development. In 1960-1961 a warehouse and a

combination warehouse-office complex were built. There after two additional office facilities

and another warehouse were constructed, consuming the nineteen lots. [2]

Ironically, the railroad right-of-way that was so pivotal to NPS decision-making in this case

was abandoned in 1982. Before they were removed the tracks actually served as an asset to

park interpretive programs when, in association with the American Revolution Bicentennial,

the Freedom Train visited the park in 1976, and the Best Friend of Charleston in 1981. The

park finally did obtain part of this tract in 1979. A wedge-shaped plat totalling one-third acre

located immediately south of the Holt Avenue entrance was bought to allow screen planting.

This fraction of an acre was the only part of the park's second land acquisition priority that

was added to the area. Its purchase price was $22,500. [3]

Also in this decade a major new National Park Service planning initiative was undertaken.

Mission 66 was a ten-year program designed to upgrade tired and over-taxed park facilities

in time for the 1966 fiftieth anniversary celebration of the National Park Service's founding.

Mission 66 materials are valuable resources for documenting park conditions and priorities in

the important transitional decade stretching from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s.
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 9)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi9.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:26 PM]

Major problems identified at Guilford Courthouse NMP were outgrowths of the continuing

growth of neighboring Greensboro. Foremost among these were difficulties associated with

heavy volumes of automobile traffic on park roads, particularly on New Garden Road. "Nonvisitor traffic on park roads has reached such proportions that it is now a distinct hazard to

legitimate park visitors." To alleviate this problem a goal was established to close New

Garden Road to through-traffic and incorporate the abandoned roadway into a newly

constructed one-way tour route, with visitors' vehicles entering from Old Battleground Road

(State Road 2340) at the Administration-Museum building. Plans also called for the

construction of gates to prevent after-hours vehicular access to the park. This was a direct

response to an accumulating toll of damage to park resources caused by vandals and off-road

parking.

The other major challenge facing the park was the physical growth of the City of Greensboro.

City planning estimates quoted in the preceding chapter indicated that the park community

shortly would be transformed from essentially rural to decidedly urban in character. "To be

preserved, the battlefield . . . must be protected . . . against encroachment from all sides as its

immediate surroundings are developed for suburban and urban use." Developments on the

neighboring Martin property were a daily reminder of just how seriously urban encroachment

could affect park operations. To protect the park "against encroachment from all sides"

Mission 66 planners called for "screen plantings in some [unspecified] areas of the park to

reduce as much as possible the intrusion of development outside park boundaries." [4]

In retrospect it is not surprising that problems associated with urban encroachment were

identified as the major obstacles confronting the park in 1956. The recommended responses

to these problems are a bit unexpected. The notion of closing New Garden Road was rather

optimistic given the State's repeated rejections of such proposals offered in attempts to settle

the Martin Trespass case. Of course the fact that the park owned the New Garden right-ofway, even though that ownership was being contested in the courts, made closure at least a

possibility. But the apparent insistence on receiving the advance assent of the State made this

element of the plan seem a bit far-fetched. The other key aspect of the plan, screen plantings

to mitigate the effects of urban encroachment, seems unimaginative and anemic. If significant

additional land purchases were out of the question, and the community had been assured

repeatedly that this was the case, alternative responses might have included efforts to assure

compatible usage by obtaining easements. An aggressive determination to work with local

zoning authorities might also have been employed to minimize the effects of urban

encroachment. A combination of easements and favorable zoning decisions probably would

have done more to help the park than any other potential course of action short of expansive

land purchases. If all else failed, fencing, in combination with substantial screen planting,

would have offered a more formidable buffer and might have enhanced public perceptions of

the distinctions of intent and purpose between the National Military Park and its neighbors.

Whatever the merits of this portion of the plan, neither of its major elements were

accomplished by 1966. The significant achievements of Mission 66 at Guilford Courthouse

were the purchase of a house and lot on Liberty Lane (Green Acres Lane) and the addition to

the staff of a GS-7 Historian's position. The Historian's hiring was most welcome to

supplement the small staff of four, consisting of Superintendent Courtland T. Reid (assigned

to Guilford as of 1 September 1955), an administrative aid, and two caretakers.

Superintendent Reid noted approvingly: "Interpretive aspects of Park operations will receive

an emphasis not possible when these duties were handled largely by administrative

personnel." [5]

The new house was meant for occupancy by the Historian, but funding for the new position

was not allocated until August 1961. Until Walter T. Bruce transferred from Manassas

National Battlefield Park in October 1961, the house was occupied by Administrative Aid
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 9)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi9.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:26 PM]

Robert S. McDaniel. [6] Other elements of Mission 66 planning, including the construction of

walking trails in the first line, and the second and third line areas of the battlefield, would

have to await the 1968 Master Plan revision and the major developments that followed in

anticipation of the national bicentennial.

<<< Previous <<< Contents >>> Next >>>

http://www.nps.gov/guco/adhi/adhi9.htm

Last Updated: 10-Feb-2003
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 10)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi10.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:26 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

CHAPTER 10:

A Bridge Over Troubled Waters

Consistent with the Mission 66 proposal, a Master Plan Revision, approved 28 August 1958,

called for "the discontinuance of New Garden Road" through the park. As a concession to

local traffic patterns a replacement road was to be constructed beyond the park's northern

boundary to carry the heavy volume of east-west through traffic away from the park's center.

This plan was blocked by the inability of the Service and Richardson-Merrill Corporation

(successor to various Richardson family holdings, including Richardson Realty Company)

owner of two tracts along the park's uneven northern boundary, to reach agreement as to the

location of the by-pass. Richardson had aspirations to develop this property, and although

willing to sell 17.84 acres required to complete the circuit, insisted that the by-pass be located

on or within the park's northern boundary so as to leave them no unusable property. The

Service was equally determined that the by-pass be carved entirely from the Richardson

holdings. Without agreement on this point, the land transaction and the by-pass proposal

failed. Without the by-pass, the State refused its assent to closing New Garden Road. [1]

Then providence intervened. In this case providence assumed the form of hurricane Gracie,

whose accompanying torrential rains breached the Lake Caldwell Dam on 16 October 1959.

As New Garden Road ran across the top of the earthen dam, the road was washed out. To

some this was a welcome occurrence. The National Park Service may have been unable to

close New Garden Road, but an act of God had done the trick. From Greensboro to

Washington, NPS officials viewed this as a rare opportunity. They had no intention of

repairing the damage until the State agreed to the construction of a by-pass and the

permanent closure of New Garden Road. [2]

Among those least likely to applaud this decision were the extended family of C.O. Martin

and their advocate, James G.W. MacClamroch. The Martins had essentially won their longcontested case against the Government, and attorney MacClamroch was not inclined to see

their victory vitiated by the Service's refusal to repair New Garden Road. Telephoning Sixth

District Congressman Carl Durham he confidentially requested that repairs be expedited.

When he was informed that the Park Service was not willing to restore the road,

MacClamroch cleverly enlisted a new champion with a more altruistic interest in New

Garden Road: the Battleground Volunteer Fire Department (BVFD).

This agency provided an essential service to the community and to the National Military Park

as well. Fire represented a serious threat to the park's wooded acreage and its small staff

would be quickly outmanned in an emergency situation. Fortunately the BVFD was located

nearby, so a fast response time for a park fire emergency was assured. The BVFD station was

on Lawndale Drive in a building owned by Raymond F. Farrar, operator of the Park Drive-In

Theater, and son-in-law of C.O. Martin. In spite of the protection the BVFD offered the

park, Superintendent Eugene D. McKeown cynically asserted that Farrar had built the fire

department building as a ploy "to prevent the closing of New Garden Road." If so, this

ostensibly public-spirited action was shrewdly calculated and utterly effective.
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 10)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi10.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:26 PM]

Congressman Durham soon heard from the president of the BVFD who pleaded that the

bridge provided access to half of the department's fire district. Attorneys engaged by the fire

department traveled to Washington to make their case to NPS officials that repair of the

bridge was a matter of public safety, and as such was an urgent necessity. Back home in

Guilford County, Raymond Farrar began circulating a petition expressing community support

for the fire department, and impatience at the inconvenience occasioned by the road's closure.

The Service could not resist these representations, particularly the public safety arguments

pressed by the fire department's attorneys. Reversing their position, they announced that in

the interest of public safety a temporary bridge would be erected and New Garden would be

reopened to traffic. A sectional aluminum bridge was installed and the barricades removed on

2 August 1960. It was emphasized that this was not a permanent solution and that the NPS

would continue to seek alternatives that would allow the permanent closure of New Garden

Road. [3]

By assuming a stance that was interpreted as constituting a threat to public safety, the

National Park Service once again had been out-manuevered. Unable to close New Garden

Road, unable to construct a by-pass, unable to forestall the construction and use of the garish

recreational facilities on the Martin property, unable even to close the trespass road that

accommodated these establishments, the isolation of the courthouse area from the balance of

the park acreage had been magnified. It looked as though this alienation might become even

more intense when the city chose not to refill Lake Caldwell. Held under easement for use as

a lake, the property reverted to its owner, C.O. Martin, whose history suggested a future of

further unpalatable developments for the park. [4]

<<< Previous <<< Contents >>> Next >>>

http://www.nps.gov/guco/adhi/adhi10.htm

Last Updated: 10-Feb-2003
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 11)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi11.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:27 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

CHAPTER 11:

NPS Final Solution Spurs Local Intervention

After years of fruitless contention centered around the site of the eighteenth-century Guilford

Courthouse building, National Park Service planners had apparently had enough. A sort of

institutional final solution was propounded in draft legislation, "To authorize the elimination

of 8.50 acres of land from Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, North Carolina, and

for other purposes." Ten years after Director Wirth wrote that the courthouse was the area's

"most important landmark," and the spot where Nathanael Greene's doughty Continentals had

"made their last stand and retired from the field," the process of NPS historical revisionism

had come full circle. As of 29 January 1963, the date this proposed legislation was sent to the

Speaker of the House of Representatives, the new position of the National Park Service held

that:

The courthouse had only a remote connection with the battlefield, both

historically and physically. It was neither assaulted nor defended, [and] played no

part in the battle fought one-half mile to the west. . . .

It was the intent of the Department of the Interior to use the courthouse site as a medium of

exchange, to be sold or traded to defray the acquisition costs of the two Richardson-Merrill

tracts, 17.84 acres in all, along the park's northern boundary. This purchase was considered

important as a means of blocking "undesirable development" on lands near the visitor center,

and on "lands adjacent to and on the American Third Battle Line." The eastern portion of

New Garden Road, the subject of so much controversy in its own right, would be returned to

the State. The park could then fulfill its long-term goal of closing New Garden along the new

eastern boundary. These steps completed, Guilford Courthouse NMP would be a much more

compact, more easily administered, and much less vexatious area. [1]

This decision did not go unchallenged. A courtesy copy of this draft legislation was

forwarded to the recently elected Sixth District Congressman Horace R. Kornegay. Unlike his

predecessor Carl T. Durham, who was a resident of the more rural eastern portion of the

district, Kornegay hailed from Greensboro. As such he was acquainted with the park and

with the fact that Greensboro's mayor took a decided interest in the battlefield. It was the

good fortune of Guilford Courthouse National Military Park that Greensboro's mayor at this

critical juncture was David Schenck, grandson and namesake of the park's founder. Knowing

of the Mayor's familial connection with the site, Representative Kornegay forwarded a copy

of the draft legislation to Schenck, inviting his response but requesting that the matter be held

in confidence. The Congressman probably knew what the Mayor's response would be, and he

wanted no confusion as to the source of this bill.

You understand that I have nothing whatsoever to do with this, and that it is a

proposal of the Department of the Interior. [2]

The Mayor did not care for the proposal, and he enumerated his objections in some detail. He

noted that the site was thematically related to the battlefield as "the site of General Greene's
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 11)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi11.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:27 PM]

headquarters and the rally point for the American forces following the battle." However, the

bulk of the Mayor's objections were rooted in the need to protect the park from the forces of

urban encroachment generated by the success of the very city he led. He noted that "this

particular tract protects the main entrance to the park," and that its sale would open the door

to encirclement of "this now beautiful historical area." Tracing the course of urban

development in the park community he reported that businesses were encroaching from the

southwest, residential areas on the east and west, and confidently predicted that development

along the northern boundary was "only a matter of time." In addition to retaining the

courthouse tract, he suggested that the park's area should be expanded by the acquisition of

the 17.84 acres held by Richardson-Merrill as an additional buffer against encroachment from

the north. Assuming a local perspective consistent with his office he asserted, "This is

Greensboro's finest historical site, and one that should be preserved at all costs."

Characterizing this issue as a "matter of vital importance," he nonetheless promised to

respect the Congressman's request for confidentiality, with the proviso that he would publish

the relevant documents and rally support for his views "if it appears that the sale of the land

is going to take place." [3]

Taking his cue from the Mayor's response, Representative Kornegay wrote to Director Wirth

stating "my own opposition to such a proposal" and requesting an audience for "a delegation

of citizens and officials from Greensboro to confer with you. . . prior to the introduction of a

bill of this nature." Wirth responded favorably, welcoming the opportunity "to seek a solution

beneficial to both the Park and the city." [4]

On 10 April 1963 Director Wirth met with Kornegay and a delegation from Greensboro

consisting of Mayor Schenck, Chairman of the Board of the North Carolina Department of

Archives and History McDaniel Lewis, and Guilford County Historian James G.W.

MacClamroch. Also in attendance were staff representatives from the offices of North

Carolina's senators B. Everett Jordan and Sam J. Ervin. Among NPS personnel present was

Staff Historian Rogers W. Young who had served a temporary assignment as acting historian

at Guilford in the 1930s. The Greensboro conferees stated their opposition to the NPS plan to

dispose of the courthouse tract. County Historian MacClamroch then seized the floor to

restate his 1940 proposal for the acquisition of approximately three hundred acres on the

park's north, south and west boundaries. He was seconded by McDaniel Lewis. At length,

Director Wirth concluded that it was "desirable to study the proposed additions" and agreed

to retain the courthouse tract. [5]

Two weeks later a second conference was convened in Greensboro. This meeting was chaired

by former Guilford Superintendent Charles S. Marshall, who was serving at that time as

Assistant to Southeast Regional Director Elbert Cox. The Greensboro delegation had been

expanded to include City Manager George Aull, City Planner Ronald Scott, and Recreation

Director Oka T. Hester. MacClamroch and Lewis again pitched the 1940 expansion plan,

specifically noting that the city "zoo and deer park" should be added to the battlefield.

Schenck and Hester expressed their willingness to trade the zoo site in return for a portion of

the Martin property that adjoined the Country Park, meaning that the NPS would have to buy

"the Martin properties in their entirety." Marshall responded that Director Wirth would

support the acquisition of approximately fifty acres, including the Richardson holdings on the

northern boundary, the Webb and Yates properties abutting the courthouse site, a small

buffer tract at the Holt Avenue-Old Battleground Road intersection, and the Martin properties

in their entirety. He also noted the Service would purchase sufficient additional lands to serve

as a buffer between the park and a northern by-pass road, provided the by-pass was no more

than one hundred yards north of the boundary, and that construction work commenced "in the

very near future."

Marshall, who had been very popular in the community during his tenure at Guilford, had
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 11)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi11.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:27 PM]

opined as early as 1943 that MacClamroch's land acquisition goals were excessive. He did

not believe that Mayor Schenck and Representative Kornegay would "push very vigorously

for lands in which they know they will have no [NPS] support." Without their backing he

believed MacClamroch's plan could be disregarded. He asserted, however, that the proposals

he had laid on the table at the Greensboro conference should be acted upon. "If we are ever

to get any more land at Guilford it appears this year is the appropriate time to move." [6]

The long deferred process of land acquisition at Guilford Courthouse began in the last half of

1963. By the end of that year approximately one hundred acres had been identified as

suitable for purchase. [7] It would be another year before Secretary of the Interior Udall

approved the proposal pursuant to the provisions of the Land and Conservation Fund Act

passed by the Eighty-eighth Congress. [8] Appraisals of the designated tracts were performed

in the summer of 1965, but the first purchase was not completed until the end of 1966 when

Richardson-Merrill, after extended negotiations, agreed to sell the park 29.69 acres at a cost

of $74,900. This acquisition evened-out the park's northern boundary at a distance

approximately three hundred yards from New Garden Road. [9] Subsequent events suggest

that Richardson's willingness to part with almost twelve additional acres was dependent on the

Service's determination to build the long-sought-after by-pass on park property.

1967 witnessed the greatest flurry of land acquisition activities in the park's history. By year's

end three transactions had been completed, increasing the park's area by 40.92 acres. Largest

and most vital to park interests was the purchase of the 36.40 acre holdings of the C.O.

Martin heirs, complete with all recreational improvements. This transaction had an important

consequence in that 16.84 acres of this tract were later exchanged for the City's 11.76 acre

zoo site, thereby removing an especially incongruous example of urban encroachment from a

high visibility battlefield locale. [10] At Mayor Schenck's direction the City also played a key

role in facilitating the purchase of two small (3.65 acres total) but critical tracts located

between the new boundary of park holdings acquired from Richardson-Merrill and the

courthouse site. Knowing of the park's interest in this parcel, Schenck fended off rezoning

requests instituted by a potential buyer, and arranged its purchase by the City. In turn it was

sold to the park at cost when funding became available. With the subsequent procurement of

the Webb house and lot the park at last had an unbroken line of holdings that permitted onsite interpretation of the entire course of the battle.

By virtue of the other purchases in the courthouse area the remaining fragment of the Webb

tract had become an .87 acre inholding. Aesthetically it was reminiscent of the Woods store

property on Old Battleground Road. It was dominated by a rapidly deteriorating farmhouse

and several outbuildings, all of which were ingloriously adjacent to the courthouse tract. The

Service was willing to pay seven thousand dollars for this site, but the proud owners would

accept no less than seven thousand five hundred. Condemnation proceedings were instituted.

The court did issue a writ of taking, and the Service was required to pay a fair market value

of ten thousand dollars for the property. [11]

The last of the approved land purchases as outlined by Charles Marshall at the 25 April 1963

conference were made in the 1970s. Two small tracts (3.59 and .36 acres) located north of

the courthouse site were obtained at the beginning of the decade to further separate the

historic area from the proposed route of the by-pass. As the decade ended the one-quarter

acre buffer was added at the Holt Avenue entrance, bringing the area of Guilford Courthouse

NMP to its current total of 220 acres, more or less. [12]

In retrospect the 1960s were something of a golden era for Guilford Courthouse NMP. The

park's area was increased by almost fifty per cent. Several obnoxious commercial and

institutional incongruities were removed from the park's boundaries, and a foundation was

laid to remove New Garden Road and its burgeoning traffic flow from the heart of the
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 11)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi11.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:27 PM]

historic area. These increases were not sufficient to satisfy long-time expansion advocates

MacClamroch and Lewis who would continue to seize every opportunity to lobby for park

expansion to the west. Even a realist like David Schenck was disappointed that more of the

"unspoiled" forest land to the north could not have been saved from "the developers and the

bulldozers." He shared the others' hopes that something could be done on the western

boundary, particularly to save the area's sole remaining period structure, the Hoskins House.

[13]

Nothing more was done, however. By the end of the 1960s the Richardson-Merrill holdings

had been sold, the forest clear-cut to the park boundary, and an up-scale housing

development called Battle Forest constructed where the right wings of the American second

and third battle lines had once stood. Development on the western approaches, begun in the

1950s with the Green Acres Subdivision, continued and a number of smaller houses were

built in the region between the park boundary and the Hoskins House. As the American

Revolution Bicentennial approached expansion advocates redoubled their efforts. Their

overtures were repeatedly rejected on grounds that the area's development made prohibitive

the costs of further land acquisitions at Guilford. [14] Recommendations for acquisition via

less costly life tenancies were likewise spurned. In frustration McDaniel Lewis essentially

gave up the cause with the reflection:

There have always been problems connected with this and all other battlefield

extensions. Presumably all parks have been expanded at the expense of the

federal treasury, and some disruption of the community area. . . . The problem

seems to be that nobody took hold and decided officially to do something. [15]

David Schenck was the exception to this rule. What McDaniel Lewis and James

MacClamroch and other advocates of park expansion never seemed to fully appreciate was

the fact that the National Park Service considered Guilford Courthouse to be a justifiably

small park. Every management decision made since 1933, including the resolution to divest

the park of the courthouse site, was consistent with this judgment. The only hope there had

ever been to enlarge this park was entirely dependent on local initiative and local resources.

Schenck's term as Greensboro's mayor represented a unique period in park history, marked by

an unprecedented degree of cooperation between local government and the National Park

Service. More than any other individual Schenck was responsible for forging the coalition of

local leaders and Congressional representatives that induced the Service to rethink its

decision to eliminate the courthouse site, and to instead find the means for vital park land

accessions. In so doing he forestalled an error of judgment whose gravity would become

apparent in the mid-1970s when archaeological investigators discovered the missing link that

established the courthouse site's direct relationship to the battle of Guilford Courthouse. [16]

Mayor Schenck then employed his personal prestige and the authority of his office to

facilitate the property acquisition process by obtaining favorable zoning decisions, and by

using city resources to obtain and hold an important tract until the laborious Federal

budgetary process could make funding available. Schenck cited this case as "good and

tangible evidence of the good faith and desire of the people of Greensboro to preserve this

historic land." In a sense this latter case foreshadowed the activities of a modern NPS support

organization, the National Park Foundation. For this service Acting Southeast Region

Director E.M. Lisle likened the Mayor's service to that of his grandfather, park founder David

Schenck.

Once again we in the National Park Service find ourselves indebted to a member

of the Schenck family for public-spirited service on behalf of the park. [17]

Unfortunately, this golden age of park history ended when Mayor Schenck left office in late

1966. David Schenck was an advocate for Guilford Courthouse NMP for the rest of his life,
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 11)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi11.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:27 PM]

but as a former mayor he lacked the authority to direct city bureaus to act in concert with the

national park. The significance of this change at city hall became abundantly clear in 1967

when a new Greensboro Country Park Zoo master plan was released. According to this plan

the zoo would remain situated on the Military Park boundary, essentially overlooking the

Third Line Field, and would expand east to Nathanael Greene Road Extension. It was with

some difficulty that the NPS convinced the city fathers to honor former Mayor Schenck's

commitment to trade the zoo site for a portion of the old Martin properties. [18]

<<< Previous <<< Contents >>> Next >>>

http://www.nps.gov/guco/adhi/adhi11.htm

Last Updated: 10-Feb-2003
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 12)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi12.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:28 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

CHAPTER 12:

1968 Master Plan Revision

From the standpoint of timing alone, it would appear that the 1968 Master Plan revision was

an outgrowth of the adverse local reaction to the proposed excision of the courthouse site

from Guilford Courthouse National Military Park. Other factors were involved, however. The

park's original planning documents dating from 1936 had not been thoroughly superseded

even though the park's environment had been radically altered by Greensboro's urban sprawl.

The modern facilities completed in 1937 seemed small and outdated thirty-one years later.

After an initial infusion of Depression-era public works construction funding, the National

Park Service had done very little to improve Guilford Courthouse NMP. In some ways the

area was simultaneously too accessible and too inaccessible. There were too many vehicular

access points (six), but no way to tour the field except by using two heavily-traveled local

thorough fares. There was very little parking, but essentially no way to prevent parking along

busy park roads or on grass-covered road shoulders or fields. There was no way to limit

access when the park was closed. There were no walking trails and no safe places to ride

bicycles. There were many problems that needed to be addressed at Guilford Courthouse, and

history did not suggest that this small park would be a top priority in the dispensation of

always limited capital improvement funds. But the approach of the 1976 National

Bicentennial held out the promise that things would change at this and other Revolutionary

War sites where the sacrifices of American patriots had given substance to the bold

statements of principle contained in the Declaration of Independence.

According to the new Master Plan approved 17 July 1968, the most pressing problems

confronting Guilford Courthouse NMP could be distilled into five key and generally related

areas. Foremost among these concerns were difficulties arising from land use questions.

These were to be addressed by the park's land acquisition program. Most serious among these

were "incompatible" usage of "non-Federal properties" adjacent to the Third Line and

courthouse sites. Specifically, this referred to the Martin recreation areas and the city zoo.

The former had been purchased by the park in 1967, and the exchange for the latter was

premised on the barter of a portion of the former. This transaction was completed in 1969,

thereby clearing the way for the resolution of the other related land use problem.

The present tour route is over roads which carry conflicting local traffic and is

further complicated by uncontrolled access at several points. [1]

To remedy this situation the plan called for the closure of all vehicular access points from the

Country Park, closure of New Garden Road, and the construction of the long delayed by-pass

three hundred feet north of and parallel to the existing road. This step would simultaneously

address legitimate visitor protection concerns while enhancing efforts to more accurately

reconstruct the historic scene. With paved New Garden Road obliterated, a walking trail

reminiscent of the Great Salisbury Wagon Road of 1781 would be fashioned. Vehicular

access to the battlefield would be accommodated by the construction of a tour road with stops

at six key points of the battle, each complete with small parking areas and interpretive

exhibits. The last leg of this route would run along the new by-pass. "Adverse night use"
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 12)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi12.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:28 PM]

would be reduced by gates installed at the west end of Holt Avenue, and at the tour road

junction with the by-pass. To further enhance visitor protection it was suggested that the

status of law enforcement jurisdictions be simplified. [2]

Shortcomings in interpretive facilities were among other key areas addressed by the Master

Plan. Of greatest concern were the inadequacies of the 1937 Visitor Center, considered too

small and too antiquated to effectively serve the needs of the increasing numbers of visitors

expected in the upcoming Bicentennial decade and the years following. [3] The Visitor

Center was to be redesigned and expanded. More effective museum exhibits were to be

mounted, and it was suggested that permanent interpretive staffing be employed to man the

information desk and to offer expanded programs such as guided walks and demonstrations.

Foot trails were to be constructed in the third line region of the battlefield, and in response to

a city proposal that the Greensboro Country Park build a bicycle rental facility, a bicycle trail

would be developed that was linked to the Country Park via abandoned Nathanael Greene

Road. Bicyclists could then ride to the Visitor Center along the New Garden Road restoration

and complete the circuit on a designated path that paralleled the tour road. [4]

Restoration of the battlefield to a closer approximation of its historic appearance was another

key objective. It was concluded that the 1939 Historical Base Map was an inadequate

resource to guide this effort and it was recommended that additional historical and

archaeological research be undertaken to guide identification and interpretation of the

courthouse site and the associated post war village of Martinville, as well as the retreat road

over which the American army withdrew from the battlefield. It was likewise suggested that

the "fields in the third-line area should be enlarged to portray their historic conditions." The

final recommendation was that all structures on recently acquired properties should be

eradicated. The Park Drive-In Theater in particular, located within sight of the courthouse,

should be "rehabilitated and restored to its period farm use." [5]

The park staff at this time consisted of Superintendent Willard W. Danielson, who entered on

duty 9 February 1967, a historian, a clerk-typist, and two maintenance workers. This staff

was considered inadequate to provide visitor protection and resource management programs,

improved and expanded interpretation, and satisfactory maintenance for newly acquired lands

and visitor use facilities. It was recommended that the staff be expanded by the addition of a

permanent ranger, an interpreter, a maintenance foreman, and be supplemented during peak

visitation periods by seasonal employees. [6]

This was a remarkably comprehensive document. In retrospect it is striking that every

problem area identified was interrelated with each of the other need classifications. For

instance the closure of New Garden Road was defined as a land acquisition problem because

two small tracts north of the courthouse site were required to link the proposed by-pass with

Lawndale Drive. Likewise, removing excessive non-park traffic from the heart of the

battlefield had obvious visitor protection ramifications. The plan to replace the paved

highway with an approximation of the eighteenth century road was a historic preservation

issue that offered substantial interpretive opportunities. Finally, because the park was

critically undermanned, the development of additional facilities further evidenced the need

for a larger, more specialized staff.

Most of the recommendations contained in this document were related in one way or another

to the changing character of the park community. Growing urbanization would produce

heavier traffic, increased visitation, and greater demand for and use of facilities. Indicative of

this tendency, the Master Plan accorded highest priority to the relocation of New Garden

Road and the expansion of the visitor center as the two developments that would yield the

"greatest improvement" in park operations. Beyond these improvements to accommodate

growing use, the Master Plan had only one suggestion for appropriate reactions to
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 12)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi12.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:28 PM]

encroaching urbanization: "Participate in city, county and park planning efforts to secure

zoning decisions beneficial to park management." Clearly this was a sensible

recommendation. As demonstrated during David Schenck's term as Mayor of Greensboro,

favorably inclined local administrations could be of incalculable value to the park. Skillful

diplomacy and aggressive advocacy would be required to cultivate a similarly advantageous

climate between the park and succeeding governments. In the event the governing councils

that represented the booming local economy could not be persuaded to view the park as an

asset worthy of particular solicitude, park management would have been well-advised to

adopt a related goal of working to develop active constituency groups that would be

supportive of park goals. In a worst case scenario, such groups might represent the park's last

bulwark against advancing urban encroachment. The Master Plan advocated no additional

acquisition of lands, no efforts to develop buffers by obtaining easements, not even the

Mission 66 suggestion that screen plantings be employed as visual shields in key areas was

revived. For good or ill, this document, in combination with the realities of life in Greater

Greensboro, meant a great deal was riding on park management's consensus-building skills.

Local newspapers reported that the new Master Plan would be made public at the one

hundred eighty-eighth anniversary celebration of the battle of Guilford Courthouse, March

15, 1969. Described as a "five-year Bicentennial Development plan costing $750,000," press

accounts identified as key elements the construction of the New Garden by-pass, "three tour

trails for autos, bicycles and hikers," and a new visitor center. Subsequent to the formulation

of the Master Plan (presumably during the preparation of the park's Development Concept

Plan) it had occurred to someone that the old visitor center, located as it was almost astride

the second American battle line, was not an ideal location to serve as the starting point for a

sequential battlefield tour. It was decided to build a new facility in the wooded region east of

the first line's location. From this new starting point a battlefield tour would begin much

closer to the locale where the first shots were fired. The old building was slated for

demolition. In anticipation of the contracting and engineering demands of this project,

Guilford Courthouse was assigned to the Blue Ridge Parkway Management Group for its

duration. [7]

News of plans to construct a by-pass and close New Garden Road provoked considerable

constituent outcry to Sixth District Congressman L. Richardson Preyer. Most of the mail

Preyer received was from residents of Cottage Place in the Battle Forest subdivision on the

park's northern boundary. These letters typically complained that the closure of New Garden

was unnecessary as the traffic it carried in no way harmed the park. The by-pass, on the other

hand, would bring the same traffic perilously close to their back doors, lowering their

property values and diminishing the quality of their suburban lifestyles. Preyer conveyed

these concerns to National Park Service Director George B. Hartzog, who responded that the

road was needed to reduce commuter traffic through the park, that it would be contained

entirely within the park's northern boundary, and that its effect on park neighbors would be

minimized by intervening forest. Sensitive to citizen concerns, Preyer was informed that a

representative from the Southeast Regional office would appear at the park the following

afternoon to meet with "representatives of the local groups and officers of the city." He was

invited to send his own emissary, but that could not be arranged on such short notice. Judging

by Preyer's mail, this meeting placated neighborhood concerns, at least temporarily. [8]

Initial project funding of $781,000 was obtained for Fiscal Year 1973 to cover the cost of

design and construction of the by-pass and for design of the new visitor center. Contracts for

project design and supervision were let to John V. Townsend and Associates, Landscape

Architects of Greensboro. Townsend subcontracted building design responsibilities to

Greensboro architects Thomas P. Heritage and Associates. Plans were approved by the

Southeast Regional Director on 12 September 1973, and by the Denver Service Center

Manager on 29 April 1974. Construction funds totaling $1,175,000 were appropriated for
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 12)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi12.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:28 PM]

Fiscal Year 1974. $665,000 was slated for visitor center construction, with the balance to

complete road projects, interpretive field exhibits, and erection of a comfort station near the

courthouse site. [9]

Ten days after the park design plans received final approval, Guilford Courthouse's

Development Concept Plan was issued. This document was a more accurate indicator of the

park's future than the Master Plan. The major differences between the two were the

previously noted decision to erect a new visitor center, and the deletion of the long sought

after by-pass road in favor of a one-way automobile and bicycle tour route. [10] This radical

change of direction was apparently induced by Superintendent Danielson's opposition to the

by-pass concept. It was facilitated by the City of Greensboro's long-range plan to build a

beltline, Painter Boulevard, that would pass through the Battle Forest subdivision immediately

north of the park, and would supply the desired east-west connector between Old

Battleground Road and Lawndale Drive. The Development Concept Plan stated that the City

planned to construct this beltline within fifteen years and concluded that this development

"should minimize, if not eliminate, objections . . . to the closing of New Garden Road." Until

that time local commuter traffic could avail itself of "other east-west roads outside the park."

[11] This revision was countenanced by a perceived lack of public opposition to the proposal

to delete the by-pass. A second public meeting was held on 21 July 1972 where the plan to

close New Garden was discussed before local media representatives. A third and final

opportunity for public comment was afforded on 6 February 1974 when the Draft

Environmental Impact Statement of the Development Concept Plan was made available for

public review. The public review process yielded "no critical comments concerning the plan

to close the road within the park." [12]

Congressman Preyer, on the other hand, received a great deal of critical commentary from his

constituents. Most complained of the closing of New Garden and a rumored plan to extend

Cottage Place to Lawndale Drive to supplant New Garden Road as the area's east-west

connector. Representative Preyer took these concerns to Director Ronald H. Walker, but was

told that contracts had been let for the eradication of New Garden Road and that the park

improvements would proceed as planned. [13]

In all candor, the assertion that the New Garden Road closure provoked no critical response is

not supported by the evidence. The Draft Environmental Impact Statement review process

evoked critical responses from both the State and the City of Greensboro. The State noted

that New Garden Road "functions as a continuous peripheral route and also serves as a

collector route" and that its closing would represent an "inconvenience" to area residents. It

also asserted that the Painter Boulevard beltway project "has not been scheduled." The State

specifically requested that commuter traffic be allowed to use New Garden until the "outer

loop" was constructed. The City questioned the plan's statement regarding the completion

date for Painter Boulevard and challenged the assertion that existing roads could serve as

east-west connectors. The Government's replies to the City were that dates for the Painter

Boulevard Project came from unnamed City "engineers," and that Pisgah Church Road and

Lake Brandt Roads would serve as required connectors until the outer loop project was

completed. The reply to the State asserted that the development of the park's one-way tour

road and closure of New Garden had been "under consideration for some time." The matter

had been considered at a public meeting on 21 July 1972 before "State, county, city agencies,

park neighbors and other interested persons," and that, "There were no objections to the

proposal voiced at this meeting, the results of which received TV, press and radio coverage."

It concluded that although New Garden Road's closure might "inconvenience users" this

inconvenience paled in comparison to the effect of "intrusive traffic upon the historic

resource." [14]

A groundbreaking ceremony for the new visitor center and associated improvements was held
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 12)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi12.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:28 PM]

on 4 August 1974. The new building was occupied on 17 October 1975. The next day the old

museum was razed. [15] New museum exhibits were installed over the course of the

following winter, as was a new twenty-minute audio-visual program, produced by the

Harpers Ferry Center, for viewing in the new one hundred-twenty seat auditorium. Exterior

improvements included the construction of an additional 1.77 miles of paved road to

supplement existing roadways and form a self-contained tour road of 2.4 miles length. This

road contained six stops (later expanded to seven) at key points of the battlefield. Four of

these pull-offs featured interpretive stations that employed maps, drawings, and audio

recordings of first-person accounts to explain the course of the battle. Access points to this

road were located at the visitor center entrance on New Garden Road, and at Holt Avenue

from Old Battleground Road. Gates were constructed at entrances and exits. This tour route's

major liability was that visitors were compelled to twice cross heavily traveled Old

Battleground Road. A bicycle lane eight feet in width was established on the left side of the

one-way road. Almost two miles of new exposed aggregate foot trails were constructed, and

New Garden Road within the park boundaries was restored to approximate its eighteenth

century appearance by removing all paving materials and replacing them with "brown crushed

stone." A comfort station was constructed at tour stop number five.

Two proposed interpretive features were never installed or acted upon. The approved

landscaping drawings and the Development Concept Plan indicated that rival troop positions

would be demarcated by flags displayed at appropriate locations on the third line field. The

Master Plan directed that the old drive-in site should be restored to an approximation of its

period usage by planting eighteenth century farm crops. Superintendent Danielson rejected

both ideas as being too labor-intensive. [16]

The Land Classification Plan contained in the 1968 Master Plan had categorized essentially

the entire park area as "Historic" property. Exceptions were made only for those areas

devoted to "Public Use Development," such as roads, residences and maintenance facilities. It

was likely that such extensive construction and renovation projects would disturb

archaeological remains. To minimize the destruction of archaeological resources a site survey

was conducted in 1972 by the Research Laboratories of Anthropology of the University of

North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Investigators found that most of the construction areas had "very

low potential for concealing archaeological remains." The cleared ground around tour stop

five was an exception. Here were found significant archaeological features of the Martinville

community, necessitating a slight adjustment in the route of the tour road and the relocation

of the comfort station parking lot.

Because the Master Plan had strongly recommended that archaeological investigations be

mounted to locate the courthouse site and the retreat road, a contract was issued to the

Research Laboratories of Anthropology to perform more extensive investigations. This work

was performed in 1974-1975 and resulted in the discovery of the courthouse's remains,

evidence of the site's use as a field hospital, and the remains of a gravel-covered swale that

the anthropologists interpreted as being "in some way associated with the Retreat Road." [17]

One significant feature that was not investigated at that time (or since) was the clearly

distinguishable courthouse well located about one hundred feet north of the survey area.

In addition to this menu of physical improvements, the Master Plan mandated significant

additions to park staff. To handle expanding visitor protection and resource management

responsibilities the Historian's position was reclassified as Chief of Interpretation and

Resource Management. One of the pair of Maintenance Workers was promoted to

Maintenance Work Leader, and the vacant position was refilled. Beginning in 1972 a series

of 180-day seasonal interpretive and resource management Park Technician posts were

created and filled. The first of a pair of permanent Park Technician-Interpretation slots was

filled in 1972. The second followed in 1976. [18]
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 12)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi12.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:28 PM]

Modern Guilford Courthouse NMP resulted from this Bicentennial Development package. It

emerged from this process as a much more accessible area with much-improved, thoroughly

modern facilities. Park management was sufficiently satisfied by the results that no additional

planning needs were identified until a new Superintendent initiated a Master Plan revision

process in 1993-1994. Staff reports indicate considerable local approval for the

improvements. A two-day dedication ceremony was held on 13-14 March 1976. Major

speakers were President Gerald R. Ford and then-CIA Director and future President George

Bush. Impressive eighteenth-century tactical demonstrations were performed by the recreated

First Maryland Regiment. Attendance at these festivities was estimated at ten thousand.

There was some disapproval of the results, particularly among residents of Cottage Place who

saw traffic on their street swell as commuters sought a nearby connector to replace New

Garden Road. The proposed outer loop that NPS planners confidently predicted would

"minimize, if not eliminate objections to the closing of New Garden Road," has not been

built. The park by-pass proposal that was abandoned sometime between the publication of the

1968 Master Plan and the issuance of the Guilford Courthouse Development Plan was

brought back to life in 1987-1988 when Cottage Place residents successfully lobbied the

Greensboro City Council to close their street to through-traffic. City Planners then dredged

up the still born by-pass as the only means of accommodating both the unhappy Cottage

Place homeowners and the growing number of commuters searching for an east-west

connector. When the Service proved unwilling to accede to the City Council's request that the

by-pass be resurrected, Council members denounced the National Park Service for its shortsightedness and threatened retaliation in the form of opposition to future park improvement

initiatives. [19]

This episode certainly suggests that park consensus-building efforts had been less than

successful. Perhaps such an impasse was inevitable given the conflicting priorities of park

managers, park neighbors, area commuters, and the desire of City government to placate

various local constituencies. It is tempting to speculate, however, that much of the antipathy

aroused in this situation might have been avoided if the Service had been consistent in its

handling of this issue, and if a better job had been done to communicate its plans to the

community. The ultimate deletion of a long-term park goal certainly suggests that this

objective never should have been identified as worthy of attainment. This would seem to be

so in the case of the proposed by-pass road, which would have simply removed commuter

traffic from one area of the historic property to another. More to the point, if changing

circumstances require the emendation of such an objective it is absolutely incumbent upon

park management to see that the community at least understands, if not agrees with, the

changing circumstances that wrought this change. A careful review of the evidence suggests

that park-community lines of communication were at best uncertain during the critical

planning processes of the late 1960s to early 1970s. The only public comment session for the

Master Plan revision was apparently scheduled on such short notice that the district's

Congressman received word too late to send a representative, even though he had

corresponded previously with the National Park Service directorate about his constituents'

concerns arising from this plan. The unwillingness to characterize as "critical" the responses

of the State and City to the Development Concept Plan could be interpreted as deceptive, as

could the fact that the promised outer loop that would solve the area's traffic problems was

never built.

The end that was served by these means was worthy. The interests of historic preservation

were clearly well-served by the removal of east-west commuter traffic from the park. But the

residual feelings of mistrust toward the Service and its representatives would not be in the

park's interest in the coming decade as the processes of urban encroachment reached their

peak in the surrounding community. Ironically, this point would be made most clearly as

efforts were undertaken to close another, even more heavily traveled thoroughfare through
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 12)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi12.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:28 PM]

the park.

<<< Previous <<< Contents >>> Next >>>

http://www.nps.gov/guco/adhi/adhi12.htm

Last Updated: 10-Feb-2003
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 13)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi13.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:29 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

CHAPTER 13:

The Pace Of Urban Development Quickens

During the years in which the park's planning documents were revised and the Bicentennial

Development Project improvements were completed, northwest Greensboro continued to

grow. On 1 December 1974 the Greensboro Daily News carried an article describing changes

in the park community. This piece had an evocative headline: "A Noose Drops On The

Battleground."

On all sides of the park, subdivisions have been built with businesses, residences

and apartment structures crowding the park and covering much of the historic

area.

The pace of urban development accelerated as the decade ended. Construction began on a

260-unit apartment complex on the park's northeast boundary in 1979-1980. Simultaneously

the City of Greensboro proposed and received approval from the Department of Housing and

Urban Development for a fifty-unit public housing complex to be built on Old Battleground

Road about one-half mile from the park's southern boundary. U.S. Highway 220, locally

known as Battleground Avenue, was widened from two to five lanes between Old

Battleground Road and New Garden Road. Within a few years this process would be

repeated on the stretch between New Garden Road and Cotswold Terrace. A shopping center

was built on U.S. 220 about one mile south of the park. Closer to home a twenty-four hour

convenience store was constructed across Lawndale Drive from the park's eastern boundary

after developers "requested and received numerous zoning variances." As 1980 closed the

Guilford County Zoning Commission received a request to rezone from "Residential" to

"Highway Commercial" an eight and one-half acre tract on the northeast corner of the U.S.

220-New Garden Road intersection. This was viewed as a particularly serious threat as this

property ran alongside the park's primary entrance, directly across New Garden Road from

the Hoskins House on land where the British army had deployed before advancing against the

American first battle line. [1]

This latter case was particularly ironic coming on the eve of the battle of Guilford

Courthouse's bicentennial commemoration. The local media made much of this point with

articles and editorials that were generally supportive of park values.

[A]s the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse approaches, so

do contractors, bulldozers, and all those implements of what developers are

prone to call improvement. [2]

Superintendent Danielson was quoted as saying that he viewed the developments along U.S.

220 with "dismay" and that he looked to "county zoning [authorities] to protect the property

and provide an attractive entrance to the park." In the face of mounting criticism developer

James Flynt revised his request seeking instead to rezone the property from "Residential" to

"Institutional" classification. The County Planning Department, the County Planning Board

(of which developer Flynt was a member) and the Advisory Board for Environmental Quality
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 13)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi13.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:29 PM]

all recommended against this zoning revision. On appeal to the County Commissioners,

however, the motion to rezone was granted by a near unanimous vote. Stung by mounting

criticism in the wake of his victory, Flynt offered to sell his property to the National Park

Service "at lower than market value," perhaps unaware of the Service's long-standing

opposition to the acquisition of additional property on the battlefield's western approaches.

[3]

Similar requests followed with identical results. Most notable was the rezoning from

"Residential-Agricultural" to "Multi-Family" of an eighteen-acre tract on Cotswold Terrace,

sixteen hundred feet north of the park. Superintendent Danielson attended the Planning Board

meeting that considered this request but was unable to sway their judgment. [4]

It was in this context that Superintendent Danielson made a crucial decision. Given the

unwillingness of local government to restrain development in the park community even at

this time when bicentennial activities had elevated area interest in the park to previously

unapproachable levels, the Superintendent concluded that it was pointless to oppose further

development of the park's environs. It was his judgment that neither aggressive advocacy nor

community consensus-building efforts would be likely to reverse County government's prodevelopment stance. Perhaps this was the case; but it was certainly so if nothing was done to

protect park interests. From this juncture the park's fate was sealed. Management assumed the

role of observer rather than participant in the process, typically employing the passive verb

"to monitor" to characterize its actions. In 1982 the apartment complex "Marchwood" was

completed and opened on the park's northeast boundary. The public housing project one-half

mile south of the boundary on Old Battleground Road opened. A major medical facility broke

ground next door. Work began on a condominium development, "Greene's Crossing,"

opposite the Hoskins house a quarter mile west of the park. On the northeast corner of U.S.

220 and New Garden Road a daycare center was unexpectedly built and opened.

Management responded: "By actively monitoring these changes we will be able to protect the

best interests of the park, its visitors and neighbors." The following year saw the construction

of four multi-family housing units within one-quarter mile of the western boundary. All were

built on historic ground, three contiguous with the park's boundary and the other alongside

the park's primary entrance road. Management responded: "It was obvious in 1983 that by

carefully monitoring these developmental changes the park was able to consider the best

ways to minimize their impact to the park." [5] The procedure so monitored was the complete

encirclement of the facility by numerous vehicles of urban encroachment.

In August 1981 the City of Greensboro announced plans to annex the region on its northwest

boundary that encompassed the park. This could have been a favorable portent, even though

as Superintendent Danielson noted, the annexation would complete the formal urbanization of

the park community. By the time the annexation process was completed in 1984 the City

Council would contain at least one park friend who had achieved a measure of local notoriety

through his work on the Guilford Courthouse bicentennial commemoration and had used this

exposure as a springboard to elective office. By the time the annexation was completed,

however, it was essentially too late. The park was an island in the midst of a bustling urban

landscape and there was very little that government at any level could do to redeem this

situation. The little that could be done to advance the cause of area historic preservation was

accomplished first through local government's refusal to rezone the Hoskins House property

to accommodate shopping center development; followed by the cooperation of the city,

county and a community organization to purchase the site for use as a historical park. Park

interpretive staff members assisted in this process by preparing the paperwork for the site's

successful National Register nomination. [6]

The preservation of the Hoskins House illustrates that concensus-building can succeed in

historic preservation efforts even in the face of vigorous urban development. It also suggests
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 13)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi13.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:29 PM]

that if the development process had been delayed or slowed until the area was annexed, the

park's interests might have been better served in hearings before city zoning and governing

bodies than they were by the more conservative county authorities.

Superintendent Danielson was an advocate of the Antietam Plan doctrine of conservation

through preservation of key sites. He believed that the park was large enough to interpret the

story of the battle. In so stating he was in accord with a half century of NPS thinking with

regard to the preservation of Guilford Courthouse National Military Park. Overlooked was

the twin element of the Antietam Plan concept: preservation by purchase of key areas

succeeds only insofar as surrounding properties can be maintained in approximation of their

period usage. By ignoring this precept for a half century in the face of vital, continuously

expanding urban development, generations of NPS planners and managers had set the stage

for the urban encroachment problems that will dog this small park for the foreseeable future.

In this sense Guilford Courthouse's proximity to Greensboro was, and is, its bad fortune.

Clearly, however, these effects could have been moderated. Management could have

contacted the State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) whose comment was required under

the National Historic Preservation Act for Federally funded projects that were likely to affect

listed sites. The widening of U.S. 220, which was the keystone of development on the park's

northern and western periphery was such a program. This highway clearly crossed battlefield

property which, like the park property itself, was eligible for inclusion on the National

Register of Historic Places. As such it was subject to the safeguards afforded by the 1966

Federal statute. Furthermore, in crossing a battlefield the likelihood was good that graves

would be disturbed, such as the well-documented British mass grave on the Hoskins

property. If so, the comment of the SHPO was required before such graves could be opened

or removed. At the very least preliminary archaeological surveys could have been required to

reduce the likelihood of destruction of human or archaeological remains of the battle. This

might have been assured by recourse to the Archaeological and Historic Preservation Act of

1974. [7]

In evaluating park management's role in this process it should be noted that such actions

would not have blocked the area's development. They might well have forestalled it until

archaeological studies had extracted any potential data from the area. Certainly the

preservation of such information would have been a worthy goal in itself. They might also

have encouraged local governments to render zoning decisions more favorable to the park

environment and mission. It is unfortunate that such efforts were not at least tried. For

perspective it should be noted that a respected report from The Conservation Foundation

indicates that in this period many park managers were unfamiliar with these types of resource

protection resources or were unwilling to use them. Many were reluctant even to consult with

SHPOs regarding critical issues and developments affecting their areas. [8] So the handling

of this situation likely was not unique to Guilford Courthouse, and may have been rather

typical for its time. More's the pity.

The Guilford Courthouse bicentennial commemoration was a diversion from the on-going

processes of urban encroachment. It represented an unparalleled opportunity to educate the

public as to the significance of the battle of Guilford Courthouse. It also spawned the park's

first modern constituency group, and furthered the political careers of park friends. Seldom

has a single enterprise offered such promise for advancing park interests on so many fronts.

Sponsored by the park and the Guilford County Bicentennial Commission, activities included

an off-site reenactment involving more than 1200 "troops"; a play-writing competition that

led to the production of the winning entry, "Rise and Fight Again"; educational programs and

instructional materials provided to every Guilford County school; and the publication of a

history of the battle by Eastern National Park and Monument Association (ENP&MA) in

cooperation with the park. Special exhibits were staged; poster and essay contests were held.
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 13)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi13.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:29 PM]

Commemorative activities concluded with a formal program in the park on Sunday 15 March

1981 with General William Westmoreland as keynote speaker. Attendance at bicentennial

programs included 20,000 for the 14 March reenactment, 11,000 at sixteen performances of

the play, and 8,000 at the 15 March commemorative exercises at the park.

Critical to the success of these programs were the energy, organizational skills and fundraising abilities of a corps of nearly one hundred civic leaders who worked in conjunction

with park staff to stage the commemoration. Sixty thousand dollars were raised by donation

to fund these programs, with ENP&MA making the largest single contribution in the amount

of sixteen thousand dollars. Park staff was expanded by the addition of a full-time

Bicentennial Coordinator (one-year appointment) and by filling a vacant interpreter's slot,

providing human resources for year-round logistical support and for expanded programming.

Not surprisingly, the reenactment was the most popular commemorative event as gauged by

attendance. The park had originally planned a program of tactical demonstrations by the

recreated First Maryland Regiment similar to those in staged in 1976. This unit dropped out

of consideration for the 1981 program when the Guilford County Bicentennial Commission

refused to approve the expenditure of sixteen thousand dollars to pay for the First Maryland's

transportation to Greensboro. Instead a decision was made to stage a reenactment at a

privately-owned battle-related site three miles west of the park. Reenactment units were

invited to participate in return for meals and the right to pitch their encampments in

designated areas of the park. The park Bicentennial Coordinator spent considerable time

explaining the space limitations of the park as well as the safety requirements of NPS-6 that

in combination were the grounds for staging this event outside of the park. There was no

indication that these justifications were seriously questioned. The reenactment was very well

received and was not marred by accidents or loss of life. As such, it was a success. In fact the

entire bicentennial observance was considered to be a triumph. [9]

From the park's perspective the bicentennial produced two key results. Through programming

and extensive media coverage the battle of Guilford Courthouse and the park had received

impressive public exposure. The park had also found a number of new friends, many in

community leadership positions, whose support might be critical in the future. Both of these

outcomes should have served the park well. However, the old park demon inconsistency once

again intervened and within a few years the new friends had been transformed into

implacable critics and even rivals.

This process began innocently enough. Following the bicentennial some members of the

community organizing committee were anxious to build upon the success of the 1981

commemoration. To this end, they formed "Salute To Freedom" (STF), a park support group

whose sole purpose was to stage patriotic programs at Guilford Courthouse NMP on 4 July

and 15 March each year. The problems that followed were rooted in the determination of STF

to make battle reenactments the centerpieces of their commemorations. Park management,

anxious to maintain good relations with STF and its influential membership, approved these

programs under the guise of "tactical demonstrations," without regard to the prohibition of

such activities contained in NPS-6, the Service's black powder safety regulations. The

objections of the park's Black Powder Safety Officer (BPSO) were also disallowed, placing

that employee (a GS-6 non-supervisory interpreter) in an untenable professional position.

[10] From 1982 through 1984 there were annual "tactical demonstrations" held on the third

line field. Participants generally numbered fewer than two hundred. These events were

undeniably popular with the public, but they were also in gross violation of NPS policy.

The end came following the 1984 reenactment when a new Chief of Interpretation and

Resource Management directed that there would be no further reenactments on park property.

The Superintendent voiced his support for this decision. There followed a firestorm of
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 13)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi13.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:29 PM]

recrimination from the leadership of STF. Arguments cited in favor of continuing the

reenactments included the obvious popularity of these programs; their unblemished local

safety record; and STF's history of providing insurance coverage, which they argued shielded

the park from potential liability. Most telling of all from their perspective was the observation

that reenactments continued to be performed at other national parks. Many of Guilford

Courthouse's corps of Volunteers In Parks attested to this latter fact, having taken part in

park-hosted reenactments at various Southeast Region sites. Unable to accept the apparent

inconsistency in park management's decision to withdraw its approval from a previously

sanctioned event, and unwilling to accept even the word of the Southeast Region's Chief of

Interpretation that such displays were forbidden by NPS-6, most of the volunteers

disassociated themselves from participation in further park-sponsored events. [11]

Following a series of stormy meetings in which no compromise could be reached, STF

disbanded. Shortly thereafter it was reorganized under the name "Guilford Battleground

Company," suggestive of their sense of mission as rightful heirs to Judge David Schenck's

battlefield commemoration philosophy. Their newly defined purpose was to preserve the

Hoskins House and to stage annual reenactments of the battle of Guilford Courthouse. They

succeeded on both counts. The modern GBGC raised funds and sponsored archaeological

excavations on the Hoskin's House grounds, successfully lobbied to prevent rezoning of the

site, and brokered a cooperative arrangement between private donors, City and County

governments to purchase and restore the property to its eighteenth century appearance. Upon

completion it was christened Tannenbaum Park in honor of a local benefactor, a City

managed facility ostensibly dedicated to the depiction of life in eighteenth century Guilford

County. In fact it was equally dedicated to the perpetuation of the annual reenactment of the

battle of Guilford Courthouse. From 1985 to 1987, while Tannenbaum's seven-acre site was

under restoration, the reenactments were staged on soccer fields at the nearby Jaycee Park. In

the spirit of accommodation National Military Park management permitted the participating

"troops" to camp on the battlefield. As previously noted, park interpreters were also

instrumental in preparing the successful National Register nomination for the Hoskins House

Historic District.

Tannenbaum Park formally opened in 1988. The Hoskins House had been restored to its

probable period appearance. A collection of outbuildings were erected on the site, some

newly constructed and others period structures removed from other sites. A small tract was

planted in typical crops and herbs. The Guilford Battleground Company launched a

successful fund-raising drive to erect the Colonial Heritage Center, described in their first

four-color brochure as a place that would "teach visitors about their cultural and ethnic

heritage and allow them to see, touch, smell, and taste the realities of eighteenth century

North Carolina." The finished facility placed great emphasis on hands-on exhibits that proved

popular with young visitors. Beyond these structures, the hallmark of this city park is

capsulized in their slogan, "Tannenbaum Park is living history . . . throughout the year."

Tannenbaum promised monthly living history programs, about equally split between

eighteenth century domestic and manufacturing arts, and military exhibitions. Their hallmark

was the annual (later expanded to semi-annual) reenactment of the battle of Guilford

Courthouse. These events proved to be extremely popular, regularly attracting thousands of

spectators to a site that offers little visitor parking.

Tannenbaum's popularity tends to exacerbate Guilford Courthouse National Military Park's

long-standing identity problems. The community seems about evenly split between those who

think that Tannenbaum is the site of the battle of Guilford Courthouse, and those who think

that Tannenbaum is a unit of the National Military Park. Over time City management has

worked to distance itself from the influence of the Guilford Battleground Company and to

move Tannenbaum's agenda more in line with its premise of depicting domestic life in

eighteenth century Guilford County. National Park management has attempted to cooperate
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 13)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi13.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:29 PM]

by sharing information and expertise as requested, and by continuing the modern tradition of

permitting reenactors to camp on the battlefield, and reenactment spectators to park along the

area's tour road. [12]

The intensification of Guilford Courthouse National Military Park's identity crisis was but

one of several outcomes of the period spanning the late 1970s and the 1980s. Seemingly it

was the least significant outgrowth of that era. Compared to management's passivity in the

face of local urban development and the inconsistency that led directly to the alienation of

the park's volunteers and most valuable constituency group, the continuation of a half

century's tradition of local uncertainty as to the park's identity and purpose would seem

almost unworthy of note. Unfortunately, it was this very process that laid the groundwork for

one of the most serious incidents of vandalism ever inflicted upon an American historic site.

As bad as this was, the damage that was inflicted in this case was exacerbated by later

decisions and consequent actions that seem to represent the almost inevitable outcome of fifty

years of NPS management attitudes toward the preservation of Guilford Courthouse National

Military Park.

<<< Previous <<< Contents >>> Next >>>

http://www.nps.gov/guco/adhi/adhi13.htm

Last Updated: 10-Feb-2003
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 14)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi14.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:30 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

CHAPTER 14:

Road Controversies

As the decade of the 1980s ended several events occurred that conspired to diminish the

quality of the park resource. In sum these circumstances are representative of the effects of

urban development in the park community, local misunderstanding or lack of appreciation for

the significance and mission of the park, and recurring instances of inconsistency in the

management of this facility.

Urbanization of the park community continued. Most notable of the new developments was

the construction of three new shopping centers within a half-mile radius of the visitor center.

The combination of these businesses and the area's intensive residential development

produced geometric increases in volumes of traffic on area roadways. By 1991 Old

Battleground Road (State Road 2340) carried an average of almost nine thousand vehicles per

day. The portion of park-owned New Garden Road that remained open to traffic handled four

thousand seven hundred vehicles per day. These averages represented an essentially identical

increase of two hundred seventy-five per cent for each roadway since 1971 when similar

figures were compiled for the Environmental Statement and Development Concept Plan. [1]

Little or nothing had been done to upgrade area roadways to accommodate increasing traffic

volumes.

Management was justifiably concerned about the effects of heavy commuter traffic on Old

Battleground Road. Aside from the never-evaluated potential for damage to cultural and

natural resources caused by the release of hydrocarbons from vehicle exhausts, there was

considerable danger to park visitors who were forced to twice cross busy Old Battleground

Road to complete the battlefield tour. Collisions became increasingly common at Old

Battleground's New Garden Road and Holt Avenue intersections. Old Battleground also

constituted a significant intrusion on the historic scene. For these reasons management met

and corresponded with City and State officials as early as December 1982 to seek some

means by which Old Battleground Road could be closed at the park's boundaries. Out of these

discussions came the conclusion that Old Battleground could be abandoned, but that in order

to handle increased traffic flows on neighboring roadways preliminary improvements would

have to be made to U.S. 220, Cotswold Terrace and New Garden Road. State and local

governments all expressed their support for this concept but none were willing to provide

even partial funding. Lacking financial support the proposal was deferred. [2]

Shortly thereafter park neighbors began making known to the City Council their concerns

about heavy through-traffic on their residential streets. Most vocal among these were the

homeowners on Cottage Place along the park's northern boundary. This group had opposed

the closing of New Garden Road, fearing that their street would receive the bulk of the

displaced commuter traffic traveling between Lawndale Drive and Old Battleground Road.

Their fears had been justified. The Service had attempted to allay these concerns with

assurances conveyed in the park's Development Concept Plan that within fifteen years a

major outer-loop roadway system, Painter Boulevard, would eliminate commuter traffic from

their neighborhood. By 1988 fourteen years had elapsed and Painter Boulevard remained an
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 14)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi14.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:30 PM]

uninitiated, long-range plan. Out of patience and citing the danger that heavy traffic posed to

the community's children, the residents of Cottage Place petitioned the City Council to close

their street at its Lawndale Drive intersection. The Council assented and barricades were

erected.

A backlash followed. Commuters complained of being inconvenienced and residents of other

neighborhoods objected to this supposed evidence of partiality shown to the prosperous

residents of Cottage Place. City planners, anticipating a deluge of identical requests from

other subdivisions with similar traffic problems, sought a workable compromise that would

allow the reopening of Cottage Place and silence citizen complaints. Their search led them to

dredge up the old NPS idea of constructing an east-west by-pass through the park's northern

periphery. Although this notion had been dropped from the 1974 Development Concept Plan,

it remained a part of the widely-circulated 1968 Guilford Courthouse NMP Master Plan. The

community's older residents could recall that for twenty years the Service had lobbied for the

construction of a similar east-west connector to supplant New Garden Road. Seeing in this

an irresistably simple solution to a tricky political situation, City Planners were dispatched to

the park to formally request permission to construct the long-deferred east-west road through

the park. They did not come alone. Representatives of the North Carolina Department of

Transportation also attended and announced their intention of widening State Road 2340, Old

Battleground Road, from eighteen to twenty-two feet. [3]

To no one's surprise, Superintendent Danielson opposed the City's by-pass proposal. It had

been his objection to the Service's version of a similar east-west connector that precipitated

its deletion from the park's Development Concept Plan. The City Planners probably had

anticipated this rebuff. The next day the Greensboro City Council was briefed by the Director

of its Traffic and Transportation Division, Richard Atkins, as to the state of traffic problems

in the area. He also outlined the by-pass proposal, specifically noting the Service's earlier

plan to build a similar roadway. He concluded that local park management's rejection of the

proposition was irrelevant because, "I don't think the gentlemen out there can speak for the

Park Service." The City clearly could speak for the State, however. The Council directed

Atkins to pursue the east-west connector plans in discussions with the Southeast Regional

Office. In return for this concession the City was prepared to close Old Battleground Road.

[4] A delegation led by Richard Atkins traveled to Atlanta on 23 May 1988 to meet with the

Southeast Region's Director Robert M. Baker, his staff, and the park management team. At

this session Baker indicated his disapproval of the City's proposal. [5]

Meanwhile the State continued to assert its right to widen the very roadway that its agent, the

City, simultaneously was prepared to abandon. In response to the Superintendent's request for

guidance, the Regional Solicitor offered an opinion that the State's Old Battleground Road

right-of-way was obtained by "prescriptive use ripening into prescriptive easement." The

State concurred in this assessment. The Solicitor continued that this right-of-way was limited

to the original width of eighteen feet that existed on the "dates that the underlying fee was

acquired." Therefore, the road could not be expanded unless the Service first granted a rightof-way or permit. The State clearly did not share this view. Within two weeks survey stakes

appeared on park property indicative of the State's determination to widen the road by a total

of four feet. Investigating, management ascertained that a contract had been let that required

the project's completion within thirty days. [6]

Seventeen days later the Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Transportation

received notice from the Southeast Region's Director that the project would be permitted to

proceed "without protest or legal action," or, for that matter, without the submission of an

environmental impact statement or reference to the State Historic Preservation Officer.

Grounds for approval were unspecified "safety considerations," and the definition of the

under taking as "a maintenance project, even though the pavement will be extended three
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 14)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi14.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:30 PM]

(two?) feet on either side." [7]

Simultaneously the City was engaged in planning another road expansion project that would

require the accession of park lands. Early in 1987 park management received notice of the

City's intent to widen Lawndale Drive along the eastern boundary. This proposal was

mentioned at the 23 May Atlanta conference, and Regional Director Baker expressed his

willingness to reconvene at a later date to consider that proposal. Not until 18 July 1988 was

an application received requesting access to 1,024 linear feet (28,227 square feet) of park

property for the extension of Lawndale Drive by thirty-two feet and the construction of

sidewalks along the park boundary. In the interval Jerry Rogers, Associate Director for

Cultural Resources, visited the park to inspect areas threatened by municipal encroachment.

On this occasion he gave his approval to park management's proposal that the Lawndale

right-of-way be granted as a quid pro quo for the closure of Old Battleground Road. [8]

This would have been a reasonable exchange for both parties. Municipal planners, sensitive

to the City Council's complaints that they had been surprised by news of northwest

Greensboro's burgeoning traffic problems, were anxious to upgrade the carrying capacity of

Lawndale Drive. By their description the stretch adjacent the park was a "bottleneck" in a

"twenty foot ribbon pavement street" that carried "nearly 20,000 units" per day. The City's

willingness to close north-south Old Battleground Road in return for the construction of an

east-west by-pass offered hope that they might see a much improved north-south Lawndale

Drive as an even better trade. At least Lawndale and Old Battleground served similar

functions. Such an exchange would not silence the complaints from Cottage Place, but it

would significantly improve the area's transportation system. It would also enhance the City's

most significant historical resource, Guilford Courthouse NMP. [9]

In due course the issues raised by the City's request and the park's counteroffer were

submitted to the Regional Solicitor for Review. From the park's perspective his response

could not have been more favorable. In an opinion offered in the autumn of 1988 the

Regional Solicitor held that the Service's authority to grant rights-of-way across park lands

was limited to cases involving "federal aid, interstate, or defense highways." As such, "no

right-of-way may be granted to the City" for the Lawndale Drive extension. However, by

virtue of the exchange authority of the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act, as amended,

the park could trade the Lawndale property in return for "a conveyance of fee title to Old

Battleground Road, after which the latter could be closed." He noted that a similar transaction

had taken place at Gettysburg NMP, and that this "use of the exchange authority was

approved by the Federal District Court in Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Morton. . . ."

[10]

Unfortunately, by the time this supportive opinion was issued the situation had changed

fundamentally. On 8 July 1988 a summit conference was convened at Guilford Courthouse

NMP to allow the City's representatives to make their case for the by-pass road on site.

Representing the City were Assistant City Manager James Baugh, Assistant Public Works

Director Tracy Peters, and Traffic Engineer Richard Atkins. Appearing for the park were

Associate Regional Director for Planning W. Thomas Brown, Deputy Regional Director

Carroll W. Ogle, and the park management team, Superintendent Danielson and Chief

Ranger Charles A. Taylor. Also in attendance was Thomas Phillips representing the Guilford

Battleground Company, who to their credit had risen above past differences and opposed the

cession of park property for municipal road-building purposes.

The City had pared its original request to construct a thirty six foot by-pass on a sixty foot

right-of-way. The revised proposal called for a less obtrusive twenty-four foot road on a

thirty foot right-of-way. Greensboro's only daily newspaper reported that this change was not

well received. "The Park Service made it pretty clear that building a road on park property
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 14)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi14.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:30 PM]

was not acceptable." The press account also made it clear that neither side evinced notable

diplomatic skills in this parley. The Service's favored alternative would have the City

purchase and raze twenty-two neighboring homes, at an estimated cost of three million

dollars, to make way for the desired connector. Assistant City Manager Baugh rejected this

proposal saying, "That doesn't sound like a good deal for the citizens of Greensboro." The

balance of the meeting might be characterized as an extended comparison of traffic

conditions and motorists' expectations in Greensboro and metropolitan Atlanta. The clear and

tactically unfortunate implication of these remarks was that local drivers expected too much,

and that Greensboro's traffic problems were insignificant. A typical exchange began with a

Park Service representative's observation that Pisgah Church Road, a mile south of the park,

was an acceptable connector between Lawndale Drive and U.S. 220. The conclusion, "That

doesn't sound like much of an inconvenience," was challenged by Assistant Public Works

Director Peters who remarked, "The people who drive it think it is." "Drive Atlanta for a

while," replied Associate Regional Director Brown. "Our people are used to a different

standard," concluded Assistant City Manager Baugh. [11]

The municipal conferees duly reported the results of this session to the City Council on 14

July 1988. Public Works Director Michael Dawkins characterized as "cool" the Service's

reaction to the by-pass proposal. He further indicated that a written version of the plan would

be submitted to the Southeast Regional Office where he expected it to be rejected.

The Council reacted with some heat to this news. One member fumed, "I cannot understand

their thinking. There's no way we'll be able to close that road [Old Battleground Road] now

and help them out." Mayor Victor N. Nussbaum responded acidly, "Their thinking is no

thinking." [12] Deprived of their simplest immediate solution for the area's traffic problems,

the Council elected to concentrate their efforts on initiating the long-deferred Painter

Boulevard project and upgrading Lawndale Drive.

The City delegation made another, more successful trip to Atlanta to plead their case for the

widening of Lawndale Drive. This meeting were arranged by Greensboro Parks Director

Roger Brown who had prior acquaintances with several members of the Regional Office

staff. Significantly, the Guilford Courthouse management team was not privy to this session.

Local management's first and apparently only indication of the meeting's outcome came by

telephone. An exchange had been arranged whereby the City would obtain 28,277 square feet

of park lands needed to widen Lawndale Drive. In return the park would receive property of

equivalent value. Unfortunately the consideration the park would receive was not the closure

of Old Battleground Road. Although the City had been willing enough to abandon Old

Battleground for the right to build the east-west connector, they would not make the same

concession for Lawndale Drive. For reasons that were never explained, they did not have to

do so. In negotiations conducted by City and SER officials it was decided that in exchange

for the Lawndale property the park would receive a plat of comparable size along the

inaccessible and steeply sloping banks of old Lake Caldwell on the eastern boundary between

the Military Park and the Country Park. [13]

Superintendent Danielson declined to appeal this decision to Associate Director Rogers, on

whose authority the Lawndale for Old Battleground negotiation was initiated. With that

judgment the question essentially was settled. The battlefield would be sandwiched between

major multi-lane roadways on its eastern boundary and western approaches, and Old

Battleground Road would continue to bisect the the park between the first and second battle

lines.

The issues that gave rise to the unfortunate road controversies of the late 1980s had multiple

sources. Most significant was the refusal of local and State governments to act on their outerloop plan, originally proposed in the late 1950s, before development had overburdened area
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 14)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi14.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:30 PM]

roadways and driven up associated land acquisition costs. City government compounded this

omission by essentially abdicating its traffic engineering responsibilities in northwest

Greensboro until the outcry from Cottage Place forced them to take action.

NPS actions exacerbated this situation. The Service's long-term advocacy of a northern bypass to supplant New Garden Road must be considered myopic given the consistent evidence

that Greensboro would inevitably overrun the park, bringing with it geometrically expanding

traffic volumes on all local connectors. The renunciation of this concept was clearly in the

best interest of the area's preservation, but it was not handled skillfully. The widely

distributed 1968 Master Plan was never revised to reflect this change; and the Service's

contention that Painter Boulevard would accommodate displaced commuters seems

disingenuous at best. It must also be noted that minimal effort was expended to acquaint the

community with the specifics of this change or to explain the reasoning behind it. Direct

results included the use of the park Master Plan as justification for a proposal to achieve the

City's traffic engineering and political ends. The turmoil that erupted on Cottage Place might

also be considered a consequence, in that the State and City both stated that the Painter

Boulevard project was "unscheduled," clearly meaning that the likelihood of its completion

was remote. This set the stage for the growing disillusionment of area homeowners that in

turn led to the City's demands for cessions of park lands.

The Service's refusal to help the City's leaders out of their predicament clearly soured parkmunicipal relations. City Council sessions in this contentious period were often punctuated by

statements indicating lack of sympathy for the park or profound ignorance of its purposes and

responsibilities. The 14 July 1988 meeting where Mayor Nussbaum stated, "Their (NPS)

thinking is no thinking," has been previously cited. An earlier (1 June 1988) session is also

noteworthy in this context. With regard to the Lawndale widening project it was interjected

that some people considered the park land to be sacred; that if the Service clung to this point

of view the road would have to be expanded to the east toward businesses and residences,

thereby entailing greater construction expenses. Councilman Robert Mays, whose

constituency included the testy Cottage place residents, retorted that the notion of the park

property along Lawndale Drive as "sacred" was "ridiculous." He saw there only a gravelstrewn road shoulder, in an area that earlier generations of NPS planners had argued was

unworthy of inclusion in the park. Mayor Nussbaum concurred: "That is what Congressmen

are for." [14]

Such exchanges clearly suggest that City leaders were inclined to view the park as available

open space to be utilized as needed to resolve municipal problems, traffic or otherwise. From

such a climate of official disrespect it is perhaps not surprising that an unprecedented act of

vandalism would grow.

A troubling aspect of this phase of park history was the handling of the initiative to widen

Lawndale Drive in return for Old Battleground Road's closure. The decision to cease this line

of negotiation certainly seems to represent a lost opportunity to dramatically improve

Guilford Courthouse NMP. Ironically, the very statutory authorities that could have been

used to countenance this exchange were employed to justify the final settlement that was of

much greater benefit to the City than to the park. [15] Even more troubling is the fact that

park management was excluded from this decision-making process, even with regard to the

selection of City property to be added to the park via exchange. From this it must be inferred

that either the City found Southeast Region officials to be a more receptive audience, or that

SERO lacked faith in local management's abilities, or both. In either case the suggestion is

clear that park management was incapable of effectively representing the National Park

Service and serving as advocate for Guilford Courthouse NMP. This would be a perilous

position for any National Park, but particularly so for a small area in a rapidly evolving urban

environment. Just how costly such a leadership vacuum can be to an avowedly enduring
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 14)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi14.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:30 PM]

resource was made clear on the night of 4-5 July 1989 when the park's most notable historic

structure was essentially destroyed, and in the following weeks and months when the

restoration was sadly mismanaged.

<<< Previous <<< Contents >>> Next >>>

http://www.nps.gov/guco/adhi/adhi14.htm

Last Updated: 10-Feb-2003
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 15)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi15.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:32 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

CHAPTER 15:

Vandalism

Over the years vandalism has been the most common form of criminal behavior encountered

at Guilford Courthouse NMP. Vandalism was a continuing problem that reached its peak in

the 1940s and 1950s when the community was relatively rural and the park lacked a law

enforcement capability. Incidents declined dramatically in the early 1970s when gates were

erected making it possible to close significant elements of the facility's road system at night.

This process was completed when New Garden Road was closed and a one-way tour route

was constructed, thereby eliminating nighttime traffic from park regions that had been

historically susceptible to vandalism.

The post-World War II period when, with the lifting of rationing restrictions Americans took

to the roads in unprecedented numbers, initiated a challenging era when park staff were hard

put to protect the area's historic structures from vandals who drove into the facility under

cover of darkness and used their vehicles to topple monuments, uproot signs, and plow

furrows in lawns. Prior to this period damage to historic features generally had been limited

to souvenir hunters prying cast bronze letters from the Nathanael Greene Monument and

occasional accidents when vehicles collided with monuments that were positioned too close

to New Garden Road. Local law enforcement authorities seemed unable or unwilling to

intercede even in proprietary jurisdiction cases, and the park's only defense consisted of

occasional night patrols by the resident superintendent. Such incidents began to decline in the

early to mid-1950s, perhaps indicative of the approach of suburban development and the

1956 purchase of a second park house whose occupant was available for more regular night

patrols. [1]

Other notable instances of criminal behavior included a January 1949 break-in at the visitor

center that resulted in the theft of a Civil War sword and a small amount of cash. The FBI

investigated but no arrests were made. During a two-month dry spell in March to May 1966

an arsonist set several fires in the park. The FBI and State foresters investigated, but no

arrests were made. In fact there is no indication that any crime against park property has ever

been solved. Finally, in the period 1978 to 1980 the area became a favored hangout for drugusers, inebriates and truants. This latter phase was inaugurated when the Greensboro Country

Park, responding to citizen complaints that it had become "the local hangout for every

teenager with a car," closed its road system to motorized vehicles on weekends. This action

immediately improved the "family atmosphere" of the Country Park, but it had a negative

effect on the National Military Park. One angry taxpayer complained in a letter to Sixth

District Congressman L. Richardson Preyer, "The problem the City had did not disappear; it

simply moved over to the battlefield...." [2]

After an initial period of uncertainty, the park's two-person law enforcement staff began a

campaign of vigorous enforcement of all applicable Federal regulations. This had the desired

effect, and by the mid-1980s the park had assumed a more traditional atmosphere, where the

enforcement of traffic regulations became the focal point of law enforcement activities. [3]
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 15)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi15.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:32 PM]

The seriousness of traffic control problems should not be underestimated in a park whose

roads carry fourteen thousand vehicles per day. A 1991 study indicated that the average speed

of traffic on Old Battleground and New Garden Roads was forty-eight per cent higher than

the posted limits, and serious accidents were not uncommon at their intersections with the

park tour route. Park capacity to deal with this and other related problems was limited by the

small size of the two-person commissioned staff, and by the fact that collateral duties reduced

their time to engage in law enforcement activities. These problems have been ameliorated

since the 1984 reclassification as concurrent jurisdictions of all National Park property in

North Carolina, and a resulting Memorandum of Understanding that permits local police to

assist the park. [4]

In the spirit of cooperation that should typify relations between cooperating governmental

agencies, park management raised no objection when the 1989-90 Greater Greensboro

telephone directory was issued. The cover illustration of this commercial publication was a

color photograph of the Greensboro Police Department Color Guard standing in formation

before the imposing equestrian figure of the Nathanael Greene Monument. Printed beneath

was the caption: "Greensboro Police Department 1889-1989 100 Years of Service." This

photograph was apparently made in the summer of 1988 without the knowledge of park staff.

As the most recognizable image associated with the city that bears the General's name, it was

not surprising that the Greensboro Police Department would choose to have this formal

portrait made with the Greene Monument as its backdrop. The fact that this shot graced the

cover of the telephone directory assured its widespread circulation in the community. [5]

At 0705 on the morning of 5 July 1989 the park's lead law enforcement officer, Chief Ranger

Charles A. Taylor, received a report at Residence #2 that several monuments had been

damaged. Investigating he discovered that six monuments had been savagely vandalized. The

Joseph Morehead, George Reynolds, Henry Dixon, Joseph Winston, William Hooper - John

Penn, and Nathanael Greene Monuments had been struck repeatedly by an instrument later

identified as a mason's hammer. This specialized tool, applied forcefully to the monuments,

had efficiently lopped off granite corners and edges, and gouged divots in flat surfaces. This

same instrument was used to poke thirty holes in the bronze figure of Joseph Morehead.

Three monuments were marked with black, spray-painted graffiti.

Most of the attacker's wrath was devoted to the Nathanael Greene Monument. More than one

thousand blows hewed off every corner and edge of its granite base. The extent of the

damage is indicated by the fact that fifty-six of the structure's sixty-eight granite blocks were

so severely damaged that they had to be replaced. Sixty cast-bronze letters were broken or

bent. The remaining stonework was covered with graffiti that obscenely parodied the caption

of that year's telephone directory cover photograph. Similar injuries were inflicted on the

Hooper - Penn Monument, erected as a memorial to North Carolina's signers of the

Declaration of Independence and containing the remains of William Hooper and John Penn.

The Major Joseph Winston Monument was likewise defaced. The other three structures

suffered damage to stonework or bronze features, but were spared the graffiti.

After securing the areas involved, Chief Ranger Taylor summoned assistance. The FBI

declined to respond. The Greensboro Police Department (GPD) did respond, and ultimately

the FBI joined the investigation at the GPD's request. Because of the graffiti's character,

suspicion soon focused on individuals who might to feel aggrieved by the GPD. Working

from this premise, with physical evidence collected at the scene and reports of a suspicious

vehicle parked in the area during a portion of the 2230 to 0704 timeframe when the event was

believed to have occurred, suspects were identified. Notwithstanding the efforts of local and

Federal law enforcement agencies and a sizable cash reward offered by a local philanthropic

organization, no indictments were returned and no arrests were made. In this sense the

Greene Monument vandalism case was no different than any of the other crimes against
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 15)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi15.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:32 PM]

property that had occurred in the park. [6]

As bad as this incident was, it did rally the community in support of the park. The Nathanael

Greene Monument was and is this community's most recognizable symbol, its icon. It is

probably no exaggeration to say that virtually anyone who had lived in Greensboro since the

monument's 1915 dedication had fond memories of this imposing structure. General Greene's

bronze equestrian figure had overseen uncounted picnics, weddings, concerts, historical

commemorations, speeches, and impromptu athletic events. Every child born in Greensboro

since 1915 seems to have been photographed on or around this monument. Generations of

school classes had been bussed out to gaze upon it. Scores of area businesses incorporated its

shape into their signs, trademarks, and letterheads. For years its recognizable form was the

major element of the City of Greensboro's seal.

The people of Greensboro interpreted this sacrilege as both an affront and a challenge to their

civic pride. The city's preeminent leader, bank president and former mayor E.S. Melvin,

orchestrated a community-wide fund-raising effort to restore the monument to its former

glory. With the cooperation of local media and the city's leading philanthropic institution,

The Foundation Of Greater Greensboro, more than one hundred fifty thousand dollars were

raised from 1,495 donors. In turn, these funds were placed at the disposal of the National

Park Service for the restoration effort. [7]

Park managers, until the night of the vandals, were busily engaged in planning a reenactment

of the Greene Monument's 1915 dedication that would have been performed on the seventyfifth anniversary of that event, 3 July 1990. As of 5 July 1989, they found themselves cast as

stage managers of a much more complex production. Performers would be cast from a

swelling chorus of contractors who were attracted by the well-publicized success of the fundraising effort. Direction would be supplied by the Southeast Regional Office of the National

Park Service, ready to lend support and technical expertise in fields ranging from historic

architecture to contract administration. The entire production would be performed before a

local audience of paying customers who were plainly anxious to see the curtain rise and the

damage undone.

Early on it was decided that the restoration would be pursued in two stages. Park management

was assigned responsibility for overseeing repairs to the five smaller, less severely damaged

structures. The much more complicated, more costly task of restoring the Nathanael Greene

Monument would be handled at the regional level.

The park solicited proposals to repair the five monuments from contractors who had

expressed interest in the project. A key element of this solicitation was the requirement that

the successful bidder must have access to Mount Airy granite of the type used in the original

construction. Only one such proposal was received, from Granite Industries Incorporated

(GII) of Mount Airy, North Carolina. President Charles C. Blackmon of GII submitted

estimates totalling $12,903 to repair the damaged stonework on the Hooper - Penn, Winston,

Dixon and Reynolds monuments. Repairs to the damaged Morehead statue were contracted to

van der Staak Restorations of Seagrove, North Carolina. Preexisting damages to the Winston

and Hooper - Penn statuary, as well as the Greene Monument's allegorical figure, were also

entrusted to van der Staak. The stonework repair and replacement was completed and

accepted by the park in the summer of 1990. The Foundation Of Greater Greensboro issued a

check to GII in the amount of $12,903.20. [8]

Park management was well-pleased with GII's work and delighted to have some tangible

evidence that the community's donations were being put to good use. The sense of relief

occasioned by the return of these structures may have inclined management to be a bit

uncritical of the finished products. There was no side-by-side comparison of original and
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 15)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi15.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:32 PM]

replacement granite, but reference to photographs indicated that at least one structure, the

Henry Dixon Monument, did not match the original in size or detail. Another critical flaw

became apparent within a few years. The sloping top of this memorial had affixed to it a

bronze plaque that described the heroic exploits and tragic death of Lieutenant Colonel

Dixon. Over time it became apparent that this stone was flawed as a patch immediately below

the plaque began to erode, exposing a crater six inches in diameter in the granite's surface.

This brought to mind another incident that had been dismissed at the time. On the day the

Major Joseph Winston Monument was reassembled, the GII crew inverted its capstone,

making the structure appear something like a large mushroom. By chance, park interpreters

recognized this error and reported it to management in time for correction. Taken in the

aggregate these incidents and developments should have raised doubts regarding GII's ability

to perform exacting historic preservation work. That they did not suggests that judgments as

to the acceptability of such work should be made by individuals with professional

competence in historic architecture. Park staff had no such expertise and should not have

rendered such judgments. The outcome also indicates that such projects should not be

undertaken without explicit contractual specifications to guarantee the historical accuracy of

the work.

Meanwhile on the more expansive Greene Monument front, one bit of good fortune that

would advance the restoration was discovered within a few days of the vandalism. The quarry

that had supplied the granite for the Nathanael Greene Monument was still in business under

the name North Carolina Granite Corporation (NCG). This meant that there should be no

difficulty in obtaining in-kind replacements for historic materials as needed.

Park management recommended that a single-source contract should be issued to NCG to

supply the materials and perform the restoration. Discussions were held between Regional

Office of Historic Architecture (OHA) and Contracting officials as to the best means of

approach for this significant undertaking. There was some concern that the project be

completed as expeditiously as possible so as not to disappoint the generous people of

Greensboro. There was also interest in having the regional Historic Preservation Crew (OHA)

involved in the process so they could acquire experience in the restoration of granite statuary.

Questions were raised as to whether NCG was in fact the sole source of the type granite

required to match the historic fabric. The Contractor's Technical Representative (COTR)

from OHA indicated "he could not be sure that the granite could only be obtained from this

one quarry." This opinion, combined with the belief that "it would delay the project to[o]

long to go to Washington for a clearance for sole source," led the regional authorities to

conclude that it would be best to handle this project as a supply contract open to competitive

bidding. The regional Historic Preservation Crew would be charged with dismantling and

reassembling the monument with materials to be supplied by the successful bidder, who in

turn would be required to transport the original materials from the park to his/her place of

business. There the historic fabric and its identifying markings were to be carefully preserved

so the COTR could make side-by-side comparisons to insure that the replacement granite was

identical to the original.

Considerable but unsuccessful efforts were made to secure original plans for the monument.

Without such documentation the historic materials assumed even greater significance as

templates by which the restoration's accuracy could be evaluated. The fact that such

judgments would be made by an experienced representative of the regional Office of Historic

Architecture suggested that the sort of errors that had plagued the restoration of the smaller

Guilford structures should be avoided in the case of the Nathanael Greene Monument. On

paper this was a much better arrangement to insure the accuracy of the restoration work, as

well as the integrity of the original materials removed from the monument. [9]

Solicitation For Bids IFB 5000-90-13 was issued 6 December 1989. The original due date of
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 15)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi15.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:32 PM]

8 January 1990 was extended twice because of technical errors in the bid solicitation. Bids

were finally opened on 30 January 1990. Two proposals had been received. As expected,

NCG submitted a bid totalling $136,092.13. This sum was in excess of the Government's preaward estimate of $118,953. A second tender in the amount of $77,816 was received from an

Atlanta-based company, Historical Restoration and Preservation, Incorporated (HRPI). The

disparity in these proposals was remarkable. The Contracting Officer performed an

admittedly superficial pre-award survey. It was found that HRPI was essentially a new

enterprise (incorporated October 1989) with no established track record and boasting a "three

figure" bank balance. President John Indelicato of HRPI verified his bid. On questioning

Indelicato explained that his overhead was low and that his subcontractor, Granite Industries

Incorporated of Mount Airy, North Carolina, had a stockpile of suitable granite thereby

reducing additional expenditures required for materials. This was the same company that was

engaged in the smaller monument repairs at Guilford Courthouse. Park management reported

that there had been no problems in the performance of that as yet unfinished restoration

program.

The Contracting Officer concluded:

Considering the limited information available, and because we could find no

reason for not awarding HRPI the contract, we felt it was in the best interest of

the Government to make an award to HRPI. Award was made on 20 February

1990, in the amount of $77,816.00.

The contractually specified completion date was 15 September 1990. [10]

The Historic Preservation crew arrived in Greensboro the first week of the new year 1990 and

began disassembly of the Nathanael Greene Monument. This had been projected as a two

week task, but bad weather delayed completion until 26 January. [11] Soon after the date of

award, representatives of subcontractor Charles C. Blackmon's Granite Industries

Incorporated appeared at the park and removed five hundred ninety-six cubic feet of stone to

their Mount Airy factory. Seven working days later, HRPI submitted an invoice in the

amount of $12,279.00 to cover transportation of granite from Greensboro to Mount Airy, as

well as purchase and fabrication of five hundred eighteen cubic feet of new, "straight

edge[d]" granite. Federal Acquisitions Regulations (52.232-1) permit partial payments to the

contractor upon submission of "proper invoices for the prices stipulated in the contract bid

schedule for the supplies delivered and accepted." Point of delivery and acceptance was

specified by the contract as Guilford Courthouse NMP. Park management objected and

requested that granite deliveries to the park be forestalled until the entire five hundred ninetysix cubic feet could be shipped. This request was made in the name of security for the new

materials. The Contracting Officer referred this question to the contractor who was happy to

make this accommodation because it would reduce his shipping costs. No contract

modification was issued to reflect this change. The COTR recommended and the Contracting

Officer approved payment to HRPI in the amount of their invoice, $12,279.00. To cover this

transaction The Foundation Of Greater Greensboro issued a check in the same amount to the

National Park Service. [12]

Significantly, this payment was made based solely on the contractor's claim that the specified

material had been purchased and was in conformity with the contract's specifications. The

press of other business kept the COTR from making a prepayment inspection. In retrospect,

the contracting officer in this case asserted that the Federal Acquisition Regulations (52.246-

2) specifically note that Government's failure to perform such review of materials does not

relieve the contractor of his/her contractual obligations. Some sort of prepayment inspection

seemed called for in this case, however, given that the contractor was an unknown quantity,

that his agent had custody of historic materials, and that payments to him were made with
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 15)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi15.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:32 PM]

donated funds. This initial failure to inspect and approve the materials established a pattern

indicative of either remarkable official naivete or negligence. Three additional payments of

donated funds totalling $45,184.00 were made prior to the COTR's first material inspection.

This trip was made at the behest of park management who had visited the subcontractor's

shop and there discovered a number of irregularities with regard to the handling and storage

of historic materials. [13]

Representatives of park management had occasionally made the seventy-mile journey to

Mount Airy to visit the subcontractor's shop. Early on they reported that "it looked as if the

project was progressing." When it became clear that they were the only NPS officials who

were inclined to make this trip, they actually questioned whether they were expected to make

measurements of the granite supplied. They were assured that they were not expected to do

so. Approval of the materials supplied was solely within the purview of the COTR and

Contracting Officer. [14]

Among the key contractual obligations imposed upon HRPI was the necessity of protecting

the original materials removed from the Nathanael Greene Monument, and preserving the

identifying markings applied to each piece by the regional preservation crew. Each new piece

of granite was to be approved only after side-by-side comparison with the original it would

replace. Park managers began to note on their occasional visits that pieces of original granite

were being cut into smaller sizes, some for use in the restoration and others for uses that had

no apparent connection with the project. These concerns were relayed to the COTR by

telephone with no apparent effect. It was only when these observations were buttressed by a

videotape made at the subcontractor's facility that regional authorities responded.

On 18 October 1990 the COTR conducted an initial "inventory and inspection of original and

replacement stones for the Greene Monument." The disheartening results of this appraisal

were contained in a 23 October 1990 trip report. The contractor was found to have

"misplaced and cut original stones of the monument." Forty per cent of the five hundred

ninety-six cubic feet of original granite removed to the site could not be located. Two per

cent of the remaining original material had been recut to smaller sizes. Although the

contractor had submitted invoices and been paid for the purchase of the entire five hundred

ninety-six cubic feet of stone, only one hundred sixteen cubic feet were actually on hand. Of

this total only sixty-seven cubic feet matched the dimensions of the original stone to be

replaced. In order to fulfill his obligations, the contractor would have to account for all of the

original materials entrusted to him, purchase or otherwise obtain five hundred twenty-nine

cubic feet of new matching stone, carve all required "Greek frets, wreaths and reliefs in

stones to match the originals," and provide brass clamps and dowels to match the

monument's original hardware. [15]

There was little likelihood the contractor could fulfill his obligations. The earlier regional

determination that the North Carolina Granite Corporation could not be classified a sole

source was, as a matter of practicality, in error. The contractor was unable to locate

alternative sources that could supply stone of the color or quality required by the contract.

This need not have been an insuperable obstacle to the project's successful completion,

except for the fact that NCG refused to deal with the parties to the contract. NCG had been

an unsuccessful bidder and was not inclined to advance the fortunes of the winner. Further

complicating the issue was the fact that the subcontractor, a minor local competitor of the

established quarry, had a bad credit rating with NCG stemming from previous failures to pay

for granite received. Although NCG later relented (in response to unfavorable media

attention) to the extent that they would sell granite to the contractor on a strict cash and carry

basis, they consistently refused to deal with the subcontractor. [16]

Regional officials made every effort to assist the delinquent contractor in meeting his
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 15)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi15.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:32 PM]

commitments. After gaining NCG's assent to sell stone to HRPI, a sixty-day contract

extension was granted for the period 13 May to 11 July 1991. Although the originally

specified completion date was 15 September 1990, this was the only modification issued. [17]

Incredibly, two additional payments totalling $10,343 were made to the contractor in response

to unsupported claims that these sums were required to complete the project. These payments

were made without the endorsement of the COTR. [18] In spite of these extraordinary efforts,

little progress was made toward the project's completion. An inspection, only the second

performed in consequence of this contract, was made on 9 April 1991. It concluded that in

several critical areas "the contract has actually regressed." Specifically, more of the original

stone had been "reused, misplaced or stolen." Only half of the historic granite remained, a

third of that had been broken or cut, and almost three-quarters had lost identifying marks. Of

the newly purchased stone, only half was on hand. Three quarters of this material was not cut

to required sizes and shapes. None had the required finish and none of the relief carving had

been executed. A third and final inspection to evaluate "mandatory performance" as defined

by the contract extension was performed on 28 June 1991. As of this date only seventy per

cent of the required new materials were on hand, forty-five per cent was cut to appropriate

sizes, thirteen per cent of the relief carving had been executed, and just nine per cent of the

stones had the required finish. [19] The contract was finally terminated for default on 24 July

1991. [20]

Not surprisingly, regional media and contributors to the preservation effort were not amused.

Former Greensboro mayor and point man in the fund raising effort, E.S. Melvin, spoke for

the community.

Someone owes us some straight talk. The public trust is very much at stake. We

gave the Park Service the money in good faith and we want execution. We could

have had the statue back in place in six months. It's probably a good thing the

National Park Service wasn't fighting the battle of Guilford Courthouse. [21]

Local editorialists sounded a similar theme. "If this isn't bureaucratic bungling at its worst,

we don't know what is." NPS spokesmen could do little more than express institutional

discomfiture. "The project is dead in the water. It's very embarrassing." Pressed to defend the

Service's original decision to award the contract to an unknown low-bidder, a public affairs

officer concluded: "Hindsight tells us we did the wrong thing. It's an embarrassing mess."

[22]

NPS officials were determined to get it right the second time around. The contract was readvertised. Applicable regulations mandated that in such cases bids could be accepted only

from individuals or entities that had made unsuccessful submissions for the original contract.

Only NCG met this definition. Accordingly NCG received the new contract in the amount of

$130,548.59, for "Supply and Fabrication of Stone for Repair of the Greene Monument,"

effective 30 August 1991. NCG was allowed one hundred work days from the official starting

date of 10 September 1991 to present all the specified materials at Guilford Courthouse NMP

for inspection and acceptance. The only significant divergence from the original contract was

the requirement that NCG post a one hundred per cent performance bond. [23]

Responding to local concerns regarding expenditures on the terminated contract, park

management conveyed Southeast Region's assurances that any "funds which may be needed

to complete restoration of the General Nathanael Greene Monument . . . in excess of the

$77,816.00 already obligated through donated funds, will be the responsibility of the National

Park Service." [24] This was not literally the case. The Service did finance the new granite

supply contract, but an additional $55,216.57 in donated funds were expended directly for

Greene Monument repair costs, including replacement of damaged bronze letters, mounting

letters, and landscaping repairs for lawns damaged by heavy equipment. An additional
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 15)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi15.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:32 PM]

$29,658.57 was applied to ancillary expenses, including an alarm system, lights, repairs to

brick walkways, and hazardous tree removal. [25]

Superintendent Willard W. Danielson retired in October 1990 after forty-two years of

Government service, including twenty-three years at Guilford Courthouse NMP. His

retirement preceded by a few weeks the discovery of the irregularities that ultimately led to

the first supply contract's termination. Chief Ranger Charles A. Taylor served as Acting

Superintendent for a critical five-month period while first efforts were made to bring the

original contractor into compliance with his obligations. New Superintendent Mark H. Woods

entered on duty 10 March 1991. Woods's reputation as a "problem solver" was put to the test

in mediating between the claims of the concerned local parties and an "embarrassed" regional

directorate. [26] Woods quickly concluded that the initial failure was rooted in a lack of

oversight of the contractor and determined that this error would not be repeated. During the

course of the second contract weekly trips were made by park staff, periodically accompanied

by the COTR, to NCG's shop to evaluate progress. NCG made short work of its task. The

contract was completed, the materials were transported to the park, and the regional Historic

Preservation Crew reconstructed the monument in time for a 19 April 1992 unveiling.

The final accounting for the restoration of the six vandalized Guilford Courthouse

monuments showed total expenditures of $251,786.01. $220,707.81 of this total, almost

$90,000 more than the original high bid, was consumed by the Nathanael Greene Monument

repairs. Donations amounted to $150,296.62, while the NPS covered the balance of

$101,489.39. As this history is written, the Government is bringing a civil action against

Historic Restoration and Preservation, Inc., for recovery of $53,075 in reprocurement and

overpayment costs. [27]

Anxious to avoid similar disasters in the future, key players at the park, and regional

Contracting and Historic Architecture offices wrote critiques of the Greene Monument

restoration process. Superintendent Woods attributed the "problem" to "lack of

communication between personnel, divisions, and the park." He concluded that the weak link

in this communications chain was the park.

While this contract was awarded by the contracting office, and technical support

was provided by the historic architect division, it was imperative that the park

play a pivotal role in assuring that the contractor's performance was at an

acceptable level.

He recommended that in future such collaborative efforts should involve "a minimum of biweekly contacts" between the principles, with the superintendent taking "lead responsibility

in assuring that all facets of the job meet established standards, and that the aforementioned

contacts are maintained." [28]

The Contracting Officer attributed the original primary contractor's failure to his inability to

obtain granite. The likelihood of such impending difficulties might have been foreseen had

the Government performed an "in depth pre-award survey." Other debits on the

Government's ledger included insufficient site visits by contracting representatives, and poor

"administration in telephone calls and dates." Not included among the conclusions but

frequently cited as contributing factors were high turnover and excessive workload in the

Contracting Division, as well as a certain erroneous expectation that "supply contracts do not

require that much administration." [29]

The Chief of the Historic Architecture Division drew up a list of eight "important lessons we

learned in the course of this effort." Half related to the necessity of providing adequate

oversight, particularly in cases involving donated funds. One-quarter were contracting
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 15)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi15.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:32 PM]

concerns, including the requirement that payment be made only after receipt of supplies, and

the advisibility of thoroughly investigating the credentials of low bidders. The remainder

were essentially motivational aphorisms. [30]

It is difficult to take exception to the consensus view that the array of problems encountered

in the Greene Monument restoration were attributable to a general lack of oversight. What

occurred here was a virtual worst case scenario in which NPS management at every level

failed to exercise appropriate accountability for a historic object. Aside from the fact that this

process involved apparent violations of a number of statutes by contractor, subcontractor, and

regional functionaries, this case should suggest to all small park managers the absolute

necessity of serving as aggressive advocates for their areas. Although the national parks

collectively are known as "America's crown jewels," in real life the largest gems invariably

attract greatest attention. Larger, better known parks will naturally attract greater funding, as

well as a perhaps disproportionate share of management attention. This can be dangerous for

a small site like Guilford Courthouse. Even an unparalleled vandalism incident may be

quickly forgotten by a regional staff with responsibilities overspreading fifty or more areas.

Park managers can not allow this to happen. Guilford Courthouse management either allowed

this to happen, or were unable to prevent its occurrence.

The suggestion has been made previously (in consideration of the Lawndale Drive widening

proposal) that local management did not enjoy the confidence of Southeast Region's

directorate, thereby rendering them ineffective as park advocates. Nothing found in the

foregoing evidence contradicts that judgment. In fact it appears that park management's

influence may have declined still further over the torturous course of the restoration. Early in

April 1990, Superintendent Danielson was hospitalized for major surgery. The effects of this

illness precipitated his retirement on 31 October 1990. Chief Ranger Charles A. Taylor

essentially functioned as superintendent until Superintendent Woods entered on duty 24

March 1991. Long Distance Telephone Logs for this period indicate that in the period early

April to late August 1990, Taylor made regular calls at three-week intervals to the Historic

Architecture Division's office. Taylor characterizes these calls as inquiries regarding the

status of the restoration effort. At the same time, the logs bear out the assertion that planning

was proceeding for a 4 October 1990 rededication of the restored monument. This

ceremony's scheduling was predicated upon the successful completion of the contract by the

specified 15 September 1990 date. As time grew short Taylor traveled to Mount Airy to

inspect the work for himself. Finding the project seriously disarrayed he placed a total of of

twenty-six calls to the regional Contracting and Historic Architecture divisions in the

following seven weeks before the COTR arrived to perform his initial inspection. [31]

The implication is clear that park management was trying to alert the responsible regional

authorities. That these warnings were not acted upon certainly suggests that no one was

listening. This being the case park managers should have referred their concerns to higher

authorities, such as the chiefs of the involved divisions. That they did not is indicative of the

same passivity that characterized the park's response to the area's rapid urbanization. Such

inertia, when combined with the indifference displayed by regional officials during the

Greene Monument restoration, can spell disaster for this small park.

<<< Previous <<< Contents >>> Next >>>

http://www.nps.gov/guco/adhi/adhi15.htm

Last Updated: 10-Feb-2003
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 16)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi16.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:33 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

CHAPTER 16:

Another Master Plan Revision

With the Nathanael Greene Monument restoration finally completed, management was at last

free to focus on issues confronting the park as it approaches the twenty-first century.

Aggressive urban development continues to be the order of the day in the park's environs.

Old Battleground Road remains a major safety hazard and obstacle to the effective

interpretation of the battle of Guilford Courthouse. Roughly ten thousand vehicles per day

cross the park on this roadway. This road with its heavy traffic volume was cited in a 1994

General Accounting Office report as as an instance of serious damage to a historical

landmark inflicted as a result of "activities originating outside the [park] boundaries that

adversely affect park resources . . ." [1] Total park visitation for 1994 was 3,268,604, almost

four hundred per cent more than the first comprehensive counts made in 1966. Key issues

identified in the Statement for Management and the Resource Management Plan included

definition of the park's place in an increasingly urban environment, the closure of Old

Battleground Road, and the lack of archaeological data to support effective protection,

interpretation and maintenance of the historic scene. [2]

Superintendent Woods noted soon after his posting to Guilford Courthouse that the park's

1968 Master Plan bore only a general resemblance to reality. Aside from the never

constructed northern by-pass road whose conception had caused such problems during the

then late 1980s, planners clearly had not foreseen the pace of urban development or the

extent of its multiple impacts upon the park. As such it offered little meaningful guidance for

effective facility mangement in the future. Nevertheless, since the completion of the 1968

Master Plan and the subsequent Development Concept Plan, management had failed to

identify additional park planning needs. Woods corrected this oversight by updating the

Outline of Planning Assessments and requesting a Management Objectives Workshop for

1994, thus setting the stage for a Master Plan (now called General Management Plan)

revision.

A two-day Management Objectives Workshop was held at the visitor center in May 1994.

Participants included more than thirty representatives of City, County, State, and Federal

agencies, as well as academic institutions, neighbors and interested citizens. At these sessions

a series of six clear statements of intent were hammered out to guide park management and

provide parameters for the new General Management Plan. Among these Management

Objectives or goals were declarations encompassing Interpretation and Education,

Cultural/Natural Resources Preservation, Visitor Experience, On/Off-Site Circulation,

Partnerships, and Recreational uses. [3] Four of the six management objectives are directed

toward fostering visitor appreciation of the battle's history and the park's purpose as

mandated in its enabling legislation. The others relate to establishing partnerships in the

community and facilitating non-traditional recreational uses that do not conflict with other

management objectives.

The next stage in the process was a Visitor Use Survey prepared in conjunction with the

Office of Park and Tourism Research, North Carolina State University, and conducted in
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 16)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi16.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:33 PM]

August-September, 1994. Results of this survey indicate that most park visitors (70%) live

within five miles of the park, arrive by automobile (60%), visit in the summer (88%), average

2.2 visits per week, favor Saturday over any other day to use the facility (68%), and remain

in the park 1.75 hours per visit. The most popular activity, engaged in by fifty-six per cent of

visitors, is "to walk or jog along the Tour Road." Twenty-seven per cent note that they use

walking trails primarily to view plants and twenty-five per cent use the trails to view themerelated exhibits. Forty-seven per cent favor permanent closure of Old Battleground Road. [4]

This survey tends to confirm staff observations that most visitors use the facility for

recreational purposes.

Combining the Management Objectives with insights into visitor use activities and

preferences derived from the survey, four preliminary General Management Plan (GMP)

scenarios were developed by staff members of the Southeast Region Division of Planning

and Compliance in consultation with the park management team. Each proposal has an

overriding theme, and each calls for progressively greater changes in park operations.

"Alternative 1" calls for little change in the way the park is managed. Three physical changes

are contemplated. The abandoned Atlantic and Yadkin Railroad bed, currently used as a

voluntary foot trail, would be revegetated to resemble its 1781 appearance. A proposed

Bicentennial Greenway would be rerouted away from the railroad bed to a path closer to the

visitor center. The tour road bicycle lane would be widened to its original width of eight feet.

[5]

"Alternative 2" concentrates on improved visitor service by emphasizing changes in

information dissemination and interpretation. Specifically, additional bulletin boards and

wayside interpretive structures would be placed at key park locations. Information about the

park's landscape and environment would be integrated into the battle story. Traffic control

devices would be considered for the Old Battleground Road-New Garden Road intersection.

The theme of "Alternative 3" is action to further unify the park's cultural and natural

resources while providing a safer environment for visitors. In accord with City of Greensboro

development plans for the long-awaited urban loop, Old Battleground Road traffic would be

rerouted away from the park. Park visitors would not be in contact with local traffic. The

Greenway would be integrated into the park trail system. Park foot trails would be extended

by several thousand feet to form a continuous trail system. A new sign system would direct

park visitors as they follow the foot trails.

Unity on a grander scale is the theme of "Alternative 4." This scenario would have the NPS

seek the cooperation of neighboring public parks and facilities to form a park cluster. Each

unit of this cluster would preserve its own identity and mission, while working to support

each other along common grounds, such as connecting walking, jogging, and biking trails.

"School groups, tour groups, greenway travelers, and other park visitors would benefit from

the coordination of programs, signing, and interpretive material." As in "Alternative 3", Old

Battleground Road traffic would be rerouted. [6]

Public information and comment sessions were held over a four day period in March 1995.

Greatest interest seemed to converge on Alternatives 3 and 4. Local media coverage

emphasized that these two of the four proposed alternatives advocate the "closure" of Old

Battleground Road. [7] Regular park users seemed to favor this step, but the community at

large had not been heard from on this question. Given the park's history of public perception

problems, as well as its emerging pattern of predominantly recreational use, it remains to be

seen if this facility could successfully "preserve its own identity" as a cluster element as

advocated in Alternative 4. In this context it may be worthy of note that the Preliminary

Alternatives were prepared without direct input from park or regional historians.
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 16)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi16.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:33 PM]

This fact, in itself, is suggestive of the greatest challenges facing park management in the

twenty-first century. Can this small, heavily encroached upon area remain true to its original

purpose of preserving the Guilford Courthouse battlefield in a community marked by

boisterous urban development that spawns specific and implicit demands for uses that have

little in common with the purposes for which the park was established? For that matter, can

this relatively little-known area effectively compete for historically inadequate and inevitably

diminishing resources within the National Park Service? These are, in fact, the same central

questions that might have been asked at any point in the park's modern history. Judged

according to the record of past performance, the likelihood of success seems remote on both

counts.

As we have seen, the park is small because its nineteenth century founders never conceived

of preserving the entire battlefield area. It was adopted as a National Military Park at a time

in which Congress, seeking ways to minimize historic preservation costs, favored the

"Antietam Plan" precept of preservation via purchase of key sites. No parent Federal agency,

neither War Department nor NPS, subsequently considered substantial additions to the area.

So determined was the NPS to maintain Guilford Courthouse as a small site that management

was prepared to revise its interpretation of the battle and associated structures, without

benefit of additional historical or archaeological inquiry or evidence, to divest the park of

acreage made burdensome by external forces of urban encroachment. That they were

prevented from doing so, and were forced instead to make small additions to the site was due

to the intercession of local political leadership.

NPS managers neither foresaw the park's future as a part of Greensboro, nor prepared for it.

The impact of urban encroachment was heightened by management's unwillingness to work

toward the maintenance of adjacent land in uses that would approximate their historic

appearance. The word "easement" appears nowhere in the historical record of this facility,

other than instances in which the City obtained easements for lake construction. Management

was, in fact, generally oblivious to activities in the neighboring metropolis, whose long-term

economic vitality foreshadowed Guilford Courthouse's modern status as an urban park. They

made little or no effort to influence the outcome of local zoning decisions, or to bring to bear

relevant statutes for the preservation of historic and archaeological resources. They generally

failed to sway State and local governments to support the park's interests. Even more

seriously, they have been unable to rally Federal agencies, including at several critical

junctures the National Park Service's Southeast Regional staff, to support the park. They have

also alienated the park's leading local advocates by inconsistent applications of policies and

regulations.

The most critical lesson that recurs throughout this area's history is that Guilford Courthouse

National Military Park's managers must be successful advocates. Whatever their skills as

administrators, consensus-builders, or diplomats, no one else in or out of Government, will

speak for this park or act unbidden in its behalf. Unless the park is represented by aggressive

champions who will relentlessly make the case for the importance of this site's preservation

before the community, its representative governing bodies, and the ruling councils of the

National Park Service, its future likely will be as checkered as its past.

<<< Previous <<< Contents >>> Next >>>

http://www.nps.gov/guco/adhi/adhi16.htm

Last Updated: 10-Feb-2003
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/images/map.jpg[2/26/2014 4:42:34 PM]
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 1 Endnotes)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi1e.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:35 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

CHAPTER I:

Endnotes

1 All eighteenth and nineteenth sources spell the name of this engagement as "Guilford Court

House". The 1917 Act of Congress that created Guilford Courthouse National Military Park

modernized the spelling and "Court House" became "Courthouse". Hereafter the

Congressionally mandated spelling will be used. See: Guilford Courthouse National Military

Park" Section XIV, National Military Park, National Park-Battlefield Site And National

Monument Regulations (Washington, D.C.: War Department, 1931), pp.61-64.

2 The best modern accounts of the battle of Guilford Courthouse are found in Charles E.

Hatch, The Battle Of Guilford Courthouse (Washington, D.C.: National Park Service, 1971),

and Thomas E. Baker, Another Such Victory (New York: Eastern Acorn Press, 1981). The

generally accepted total for British casualties is 532 killed, wounded and missing from a

force of 1900 engaged. American losses amounted to 256 of 4400 engaged.

3 The size of the battlefield has never been determined with great accuracy. It is the belief of

NPS staff that the park at 220 acres contains about one-quarter of the battlefield. Oral history

interview with Donald J. Long, Guilford Courthouse NMP, 6 June 1994. For use of this

estimate by park expansion advocates in the 1940s and 1950s see Chapter VI, following.

4 Charles E. Hatch, Jr., Guilford Courthouse and Its Environs (Washington, D.C.: National

Park Service, 1971), pp.15, 28-29.

5 Thomas E. Baker, The Monuments of Guilford Courthouse National Military Park

(Greensboro, N.C.: Guilford Courthouse NMP, 1979), p.26.

6 Ronald F. Lee, The Origin and Evolution of the National Military Park Idea (Washington,

D.C.: National Park Service, 1973), pp. 4-10; Edward T. Linenthal, Sacred Ground:

Americans and Their Battlefields (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1991), p.

94.

7 Paul W. Schenck, "David Schenck 1835-1902," in Founders and Builders of Greensboro,

ed. Bettie D. Caldwell (Greensboro, N.C.: 1925), pp. 273-285. Although beyond the scope of

this study, it is worthy of note that Schenck's middle-aged progressivism stood in contrast to

the distinctly conservative cast of his youth. At twenty-six he was the youngest member of

North Carolina's Secession Convention, and in the post-war period was one of the organizers

of the Ku Klux Klan in Lincoln County. Schenck maintained that he parted company with the

Klan when lawless elements seized control of the organization. Allen W. Trelease, White

Terror: The Ku Klux Klan Conspiracy And Southern Reconstruction (New York: Harper and

Row, 1971), pp. 197-198; Testimony Taken By The Joint Select Committee To Inquire Into

The Condition Of Affairs In The Insurrectionary States: North Carolina (Washington, D.C.:

Government Printing Office,1872), pp. 362-415.
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 1 Endnotes)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi1e.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:35 PM]

8 David Schenck, Memorial Volume of the Guilford Battle Ground Company (Greensboro,

N.C., 1893), p. 8; Oliver O. Ingram, The Preservation of the Guilford Battle Ground

(unpublished thesis, Wake Forest University, 1972), p.38: David Schenck Journal, 25 May

1886, David Schenck Books, vol. 10, David Schenck Papers, Southern Historical Collection,

University of North Carolina (SHC).

9 Schenck, Memorial Volume, p.8; Caldwell, Founders and Builders of Greensboro, pp. 65-

69. Caruthers was a Presbyterian minister who came to Greensboro in 1817 to serve two area

churches whose congregations included many veterans of the battle of Guilford Courthouse.

In addition to soliciting accounts of the Revolutionary War in this area, Caruthers also had

the privilege of walking the battlefield with men who had fought there in 1781. Drawn from

such sources, Caruthers's 1856 volume is an extremely valuable resource for any student of

the battle of Guilford Courthouse. W. Conrad Gass, "Eli Washington Caruthers," in

Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, ed. William S. Powell (Chapel Hill: University of

North Carolina Press, 1979), I: 337-338.

10 David Schenck Journal, 7 May 1887, David Schenck Papers, SHC.

11 In his writings, Schenck frequently returned to this theme of the selfishness of local land

owners. For the clearest statement of this sentiment see: David Schenck, Memorial Volume,

pp. 8-9.

12 Schenck figured his annual income from all sources as approximately $6000 per annum,

and put his net worth at $10,000. He and his wife Sallie Wilfong Schenck had nine children,

eight of whom (including a married daughter whose "delicate health" made her "not able to

keep house") lived at home. The ninth child, son Dodson R. Schenck, attended the Jefferson

Medical College. David Schenck Books, vol. 10, March 24, 1883, SHC.

13 Baker, The Monuments of Guilford Courthouse, pp. 28-29; Schenck, Memorial Volume,

pp. 138-140.

14 Guilford Battle Ground Company Scrap Book, Schenck Books, XI:21, SHC.

15 Guilford Battle Ground Company Scrap Book, Schenck Books, XI:21, SHC.

16 Baker, The Monuments of Guilford Courthouse, pp. 3-4.

17 Schenck, Memorial Volume, pp. 138-140.

18 Schenck, Memorial Volume, pp. 8-9.

19 The first annual celebration was held on 6 May 1888. When rain blighted the 1890 event,

the celebration was moved back to July 4. The July 4 celebrations were major events in the

area, "Second only to Christmas in the Red Letter days of the year. . . ." The popularity of

these events, and of the park itself, were enhanced by the availability of rail transportation

from Greensboro. The Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley Railroad completed a line from

Greensboro to Madison in 1886. The tracks bisected the battlefield on a north-south line

running parallel to modern Old Battleground Road. On celebration days hourly excursion

trains ferried passengers to the park. Schenck, Memorial Volume, pp.9-14; Mary Fry Rucker,

"History of the Gilford Battle Ground", unpublished paper, 1959) Historical Files, Guilford

Courthouse NMP (hereafter GUCO).

20 Long a subject of speculation by students of the battle, the case against the Schenck

interpretation is based upon participant accounts that state the third line fighting was visible

from the courthouse, and Cornwallis's report to Germain asserting that units on the British
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 1 Endnotes)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi1e.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:35 PM]

right were delayed in making contact with the Continentals "in the cleared ground around the

court house." It is buttressed by comparison of contemporary and near-contemporary battle

maps with an 1889 map prepared at Schenck's direction. Particularly noteworthy is the

disparity between the Schenck and Eli Caruthers maps. It will be recalled that Caruthers had

walked the field with local veterans of the battle, and that Schenck had attested to his use of

Caruthers in identifying the key points of the battlefield. Baker, Another Such Victory,

pp.89-99. "Battle of Guildford fought on the 15 of March 1781", Clinton Map 291, Sir Henry

Clinton Papers, William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Caruthers,

Revolutionary Incidents, p.108; David Schenck, North Carolina. 1780-'81. Being A History

Of The Invasion Of The Carolinas By The British Army Under Lord Cornwallis in 1780-'81.

(Raleigh, North Carolina, 1889), p.320.

21 Two such misplaced memorials were the Nathaniel Macon and James Hunter monuments.

Macon is best-known as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1801-1807. James

Hunter was a leader of the Regulator Movement that was crushed at the battle of Alamance

in 1771. The Hunter Monument was removed to the Alamance Battleground State Historic

Site in 1962, arousing a firestorm of protest from offended Hunter descendents. Baker, The

Monuments of Guilford Courthouse NMP, pp. 6-7, 19-21, 44-46.

22 A list headed "Stockholders Paid" appears in Schenck Books, vol. XV, SHC. With last

entry dated 14 January 1892, this list shows 92 stockholders owning 184 shares. The largest

stockholder was the Town of Greensboro, having purchased eight shares at the behest of

Town Commissioner David Schenck. "Stockholders Meeting, March 15, 1890," Schenck

Books, vol. XV, SHC.

23 "Stockholders Meeting, March 15, 1890," Schenck Books, vol. XV, SHC. Laws and

Resolutions of the State of North Carolina (Raleigh, N.C.: Josephus Daniels, 1889), p. 512.

This annual subsidy was increased to five hundred dollars in 1893, and seven hundred in

1913. Laws and Resolutions of the State of North Carolina (Raleigh, N.C.: Josephus Daniels,

1893), p. 470. Laws and Resolutions of the State of North Carolina (Raleigh, N.C.: Josephus

Daniels, 1913), p. 519.

24 Schenck Books, XI:5l, SHC.

25 Constructed astride New Garden Road, both monuments were judged to be traffic

obstructions and were dismantled by the National Park Service in 1936. Glenn Gray, "The

Monuments at Guilford Courthouse N.M.P." (unpublished study: 1967), pp. 62-65.

26 The Greensboro Telegram, 14 January 1901.

27 Ronald F. Lee, The Origin and Evolution of the National Military Park Idea (Washington:

National Park Service, 1973), pp. 38-46.

28 Congressional Record. Fifty-eighth Congress, Second Series, 1904 (Washington: GPO,

1904) XXXVIII, 903. Congressional Record, Fifty-ninth Congress First Session, 1905

Washington: GPO, 1905) XL, 115. Congressional Record, Sixtieth Congress, First Session,

1907 (Washington: GPO, 1907) XLVI, 85.

29 There is a local tradition that passage was gained through the intercession of Speaker of

the House of Representatives Joseph G. Cannon who was born and spent his early years in

Guilford County. Gray, Monuments, pp. 35-44; Roy Parker, Jr., "Joseph Gurney Cannon" in

Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, I:321.

30 Deed 1, 6 June 1911; Deed 2, 10 December 1914, File L1429, Land Records, 1931-1958,

Guilford Courthouse NMP files; Statutes At Large, XXIX, 996-998.
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 1 Endnotes)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi1e.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:35 PM]

<<< Previous <<< Contents >>> Next >>>

http://www.nps.gov/guco/adhi/adhi1e.htm

Last Updated: 10-Feb-2003
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 2 Endnotes)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi2e.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:39 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

CHAPTER 2:

Endnotes

1 Ernest Peixotto, A Revolutionary Pilgrimage (New York: Charles Scribners Sons, 1917), p.

309.

2 Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, Section XIV, National Military Park, National

Park-Battlefield Site And National Monument Regulations (Washington: War Department,

1931) pp. 61-64.

3 Ingram, The Preservation of the Guilford Battle Ground, pp. 66-72.

4 Gray, Monuments, p. 14-15.

5 Paul W. Schenck, Greensboro, N.C. to Deputy Quartermaster General, Washington, D.C.,

16 November 1920, War Department Records, GUCO, Record Group 79, National Archives,

microfilm; Greensboro Daily News, 22 December 1921.

6 Ingram, Preservation of the Guilford Battle Ground, p. 72.

7 Ingram, Preservation of the Guilford Battle Ground, p. 72. Record of Relics Belonging to

the Guilford Battle Ground Company 1888-1894, Schenck Books, XIV, SHC, clearly

incomplete and written in a hurried, almost illegible scrawl, lists fifty items, mostly

projectiles and gun parts. A few significant pieces are included, such as Number 41, a "skeen

dhu" or Scottish dirk, left at a local house by a British officer. A note in David Schenck's

handwriting states: "I paid Elias Perkins $2.50 for it." This item resides in the collection of

the Greensboro Historical Museum.

8 R.D. Douglas, Greensboro, to Captain Gwynne Conrad, Quartermaster Corps, Washington,

6 June 1930, Guilford Courthouse NMP Records, RG 79, National Archives. Microfilm.

9 Major General J.L. DeWitt, Quartermaster General to the Adjutant General, Washington, 20

August 1930, File Box 40, Guilford Courthouse N.M.P., National Archives.

10 Greensboro Daily News, 1 July 1931, 5 July 1931.

11 Historic Listing Of National Park Service Officials, (Washington: National Park Service,

1991), p. 118; B.F. Flickinger, Colonial NHP to Director, NPS, 3 January 1938, File 200,

GUCO, RG 79, National Archives, microfilm.

<<< Previous <<< Contents >>> Next >>>
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 2 Endnotes)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi2e.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:39 PM]

http://www.nps.gov/guco/adhi/adhi2e.htm

Last Updated: 10-Feb-2003
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 3)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi3e.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:40 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

CHAPTER 3:

Endnotes

1 William P. Brandon, Greensboro, N.C. to Director, NPS, 8 August, 1940, 207-02.3 GUCO,

RG 79, National Archives, microfilm.

2 The administration-museum building stood just west of the second American battleline,

about fifty yards north of the Nathanael Greene Monument. The residence and utility area

were constructed immediately east of the first battleline. Both sites likely would have yielded

archaeological evidence had surveys been performed. Evidence is persuasive that all

structures in the area at the time of the battle were of log or frame construction. James H.

Roane, "Annual Report Fiscal Year 1935," 207-01.4 GUCO, RG 79, National Archives,

microfilm; Ruth Little-Stokes (ed.) An Inventory of Historic Architecture, Greensboro. N.C.

(Raleigh: Division of Archives and History, North Carolina Department of Cultural

Resources, 1976), p. 7; H. McKelden Brown (ed.) Architectural Resources: An Inventory Of

Historic Architecture. High Point. Jamestown Gibsonville Guilford County (Raleigh:

Division of Archives and History, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, 1979),

pp. 11-12.

3 Joseph C. Robert to Verne E. Chatelain, 26 April 1936, 207-03 GUCO, RG 79, National

Archives, microfilm.

4 Master Plan, Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, 1936, 600-01 GUCO, RG 79,

National Archives Cartography Branch.

5 James H. Roane, Annual Narrative, 1 July 1935-30 June 1936, 207-02.3 GUCO, RG 79,

National Archives, microfilm; William P. Brandon to the Director, 3 January 1938, 200

GUCO, RG 79, National Archives, microfilm.

6 Master Plan, Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, 1939, 600-01 GUCO, RG 79,

National Archives Cartography Branch.

7 This statute was also employed to condemn property for the North Carolina portion of the

Blue Ridge Parkway. Memorandum to the National Park Service from the Office of the

Solicitor, Department of the Interior, 6 April 1937, 207-02.3 GUCO, RG 79, National

Archives, microfilm; Deed 10, 14 April 1937, File L1429 Land Records 1937-1958, GUCO.

8 James H. Roane to Colonel W.I. Lee, Bureau of Public Roads, 12 October 1936, 630

GUCO, RG 79, National Archives, microfilm.

9 A.E. Demaray to B.F. Flickinger, 28 October 1936, 630 GUCO, RG 79, National Archives,

microfilm; Form 8622, U.S. Highway 220, Roads File, GUCO.

10 The amphitheater construction was probably the result of Representative Umstead's

continued lobbying for public works construction projects. Upon completion the amphitheater
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 3)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi3e.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:40 PM]

sat unused until 28 September 1941 when troops from the II Army Corps, on their way south

to manuevers, used it as a site for chapel services and a band concert. Ingram, Preservation

of the Guilford Battleground, p.115; William P. Brandon, Superintendent's Narrative for

September 1941, 3 October 1941, Monthly Narrative File, Guilford Courthouse NMP; Master

Plan, Guilford Courthouse NMP, 1939, 600-01 GUCO, RG 79, Cartography Branch, National

Archives.

11 William P. Brandon, Superintendent's Narrative for April 1941, 5 May 1941, Monthly

Narrative File, GUCO.

<<< Previous <<< Contents >>> Next >>>

http://www.nps.gov/guco/adhi/adhi3e.htm

Last Updated: 10-Feb-2003
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 4 Endnotes)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi4e.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:41 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

CHAPTER 4:

Endnotes

1 Copies of deeds 4-10 are found in Master Deed List, Guilford Courthouse NMP Library,

microfiche. A 1928 survey indicated that the original 125 acre grant that formed the park's

nucleus was in error. Performed by a local civil engineer, this survey put the park's area at

110.46 acres, an apparent error of 14.54 acres. No subsequent general survey has been

performed, so it is possible that all modern listings of park property holdings are in error.

R.G. Trogdon, Engineer, "Guilford Courthouse NMP Map, July 16, 1928," Guilford

Courthouse NMP map cabinet.

2 James G.W. MacClamroch to Rep. Carl T. Durham, 16 July 1940, Carl T. Durham Papers,

SHC.

3 A conveniently synthesized source for material regarding Greensboro's growth in this

period is Gayle H. Fripp, Greensboro: A Chosen Center (Woodland Hills, California:

Windsor Publications, 1982), pp. 91-99. Fripp makes liberal use of Ethel S. Arnett,

Greensboro, North Carolina: The County Seat of Guilford (Chapel Hill: University of North

Carolina Press, 1955).

4 David Schenck, "Report To The Stockholders Of The Guilford Battle Ground Company,

March 15, 1890." Schenck Books, XV, SHC.

5 Arnett, Greensboro . . ., pp. 369-370. The Country Park consisted of 120 acres. Information

obtained in telephone interview by the author with James Sykes, City of Greensboro

Department of Parks and Recreation, 3 January 1994.

6 Earl Cornwallis to Lord George Germain, 17 March 1781, in Banastre Tarleton, A History

Of The Campaigns Of 1780 And 1781, In The Southern Provinces Of North America

(London: 1787) pp. 303-307. The cemetery area covered 220 acres, more or less. Information

obtained in telephone interview by the author with Thomas Ravenel, Cemetery Division, City

of Greensboro, 3 January 1994.

7 Elbert Cox to Verne E. Chatelain, 29 December 1933, 602-01 GUCO, RG 79, National

Archives, microfilm. Cox went on to have a distinguished NPS career as Superintendent of

Colonial NHP and Morristown NHP, and as Assistant Regional Director and Regional

Director of the Southeast Region. See: Historic Listing of National Park Service Officials

(Washington: NPS, 1991) pp.18, 19, 82, 144.

<<< Previous <<< Contents >>> Next >>>
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 4 Endnotes)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi4e.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:41 PM]

http://www.nps.gov/guco/adhi/adhi4e.htm

Last Updated: 10-Feb-2003
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 6 Endnotes)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi6e.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:42 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

CHAPTER 6:

Endnotes

1 Jack Betts, "James G.W. MacClamroch: Idea Man," Greensboro Daily News, 1 January

1978.

2 The most convenient source for material regarding the Hoskins property is Hatch, Guilford

Courthouse And Its Environs. pp. 77-80. A much modified cabin standing on the property

was (and is) locally considered to be the original Hoskins house. If so it is the only surviving

structure from the period of the battle. For significant evidence that this cabin was built in the

nineteenth century on the original site see: Katherine Hoskins to W.P. Brandon, 18 February

1938, Historical File B-7, Guilford Courthouse NMP.

3 See, for example, J.G.W. MacClamroch to Rep. Carl T. Durham, 16 July 1940, Carl T.

Durham Papers, SHC; J.G.W. MacClamroch to Dr. C.C. Crittenden, 6 January 1941, NC

Historical Commission Files, NC Division of Archives and History.

4 Brandon, Land Acquisition Program, 9 May 1940.

5 A.E. Demaray to J.G.W. MacClamroch, 26 December 1940, Carl T. Durham Papers, SHC.

6 W.P. Brandon, Monthly Narrative for January 1941, 4 February 1941, Monthly Narratives

File, GUCO.

7 J.G.W. MacClamroch to A.E. Demaray, 28 February 1941. 602-01 GUCO, RG 79, National

Archives, microfilm. The enclosed map excepted only the Greensboro Country Park and

Forest Lawn Cemetery from the proposed acquisition area. No survey of the area was ever

performed and it appears that acreage figures that were subsequently bandied about were

estimates. The area included in MacClamroch's proposal was essentially an isosceles triangle

and its approximate size has been computed algebraically to be 820 acres. MacClamroch

excepted from his proposal the battlefield areas contained in the Greensboro Country Park

and Forest Lawn Cemetery, 340 acres more or less. Also deducted should be the land already

part of the Military Park, roughly 150 acres. The remaining balance to be acquired via this

proposal was 330 acres. Acreage figures for city facilities obtained by the author from James

Sykes, City of Greensboro Department of Parks and Recreation, and Thomas Ravenel, City

of Greensboro Cemetery Division. It is worthy of note that battle related artifacts have been

recovered by amateur archaeologists throughout the area covered by MacClamroch's

proposal. It is also noteworthy that one of the Guilford Battle Ground Company's most

impressive discoveries, a grave containing the remains of three Continental soldiers, was

unearthed beyond the northern limit of this area proposed for acquisition. Schenck, Memorial

Volume, pp. 18-19. Interview by the author with Donald J. Long, 6 June 1994, GUCO.

8 A.E. Demaray to J.G.W. MacClamroch, 13 March 1941, 602-01 GUCO, RG 79, National

Archives, microfilm.
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 6 Endnotes)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi6e.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:42 PM]

9 J.G.W. MacClamroch to Hillory A. Tolson, 26 March 1941, 602-01 GUCO, RG 79,

Guilford Courthouse NMP, National Archives, microfilm. MacClamroch was unaware that

aside from the historical consensus that Saratoga was one of the most important battles in

world history, Saratoga NHP had a very influential advocate in the person of President

Franklin D. Roosevelt. Charles B. Hosmer, Jr., Preservation Comes Of Age. From

Williamsburg to the National Trust, 1926-1949 (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press,

1981) I:531.

10 A.E. Demaray to J.G.W. MacClamroch, 3 February 1941, 13 March 1941, Record Group

79, Guilford Courthouse NMP, National Archives, microfilm. N.B. Drury to J.G.W.

MacClamroch, 1 April 1941, Carl T. Durham Papers, SHC.

11 J.G.W. MacClamroch to N.B. Drury, 5 April 1941, Carl T. Durham Papers, SHC.

12 J.G.W. MacClamroch to C.T. Durham, 9 June 1941, Carl T. Durham Papers, SHC.

13 W.P. Brandon, Monthly Narrative Report for June 1942, 8 July 1942, Monthly Narratives

File, GUCO.

14 W.P.Brandon, Monthly Narrative Report for February 1941, 5 March 1941, Monthly

Narrative File, GUCO; Memorandum, Charles S. Marshall to J.C. Harrington, 13 October

1943, 602-01 GUCO, RG 79, National Archives, microfilm; "Guilford Project Brought To

Fore," Greensboro Daily News, 12 September 1946.

15 Charles S. Marshall to J.C. Harrington, 26 June 1943, 602-01 GUCO, RG 79, National

Archives. Modern research indicates that MacClamroch's appraisal of the battlefield's size

was fairly accurate, perhaps even a bit conservative. See, for example, Richard K. Showman

and Dennis M. Conrad (eds.) The Papers of General Nathanael Greene (Chapel Hill:

University of North Carolina Press, 1994) VII: 436-437. Staff research indicates the park

contains about twenty-five per cent of the battlefield. Interview by the author with Donald J.

Long, Guilford Courthouse NMP, 3 September 1994.

16 Charles S. Marshall, Monthly Narrative for February 1944, 1 March 1944, Monthly

Narrative File, GUCO.

17 Oliver G. Taylor to Newton B. Drury, 30 March 1944, 601-01 GUCO, RG 79, National

Archives, microfilm; Charles S. Marshall, Monthly Narrative for August 1943, 3 September

1943, Monthly Narrative File, GUCO.

18 Charles S. Marshall, Monthly Narrative for July 1945, 3 August 1945, Monthly Narrative

File, Guilford Courthouse NMP.

19 Alexander R. Stoessen, "The Elixir of War--Greensboro: An Army Town, 1942-1946,"

(unpublished manuscript), pp.3-7, 12-14, GUCO Historical Files; "Guilford Project Brought

To Fore Again," Greensboro Daily News, 12 September 1944.

<<< Previous <<< Contents >>> Next >>>

http://www.nps.gov/guco/adhi/adhi6e.htm

Last Updated: 10-Feb-2003
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 7 Endnotes)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi7e.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:43 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

CHAPTER 7:

Endnotes

1 No visitor statistics were compiled at Guilford Courthouse prior to August 1939 when

monthly counts were initiated based on numbers of visitors signing the guest register. Fiscal

Year 1942 visitation of 12,954 was about average for the pre-war and early war years. The

1943 total of 4,852 reflects the advent of strict gasoline rationing and is the lowest annual

visitation ever recorded at Guilford. Alexander R. Stoessen, "The Elixir of War---

Greensboro: An Army Town, 1942-1946," unpublished manuscript, 1993, Guilford

Courthouse NMP Historical Files; William P. Brandon, Monthly Narrative for March 1943, 2

April 1943, Monthly Narrative File, GUCO; Raleigh C. Taylor, Monthly Narrative for

August 1946, 7 September 1946, Monthly Narrative File, GUCO.

2 Public Law 734, "To Abolish the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park Commission

and for other purposes, "enacted 9 October 1942, 120-05, GUCO, RG 79, National Archives,

microfilm; Historical Listing of National Park Service Officials (Washington: National Park

Service, 1991) p. 118. Brandon hoped to establish a Historical Aid position with the lapsed

resident Commissioner's salary. This goal was not accomplished until 14 June 1948 when

Historical Aid Fred L. Page entered on duty as the park's first employee whose primary

responsibilities were interpretive. W.A. Brandon, Monthly Narrative for July 1941, 5 August

1941; R.C. Taylor, Monthly Narrative for June 1948, 15 July 1948, Monthly Narrative File,

Guilford Courthouse NMP.

3 R.C. Taylor, Monthly Narratives for January, 1946 and August, 1946, 8 February 1946 and

7 September 1946, Monthly Narrative File, Guilford Courthouse NMP.

4 R.C. Taylor, Monthly Narratives 9 February 1947, 7 June 1947, 7 August 1947, 11

September 1948, 3 March 1949, Monthly Narrative File, GUCO. As this is written, the State

has cancelled the loan of the fusil. That weapon had been used unwisely as a major element

in the 1975 visitor center's principal permanent exhibit.

5 Herbert E. Kahler to R. C. Taylor, 8 November 1954, Museum Catalog Folder 349, GUCO.

6 Memorandum, Raleigh C. Taylor to Regional Director, 5 December 1954, 612 GUCO, RG

79, National Archives, microfilm; Harold L. Peterson to Chief Historian, 28 January 1955,

Museum Catalog Folder 349, GUCO; "General Development Plan Part Of The Master Plan

For Guilford Courthouse NMP, Approved 5 July 1938," 600-01, RG 79, Guilford Courthouse

NMP, National Archives Cartography Branch.

<<< Previous <<< Contents >>> Next >>>
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 7 Endnotes)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi7e.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:43 PM]

http://www.nps.gov/guco/adhi/adhi7e.htm

Last Updated: 10-Feb-2003
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 8 Endnotes)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi8e.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:43 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

CHAPTER 8:

Endnotes

1 Alexander R. Stoessen, Guilford County: A Brief History (Raleigh: NC Division of

Archives and History, 1993) p. 39-43. Stoessen attributes the county's paradoxical

Depression-era growth to a "good combination of products and purchasers." Leading area

manufacturers produced denim and patent medicines. Denim work clothes remained in

demand throughout the hard times and demand for patent medicines increased because many

consumers lacked cash to pay for physicians' services. Locally based insurance industries also

remained strong as cash poor consumers in search of some form of security often paid their

insurance premiums rather than buy consumables. These manufacturers and insurance

companies were centered in Greensboro.

8 Ibid., p. 79.

3 Gayle H. Fripp, Greensboro: A Chosen Center (Woodland Hills, California: Windsor

Publications, 1982) p. 126; Clyde E. Browning and Francis H. Parker, "Urbanization," in

North Carolina Atlas: Portrait of a Changing Southern State, James W. Clay, Douglas M.

Orr, Jr. and Alfred W. Stuart, eds. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1975)

pp. 64-65.

4 W. P. Brandon, Memorandum for the Director, 17 March 1941, Martin Trespass File,

GUCO.

5 Charles S. Marshall, Memorandum to the Coordinating Superintendent, 11 September 1945,

Martin Trespass File, GUCO.

6 J.G.W. MacClamroch to Thomas J. Allen, 20 April 1946, 27 June 1946, 601, GUCO, RG

79, National Archives, microfilm; Raleigh C. Taylor to Director, Region One, 30 July 1953,

601, GUCO, RG 79, National Archives, microfilm.

7 Raleigh C. Taylor, Monthly Narratives, 5 August 1949, 7 December 1949, Monthly

Narratives File, GUCO.

8 Charles S. Marshall to Coordinating Superintendent, 18 September 1945, Martin Trespass

File, GUCO; Raleigh C. Taylor, Monthly Narrative, 10 March 1950, Monthly Narrative File,

GUCO.

9 Raleigh C. Taylor, Monthly Narrative, 2 February 1951, Monthly Narratives File, GUCO.

10 Bryce A. Holt to Edward A. Hummel, 27 February 1951. Martin Trespass File, GUCO.

11 Mastin G. White to the Attorney General of the United States, 28 August 1951, Martin

Trespass File, GUCO.
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 8 Endnotes)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi8e.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:43 PM]

12 Following this conference Holt wrote his Justice Department superiors with an

explanation of his position. He characterized the Martin road as an extension of a city

roadway (Nathanael Greene Road) and as a "benefit [to] the Federal Park." He stated that the

Country Park and the Military Park "have been for years an integrated matter" and that "the

Department of the Interior should cooperate in keeping the roadway open." It was his

contention that the Martin road did not constitute a precedent for the construction of other

private access roads because of its de facto inclusion in the city street system. He concluded

that although he could best represent the Government by "lending my support to keeping the

roadway open," he would proceed against Martin if ordered to do so. Bryce R. Holt to

Assistant Attorney General A. Devitt Vaneck, 19 October 1951, Martin Trespass File, GUCO.

13 J.G.W. MacClamroch to Carl T. Durham, 19 October 1951; Conrad L. Wirth to Carl T.

Durham, 7 December 1951. Carl T. Durham Papers, SHC.

14 Best evidence regarding the Martin tract development is a series of twenty-eight

photographs made in October 1967 for submission with appraisal reports. See: GUCO

Photographic Archive, Drawer 28 (Park Scenes).

15 At this juncture the State paved Nathanael Greene Road Extension. Raleigh C. Taylor to

Edward A. Hummel, 5 August 1952, Martin Trespass File, GUCO.

16 Conrad L. Wirth to R. Brookes Peters, 28 August 1952, Martin Trespass File, GUCO.

17 Raleigh C. Taylor, Monthly Narrative, 6 May 1953, Superintendents' Narratives File,

GUCO. Conrad L. Wirth to Carl T. Durham, 29 May 1953, Carl T. Durham Papers, SHC.

18 Conrad L. Wirth to R. Getty Browning, 29 May 1953, Martin Trespass File, GUCO;

Raleigh C. Taylor, Monthly Narrative, 7 July 1953, Superintendents' Narratives File, GUCO.

19 United States v. Charles O. Martin, Civil No. 771-6: Martin, Martin Trespass File, GUCO;

"Suit Filed Charges Violation Of Park," Greensboro Daily News, 22 July 1953;

"Counterclaim Entered In Government Suit," Greensboro Daily News, 11 November 1953.

20 Harry K. Sanders, Acting Assistant Solicitor to the Director, 22 November 1954, Martin

Trespass File, GUCO.

21 Memorandum, Herbert E. Kahler to the Director, 10 February 1955, Martin Trespass File,

GUCO.

22 Conrad L. Wirth to Mrs. R. Templeman, 26 November 1952, Cultural Resources

Repository, Office of Historic Architecture, NPS, GUCO, Box 1. Wirth also might have

noted that the courthouse served as the American field hospital and that a mass grave was

dug nearby for the rebel dead. Baker, Another Such Victory, pp.89-92.

23 A.C. Stratton, Acting Regional Director, to the Director, 14 July 1955, Martin Trespass

File, GUCO.

24 Edwin M. Stanley to Perry M. Morton, Assistant Attorney General, Lands Division, 11

August 1955, Martin Trespass File, GUCO. Stanley indicated that Superintendent Taylor had

been hospitalized by a "nervous breakdown," with Administrative Technician Robert S.

McDaniel acting in his stead. The timing of Taylor's illness certainly suggests that NPS

rejection of his recommendation with regard to the three-step plan had taken a toll on the

embattled superintendent. At the very least it is indicative of the burden placed on park staff

by this long-running controversy.
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 8 Endnotes)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi8e.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:43 PM]

25 "Court Rules On Trespass Case," Greensboro Daily News, 1 February 1956.

26 "Court Rules In Favor Of Government," Greensboro Daily News, 3 April 1956; John T.

Willett, Acting Superintendent, GUCO, to Regional Director, 24 May 1956, Martin Trespass

File, GUCO; "Court Reverses Ruling In Favor Of Government," Greensboro Daily News, 8

January 1957.

27 United States Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, Number 7793, United States v. Charles O.

Martin, Raymond F. Farrar, Hazel M. Farrar and Floyd B. Martin, 3 September 1959,

contains a convenient summary of the case. A copy is contained in the Martin Trespass File,

GUCO. NPS reactions and strategizing are contained in: Memorandum, Regional Chief of

Operations, Region One to Chief of Lands, Region One, 5 May 1958 and Memorandum, E.

M. Lisle, Acting Regional Director to Director, 2 September 1958, Martin Trespass File,

GUCO. A sampling of area newspaper coverage is found in: "Land Dispute Is Settled By

Court: Government Owns R-O-W," Greensboro Record, 21 June 1958; "Judge Refuses To

Close Road," Greensboro Daily News, 29 August 1958.

28 Supra., Ch. 6, n.15.

29 Raleigh C. Taylor to Regional Director, 9 January 1953, File L1415, GUCO; E.M. Lisle,

Assistant Regional Director, To Raleigh C. Taylor, 20 January 1953, File L1415, GUCO.

<<< Previous <<< Contents >>> Next >>>

http://www.nps.gov/guco/adhi/adhi8e.htm

Last Updated: 10-Feb-2003
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 9 Endnotes)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi9e.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:44 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

CHAPTER 9:

Endnotes

1 Deed 12, 28 May 1957, Master Deed File, GUCO; Eugene D. McKeown, Monthly

Narrative, 8 July 1957, Monthly Narrative File, GUCO.

2 Memorandum, Eugene D. McKeown to Regional Director, 12 December 1958; Howard W.

Covington to Eugene D. McKeown, 4 February 1959, GUCO Files, Lands 1933-1958;

Eugene D. McKeown, Monthly Narrative, 12 April 1962, Monthly Narratives File, GUCO.

3 W.W. Danielson, Annual Narrative for 1982, 19 March 1983, File A2621, GUCO; Deed 23,

Master Deed File, GUCO, microfiche.

4 "Mission 66 For Guilford Courthouse National Military Park," (Washington: National Park

Service, n.d.), pp. 1-4. Problems associated with vandalism and other law enforcement related

issues will be considered in a subsequent chapter.

5 The house and .69 acre lot were bought for $14,700 on 18 December 1956. Deed 11, Master

Deed File, GUCO. There was a five year gap between the purchase of the house and the

arrival of Historian Bruce. Eugene D. McKeown, Monthly Narrative, 11 September, 1961,

Monthly Narratives File, GUCO; National Park Service, Historic Listing Of NPS Officials,

p.118.

6 Eugene D. McKeown, Monthly Narrative, 8 November 1961, Monthly Narratives Files,

GUCO.

<<< Previous <<< Contents >>> Next >>>

http://www.nps.gov/guco/adhi/adhi9e.htm

Last Updated: 10-Feb-2003
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 10 Endnotes)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi10e.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:45 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

CHAPTER 10:

Endnotes

1 Elbert Cox to General J.R.Townsend, Greensboro City Manager, 9 December 1959, D30,

GUCO Files; Eugene D. McKeown, Monthly Narrative, 8 February 1961, A2823, GUCO

Files; G.C. Eichorn, Richardson Realty Co. to Clifford Harriman, Chief, Branch of Lands,

Region 1, 2 November 1960, D30, GUCO Files.

2 Memorandum, Eugene D. McKeown to the Director, 16 October 1959; Elbert Cox to

Conrad L. Wirth, 20 October 1959, 630-02, GUCO, RG 79, National Archives, microfilm.

3 Record of telephone conversation, James G.W. MacClamroch to the office of Rep. Carl T.

Durham, Washington, 6 November 1959, Telephone Log, Carl T. Durham Papers, SHC; Alan

Turner, President, Battleground Volunteer Fire Department, to Rep. Carl T. Durham, 25

November 1959, Carl T. Durham Papers, SHC; Memorandum, Eugene D. McKeown to

Regional Director, 6 February 1960, D30, GUCO Files; Conrad L. Wirth to Sim DeLapp,

Attorney at Law, 26 April 1960, D30, GUCO Files; Eugene D. McKeown, Monthly

Narrative, 8 June 1960, A2823, GUCO Files; Memorandum, Eugene D. McKeown to

Regional Director, 9 August 1960, A2823, GUCO Files. McKeown entered on duty at the

park 9 February 1958. NPS, Historic Listing of NPS Officials, p. 118.

4 Eugene D. McKeown, Monthly Narrative, 16 May 1960, A2823, GUCO Files.

<<< Previous <<< Contents >>> Next >>>

http://www.nps.gov/guco/adhi/adhi10e.htm

Last Updated: 10-Feb-2003
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 11 Endnotes)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi11e.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:46 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

CHAPTER 11:

Endnotes

1 John H. Carver, Jr., Assistant Secretary of the Interior to Honorable John W. McCormick,

Speaker, House of Representatives, 29 January 1963, Horace R. Kornegay Papers, SHC.

2 Warner Wells, "Carl Thomas Durham," in Dictionary of North Carolina Biography,

William S. Powell, ed. (Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 1986) II. p. 125-126. Horace R. Kornegay

to David Schenck, 20 February 1963, Horace R. Kornegay Papers, SHC.

3 David Schenck to Horace R. Kornegay, 22 February 1963, Horace R. Kornegay Papers,

SHC.

4 Horace R. Kornegay to Conrad L. Wirth 4 March 1963; Conrad L. Wirth to Horace R.

Kornegay, 25 March 1963, Horace R. Kornegay Papers, SHC.

5 Memorandum, Rogers W. Young to Chief Historian, 25 April 1963, NPS, GUCO, Box 2,

Cultural Resources Repository, Office of Historic Architecture (CRR). Prior to this meeting

Director Wirth received a letter from the Director of the Greensboro Parks and Recreation

Department reminding him of their prior acquaintance in the American Institute of Park

Executives, and stating that the sale of the courthouse site "will vitally hinder the orderly

development of the area by the national government and the City of Greensboro." This is the

first instance in which a city parks official is recorded as speaking in support of the national

park. Oka T. Hester, Jr., Director, City of Greensboro Parks and Recreation Department, to

Conrad L. Wirth, 3 April 1963, NPS, GUCO, Box 2, CRR.

6 Memorandum, Charles S. Marshall to the Regional Director, 25 April 1963, NPS, GUCO,

Box 2, CRR.

7 Eugene D. McKeown, Monthly Narrative, 8 January 1964, A2823, GUCO Files.

8 Horace R. Kornegay to David Schenck, 9 December 1964, Horace R. Kornegay Papers,

SHC.

9 Eugene D. McKeown, Monthly Narrative, 10 September 1965, A2823, GUCO Files; David

Schenck to Rep. Richardson Preyer, 21 May 1967, Richardson Preyer Papers, J.Y. Joyner

Library, East Carolina University (ECU); Deed 14, 30 December 1966, L1429, GUCO Files.

10 Deeds 15,16, 8 December 1967; Deed 18, 25 February 1969, A1429, GUCO Files; Eugene

D. McKeown to Regional Director, SERO, 31 May 1967; Edward S. Peetz, Chief, Office of

Resource Planning, WSC, to Regional Director, SERO, 16 June 1967, L1425 GUCO Files.

11 Charles S. Marshall, Acting Regional Director to Hon. David Schenck, 29 December

1964; David Schenck to Charles S. Marshall, 5 January 1965; David Schenck to E.M. Lisle,

Acting Regional Director, 19 January 1965; David Schenck to E.M. Lisle, 2 February 1965,
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 11 Endnotes)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi11e.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:46 PM]

McDaniel Lewis Papers, MS Collection 41, Greensboro Historical Museum (GHM); Deed 17,

10 August 1967, L1429, GUCO Files. File 603, GUCO, RG 79, National Archives,

microfilm, contains voluminous documentation of the Webb condemnation proceedings.

12 Deeds 20 and 21, 12 October 1970; Deed 23, 10 October 1979, L1429, GUCO Files. The

last acquisition was considered in more detail in Chapter 9, supra.

13 David Schenck to Hon. Richardson Preyer, 21 May 1969, Richardson Preyer Papers, East

Carolina MS Collection, J.Y. Joyner Library, ECU. For examples of subsequent efforts to

gain support for park expansion see: McDaniel Lewis to Hon. Richardson Preyer, 19 March

1976; McDaniel Lewis to Hon. John Warner, Administrator, American Revolution

Bicentennial Administration, 28 May 1974; David D. Thompson, SER Director, to McDaniel

Lewis, 23 December 1975, McDaniel Lewis Papers, MS Collection 41, GHM.

14 This decision had been formalized by the acceptance of the 1968 Master Plan Study

Team's recommendation that no additional lands be acquired. See: Charles S. Marshall to

Hon. Richardson Preyer, 21 May 1969, McDaniel Lewis Papers, GHM. With regard to

proposals to buy property to the west of the park's boundary, Marshall made the improbable

statement that, "Twenty years ago I would have considered such acquisition to be most

desirable." See, also: Richardson Preyer to McDaniel Lewis, 15 March 1976, McDaniel

Lewis Papers, GHM.

15 "Expansion of park pushed," Greensboro Record, 11 March 1976; McDaniel Lewis to

Representative Richardson Preyer, 19 March 1976, McDaniel Lewis Papers, GHM.

16 This evidence was a pit containing amputated human limbs, confirming the site's use as a

hospital, found during excavations at the site in 1974-1975. Trawick Ward and Joffre L. Coe,

Archaeological Excavations At The Site Of Guilford Courthouse, (Chapel Hill: Research

Laboratories of Anthropology, UNC, 1976) pp. 23-24.

17 David Schenck to E.M. Lisle, 2 February 1965, McDaniel Lewis Papers, GHM; E.M.

Lisle, Acting Regional Director to Hon. David Schenck, 22 January 1965, L30, GUCO Files.

18 Eugene D. McKeown to SERO Director, 31 May 1967; Edward S. Peetz, Chief, Office of

Resource Planning, WSC to SERO Director, 16 June 1967, L1425, GUCO Files.

<<< Previous <<< Contents >>> Next >>>

http://www.nps.gov/guco/adhi/adhi11e.htm

Last Updated: 10-Feb-2003
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 12 Endnotes)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi12e.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:47 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

CHAPTER 12:

Endnotes

1 "Master Plan Guilford Courthouse National Military Park North Carolina," National Park

Service, 1969, p. 11.

2 "Master Plan," pp. 11, 27-29, 37. "Adverse night use" and other law enforcement issues are

considered separately. Park lands at this point were held under two jurisdictional

classifications. The original 125-acre tract was classified as an exclusive jurisdiction, and all

subsequent additions were considered proprietorial. The recommended simplification was

accomplished and all park property re-classified as a concurrent jurisdiction by means of

"Memorandum Of Agreement For Concurrent Jurisdiction At National Park Service Units

Within The State Of North Carolina," 27 July 1984, Memoranda of Understanding File, Chief

of Operations Office, GUCO.

3 In 1966 the park began to systematically accumulate visitor statistics at locations other than

the visitor center for the first time in its history. Total park visitation, averaged by decade, in

the period 1966-1975 was 823,483; 1976-1985 was 845,302; and for the nine years 1986-

1994 was 2,431,438. The last figure is indicative of increases wrought by the area's rapid

urban development, and by a change in the multiplier used to compute visitors per vehicle in

the park. A2615, GUCO Files.

4 "Master Plan," pp. 11, 30, 37.

5 Ibid., pp. 11, 21-22.

6 Ibid., pp. 11, 25, 30, 50.

7 "Park Master Plan To Be Shown," Greensboro Record, 13 March 1969. The decision to

build a new visitor center is covered in "Development Concept Plan, Guilford Courthouse

NMP, DSC, 9 May 1974, pp. 1-5. Guilford's inclusion in the Blue Ridge Parkway

Management Group was effective 20 August 1969 to 27 April 1975. Neal G. Guse and Lloyd

Whitt, Officials Of Southeast Region Offices And Parks, National Park Service, December 15

1983 (Atlanta: NPS, 1983) p.14, n. 3. Guilford's earlier association with the Southern

Revolutionary Areas Group had been dissolved in June 1953. Raleigh C. Taylor, Monthly

Narrative, 7 July 1953, File A2823, GUCO.

8 Paul V. Barone to Rep. L. Richardson Preyer, 9 August 1970; L. Richardson Preyer to

Director George B. Hartzog, Jr., 6 October 1970; J. Leonard Norwood, Assistant Director, to

Rep. L. Richardson Preyer, 26 October 1970, L. Richardson Preyer Papers, East Carolina

Manuscript Collection, J.Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University. The date of receipt of

this invitation at Preyer's Washington office was 27 October, the day of the public meeting in

Greensboro.
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 12 Endnotes)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi12e.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:47 PM]

9 "United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Detail of Notable

Construction Projects, Sixth Congressional District, State of North Carolina," (n.d.) L.

Richardson Preyer Papers, ECU; "Park Visitor Center Is Funded," Greensboro Record. 29

January 1973; Guilford Courthouse National Military Park As Constructed Drawings,

Contract Number CX-5000-4-9009, John V. Townsend and Associates, November 1978.

10 The earlier plan to establish a bicycle trail that would run along the restored historic trace

was rejected upon the argument that such use would damage the trace's surface and "be

disturbing to pedestrians there." Memorandum, Director, Office of Archeology and Historic

Preservation to Associate Director, Professional Services, 13 April 1973, Box 2, GUCO,

CRR. The new plan for an eight-foot-wide bicycle trail incorporated into the tour road is

explained in Development Concept Plan, p.7.

11 Personal communication with the author by Willard W. Danielson, 19 June 1994. The

Development Concept Plan draft stated that the Painter Boulevard Project would be

completed within seven years. When this time frame was questioned by the City of

Greensboro, it was revised upward to fifteen years. Denver Service Center, Environmental

Statement FES74-22 Development Concept Plan, Guilford Courthouse National Military

Park, 9 May 1974, pp. 10,51-52.

12 James L. Bainbridge, Acting Director, SER, to Rep. L. Richardson Preyer, 19 July 1974,

Preyer Papers, ECU.

13 L. Richardson Preyer to Director Ronald H. Walker, 27 June 1974; James L. Bainbridge,

Acting Director, SER, to Rep. L. Richardson Preyer, 19 July 1974, Preyer Papers, ECU.

14 Development Concept Plan, pp. 12,19,46-49,51-53. The extent of commuter traffic was

quantified by traffic counts in 1971. New Garden Road averaged 1250 vehicles per day, sixty

per cent (275,000 per year) said to be commuter traffic. In this same period, Old Battleground

Road carried 2400 vehicles per day.

15 Staff members recall that "a pick-up truck load" of old park files and records were hauled

away for disposal at this time. Many gaps in documentation of park history resulted. Personal

communications with the author, Donald J. Long, 27 October 1994; Angela W. Fitzgerald, 27

October 1994.

16 "1.5 Million Bicentennial Development Begins At Guilford Courthouse National Military

Park," NPS News Release, 1 August 1974, L. Richardson Preyer Papers, ECU; Townsend and

Associates, "Guilford Courthouse NMP As Constructed Drawings," November 1978, Sheets

1, 8; Development Concept Plan, p. 10; personal communications by the author with Willard

W. Danielson, 19 August 1994, Donald J. Long, Park Ranger, GUCO, 21 October 1994;

Master Plan, p.18. Construction details are contained in Denver Service Center,

Specifications: Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, Project No. 5170-0114 (NPS:

n.d.), I, II.

17 Master Plan, p.25; Trawick Ward and Joffre L. Coe, Archaeological Excavations at the

Site of Guilford Courthouse (Chapel Hill: Research Laboratories of Anthropology, University

of North Carolina, 1976), pp. 1-3, 11-14, 23-24. Investigators indicated some bewilderment

that an eighteenth century roadbed showed no signs of ruts and was gravel-covered. It should

be noted that this was the same location in which the Webb family had constructed an access

road in 1951. Supra, Ch. 8, n.9.

18 Personal communications by the author with Willard W. Danielson 19 June 1994; Donald

J. Long, 21 October 1994; Angela W. Fitzgerald, Administrative Technician, GUCO, 12

January 1995.
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 12 Endnotes)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi12e.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:47 PM]

19 Willard W. Danielson, Superintendent's Annual Narrative Report, 16 March 1989, A2621

GUCO Files.

<<< Previous <<< Contents >>> Next >>>

http://www.nps.gov/guco/adhi/adhi12.htm

Last Updated: 10-Feb-2003
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 13 Endnotes)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi13e.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:47 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

CHAPTER 13:

Endnotes

1 Willard W. Danielson, Superintendent's Annual Report, 1 February 1979, 18 January 1980,

6 February 1981, A2621, GUCO Files.

2 "Guilford Park: Historic Land Still Contested," Greensboro Record, 23 January 1981; "A

Poor Precedent," editorial, Greensboro Daily News, 7 February 1981.

3 "Land near battleground gets rezoned," Greensboro Record, 2 February 1981; "A Poor

Precedent," editorial, Greensboro Daily News, 7 February 1981; Willard W. Danielson,

Superintendent's Annual Report, 6 February 1981, A2621, GUCO Files.

4 "Land Near Park May Be Rezoned; Fight Is Expected," Greensboro Daily News, 12

February 1981; Willard W. Danielson, Superintendent's Annual Report, 21 January 1982,

A2621, GUCO Files.

5 Personal communication by the author with Willard W. Danielson, 19 June 1994;

Superintendent's Narratives, 26 January 1983, 26 January 1984, A2621, GUCO Files.

6 Willard W. Danielson, Superintendent's Annual Reports, 21 January 1982; 18 January 1985;

7 February 1986, A2621, GUCO Files.

7 John M. Fowler, "The Legal Structure For The Protection Of Archaeological Resources," in

George S. Smith and John E. Ehren hard, Protecting The Past (Boca Raton: CRC Press,

1991) pp.21-25.

8 National Parks for a New Generation: Visions, Realities. Prospects (Washington: The

Conservation Foundation, 1985) pp. 112-117.

9 Willard W. Danielson, Superintendent's Annual Report, 21 January 1982. The author was

the park's Bicentennial Coordinator.

10 Memorandum, "Tactical Demonstration," Black Powder Safety Officer, GUCO, to

Superintendent, GUCO, 10 March 1982, A7615, GUCO Files.

11 Support for the contention that reenactments were being performed at NPS areas is

contained in F.R. Holland, Jr., Associate Director Cultural Resources Management, Staff

Directive 83-1, Historic Battle "Reenactments"/Demonstrations/Weapons Firing, 3 February

1983, "Back Powder Safety," GUCO Files. "Recent activities at some of the National Park

Service areas have led people both inside and outside the Service to believe that the Service

has relaxed its policy concerning historical reenactments on National Park Service lands. The

policy has not changed; battle reenactments in areas administered by the National Park

Service are prohibited." (Emphasis appears in original.)
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 13 Endnotes)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi13e.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:47 PM]

12 Willard W. Danielson, Superintendent's Annual Report, 26 January 1983, 18 January 1985,

7 February 1986, 9 February 1987, 25 February 1988, A2621, GUCO Files; personal

communications by the author with Donald J. Long, Park Ranger and Charles A. Taylor,

Chief of Operations, GUCO.

<<< Previous <<< Contents >>> Next >>>

http://www.nps.gov/guco/adhi/adhi13e.htm

Last Updated: 10-Feb-2003
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 14 Endnotes)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi14e.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:48 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

CHAPTER 14:

Endnotes

1 The 1971 traffic averages cited were 2,400 vehicles per day on Old Battleground and 1,250

per day on New Garden Road prior to its closure. These figures certainly suggest that Old

Battleground was a more significant intrusion on the historic scene. It was not, however, a

historic road. Development Concept Plan, p. 12; Comments - Draft Environmental Impact

Statement - Statement and Draft Section 4(F) Evaluation - Greensboro Western Urban Loop

(Guilford County), Guilford Courthouse NMP, 31 July 1991, GUCO Files L7621.

2 Memorandum, Park Planner, Planning and Compliance Division, SERO, to Chief, Planning

and Compliance Division, SERO, 13 December 1982, Old Battleground Road File, GUCO;

Billy Rose, State Highway Administrator to Robert M. Baker, Director, SERO, 14 February

1983, Old Battleground Road File, GUCO; Memorandum, Billy Rose to T.L. Waters,

Manager, Planning and Research Branch, North Carolina State Highway Commission, 7 July

1983, Old Battleground Road File, GUCO.

3 Memorandum, Willard W. Danielson to Regional Director, SERO, 27 January 1988, Old

Battleground Road File, GUCO; Willard W. Danielson, Superintendent's Annual Report, 16

March 1988, A2621, GUCO Files.

4 "City has plan for northwest traffic problems," Greensboro Daily News, 29 January 1988.

5 Notes of Chief Ranger Charles A. Taylor, GUCO, were recorded as background on a park

transcript of a 1 June 1988 City Council Session, and are retained in Taylor's personal files

regarding this case.

6 Memorandum, Regional Solicitor to Regional Director, SERO, 28 April 1988, L3027,

GUCO Files; Memorandum, Superintendent, GUCO, to Regional Director, SERO, 12 May

1988, L3027, GUCO Files. For details of the State's rather murky claims to "control of the

roadway itself," as opposed to "actual ownership of the right-of way," see Mark M. Boggs,

Thoroughfare Planning Engineer, N.C. Department of Transportation, to Chuck Taylor, Chief

Ranger, GUCO, 27 August 1987 and James B. Richmond, Special Deputy Attorney General,

to Mark M. Boggs, 10 August 1987, Old Battleground Road File, GUCO.

7 This letter expresses regret that a more "cooperative spirit was not demonstrated in this

instance," and requests "prompt notification" of future actions that might affect any of North

Carolina's eight National Parks. Robert M. Baker, Regional Director, to J. E. Harrington,

Secretary N.C. Department of Transportation, 27 May 1988, D30, GUCO Files.

8 Lanny Rhew, Project Engineer, to United States of America, 4 February 1987, Old

Battleground Road File, GUCO; J. M. Dawkins, Director of Public Works, City of

Greensboro, to National Park Service, 18 July 1988, Old Battleground Road File, GUCO;

Willard W. Danielson, Superintendent's Annual Report, 16 March 1989, A2621, GUCO Files.
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 14 Endnotes)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi14e.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:48 PM]

9 "City has plan for northwest traffic problems," Greensboro News and Record, 29 January

1988; J.M. Dawkins, Director of Public Works, City of Greensboro to National Park Service,

18 July 1988, Old Battleground Road File, GUCO.

10 Memorandum, Regional Solicitor, SER, to Director, SER, 14 October 1988, Old

Battleground Road File, GUCO.

11 "Agency suggests razing homes for Lawndale-Battleground link," Greensboro News and

Record, 9 July 1988. Park management attests to this article's accuracy. Personal

communications with the author, Willard W. Danielson and Charles A. Taylor, 19 June 1994.

12 "City council abandons park connector," Greensboro News and Record, 15 July 1988.

Mayor Nussbaum was a park neighbor, propietor of Southern Foods, a sizable frozen foods

wholesaler, located one half mile south of the park on Old Battleground Road. He had been

one of the trio of developers who rejected the Service's offer of $30,000 for the ten acre tract

on the eastern side of Old Battleground.

13 Final clearance for this project, as required by Section 106 of the National Historic

Preservation Act was obtained in Memorandum, Deputy Associate Regional Director,

Cultural Resources, SER, to Superintendent, GUCO, 12 October 1989, H4217, GUCO Files;

Map, Greensboro Country Park, Sheet No. A-123-A, revised 22 May 1992, City of

Greensboro Engineering Department. Recollections of the 23 May 1988 Atlanta conference

were obtained in an interview by the author with Chief Ranger Charles A. Taylor, GUCO, 22

February 1995, and a remarkably candid telephone interview by the author with Roger

Brown, Regional Parks Director, Eugene, Oregon, 22 October 1994.

14 A park produced transcript of this 1 June 1988 Council session is contained in the

personal files of Chief Ranger Charles A. Taylor, GUCO.

15 Personal communication by the author with Charles A. Taylor, Chief of Operations,

GUCO, 13 November 1994; telephone interview by the author with William Sturgeon, Chief,

Division of Lands, SER, 14 November 1994.

<<< Previous <<< Contents >>> Next >>>

http://www.nps.gov/guco/adhi/adhi14e.htm

Last Updated: 10-Feb-2003
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 15)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi15e.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:49 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

CHAPTER 15:

Endnotes

1 Superintendents' Narratives in the period 1946-1953 are a virtual litany of destruction by

vandals. See, for example, Raleigh C. Taylor, Monthly Narratives, 7 August 1946; 23 May

1948; 3 August 1948; 11 September 1948; 5 January 1949; 2 February 1949; 19 January

1952; 5 August 1953, Monthly Narratives File, GUCO. Early damage to the Greene

Monument is documented by a 1940 photograph that clearly shows at least one-third of its

bronze letters have been pried off. This was a recurring problem until modern epoxy glues

were found to be more impervious to vandals. Photograph, "Monuments" Drawer, GUCO

Photographic Archive; personal communication by the author with Willard W. Danielson,

Greensboro, North Carolina, 16 November 1994. The purchase of Residence #2 is covered in

Supra., Ch.9, n.2.

2 Eugene D. McKeown, Superintendent's Monthly Report, 11 May 1966, Superintendents'

Narratives File, GUCO; Oral History interview by the author with William G. Brown, retired

Maintenance Work Leader, GUCO, 26 June 1994, Greensboro, N.C.; Thomas M. Phillips to

Rep. L. Richardson Preyer, 27 March 1980, Preyer Papers, ECU. This letter suggests that the

problems were exacerbated in the Military Park because, unlike municipal ordinances,

Federal regulations did not forbid the public consumption of alcohol.

3 Oral History interview by the author with Mark J. Corey, former Chief Ranger, GUCO, 29

June 1994, Greeneville, Tennessee. Corey candidly admitted that the situation escalated

dangerously before firmer measures were adopted at the suggestion of former Ranger Duncan

H. Hutchinson, GUCO.

4 Superintendent, GUCO, to Chief, Planning and Compliance Division, SER, Comments -

Draft Environmental Impact Statement and Draft 4(F) Evaluation - Greensboro Urban Loop,

L7621, GUCO Files; Supra, Ch.12, n.2.

5 The author of this study, as park Bicentennial Coordinator, negotiated a similar

arrangement with Southern Bell Telephone Company to use a theme-related cover

photograph on its 1981 directory, as a means of publicizing the battle of Guilford

Courthouse's bicentennial. The operative theory was that this publication offered a unique

opportunity to inform the entire community, consciously or subliminally, about the

bicentennial commemoration.

6 Charles A. Taylor, Case Incident Record 890004, 14 July 1989; Duncan A. Hutchinson,

Case Incident Record 890004, 2 November 1989, 10-343 GUCO Files.

7 Wentworth L. Durgin, Executive Director, The Foundation Of Greater Greensboro, to

Fletcher Smith, Greensboro Area Chamber of Commerce, 6 June 1991, Greene Monument

File, GUCO.
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 15)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi15e.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:49 PM]

8 Charles A. Taylor, Acting Superintendent, Superintendent's Annual Report 1989, 23 March

1990, A2621 GUCO Files; Charles C. Blackmon, Proposal Granite Industries Incorporated,

29 June 1990, Greene Monument File, GUCO; Lynn B. Walling, Contracting Officer to

Carroll W. Ogle, et al., 3 May 1991, Greene Monument File, GUCO.

9 Lynn B. Walling to Carroll W. Ogle, et al., 3 May 1991; Chief, Historic Architecture

Division, Southeast Region to Superintendent, GUCO, Task Directive for Repairs to the

Greene Monument, 19 December 1989, Greene Monument File, GUCO.

10 Lynn B. Walling to Carroll W. Ogle, 3 May 1991; Notice Of Award, Lynn B. Walling to

Historical and Restoration Preservation Industries, Inc., 20 February 1990, Nathanael Greene

Monument File, GUCO.

11 Supervisory Exhibit Specialist, Historic Architecture Division, SER, to Superintendent,

GUCO, 12 February 1990, Bi-weekly Field Report, Greene Monument File, GUCO.

12 Lynn B. Walling to Carroll W. Ogle, et al., 3 May 1991; Unit Price Contract thru Invoice

dated 1 March 1990, Historical Restoration and Preservation Industries, Incorporated, 6

March 1990, Greene Monument File, GUCO; personal communication with the author,

Charles A. Taylor, 16 January 1995.

13 Unit Price Contract thru Invoice dated 11 April 1990, HRPI, 19 April 1990; Unit Price

Contract thru Invoice dated 23 May 1990, HRPI, 13 June 1990; Unit Price Contract thru

Invoice dated 2 August 1990, 7 August 1990, Greene Monument File, GUCO.

14 Charles A. Taylor, personal communication with the author, 19 February 1995, GUCO;

Lynn B. Walling to Carroll W. Ogle, 3 May 1991, Nathanael Greene Monument File, GUCO.

15 Chief, Historic Architecture Division, SER, to Associate Regional Director, Operations,

SER, Trip Report - Restoration of Greene Monument, GUCO, 23 October 1990, Nathanael

Greene Monument File, GUCO.

16 See, for example, David Ates, Historical Architect, Message Record of telephone call

from Lacy Vernon, President, NCG, 13 November 1990, Greene Monument File, GUCO.

17 Contract Modification No. 1, Contract No. CX 5000-0-0007. Stone Supply For Repairs Of

The Greene Monument, GUCO, 13 May 1991, Greene Monument File, GUCO.

18 Unit Price Contract Thru Invoice dated 14 November 1990, 23 November 1990; Unit Price

Contract Thru Invoice dated 1 January 1991, 19 February 1991, Greene Monument Files,

GUCO.

19 Chief, Historic Architecture Division, SER, to Associate Regional Director, Operations,

SER, 16 April 1991; Delinquent Performance Report, Contract CX 5000-0-0007, 28 June

1991, Greene Monument File, GUCO.

20 Larry C. Downing, Contracting Officer, to John InDelicato, Historical Restoration and

Preservation, Inc., 24 July 1991, Greene Monument File, GUCO.

21 "Monument's status upsets fund-raiser," Greensboro News and Record, 17 July 1991. 22

"We Want Gen. Greene," Greensboro News and Record, 18 July 1991; "Greensboro

determined to give beloved statue a base to stand on." Atlanta CONSTITUTION, 25 July

1991; "Gen. Greene remains a prisoner," Greensboro News and Record, 16 July 1991.

23 Notice Of Award, Contract Number CX5000-1-0013 for Supply and Fabrication of Stone
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 15)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi15e.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:49 PM]

for Repair of the Greene Monument, 30 August 1991; Contract CX5000-1-0013, Supply and

Fabrication of Stone for Repair of the Greene Monument, 5 September 1991; Notice To

Proceed, Contract CX5000-1-0013, 19 September 1991, Greene Monument File, GUCO.

24 Charles A. Taylor, Acting Superintendent, GUCO, to President, Foundation of Greater

Greensboro, Inc., 17 July 1991, Greene Monument File, GUCO.

25 Record of Expenditures and Obligations, Greene Monument Restoration, 18 April 1991,

Greene Monument File, GUCO.

26 Personal communication with the author, Frank Catroppa, Associate Director for

Administration, SER, 16 September 1993.

27 Mark H. Woods, Superintendent's Annual Narrative Report, 10 March 1993, A2621

GUCO Files.

28 Memorandum, Superintendent, GUCO, to Chief Historic Architect Division, SER, and

Chief, Contracting and Property Management, SER, 6 February 1992.

29 Lynn B. Walling to Carroll W. Ogle, 3 May 1991, Greene Monument File, GUCO.

30 Memorandum, Chief, Historic Architecture Division, SER, to Associate Regional

Director, Operations, SER, n.d., Greene Monument File, GUCO.

31 Chief Ranger's Telephone Logs, 1 March 1987 - 6 September 1990, 6 September 1990 - 30

November 1992, GUCO; personal communication with the author, Charles A. Taylor, 6

February 1995.

<<< Previous <<< Contents >>> Next >>>

http://www.nps.gov/guco/adhi/adhi15.htm

Last Updated: 10-Feb-2003
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 16)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi16e.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:50 PM]

Guilford Courthouse

Administrative History

CHAPTER 16:

Endnotes

1 "Activities Outside Park Borders Have Caused Damage To Resources and Will Likely

Cause More," (Washington: General Accounting Office, 1994), pp.1-12.

2 Mark H. Woods, Superintendent's Annual Narrative Report, 12 March 1992, 10 March

1993, 7 March 1994, A2621 GUCO Files.

3 The Management Objectives include the following: "Interpretation and Education. Ensure

that adequate information is available to all visitors so that they may develop an

understanding of the significance of the battle of Guilford Courthouse and the need to

preserve the battlefield." Cultural/Natural Resources Preservation. To manage the landscape

to reflect the setting at each of the three lines of battle and site of the courthouse; and to

protect and preserve commemorative elements including monuments, graves, and historic

features. Visitor Experience. To promote and preserve a historical and tranquil environment

conducive to the education of the public/visitor and their appreciation of the battle of

Guilford Courthouse and Guilford Courthouse NMP. On/Off Site Circulation Provide for a

system that effectively directs visitors to the Park, promotes the movement of visitors

within/through the Park in a manner that is compatible with Park objectives, and provides all

visitors the opportunity to experience the historical points of interest at Guilford Courthouse

NMP. Partnerships. Foster cooperative relationships with other agencies, organizations, and

Park neighbors to promote expansion of outreach, maintain compatibility with area park

systems, and maintain park status as an effective member of the neighborhood. Recreational

Uses. To provide for the continued varied uses of Guilford Courthouse NMP by all visitors

provided they do not conflict with other Management Objectives." "Management Objectives,"

The First Line, A Newsletter for Amending the Master Plan of Guilford Courthouse NMP,

Number 1, Spring 1995, p. 2.

4 NPS, "Visitor Use Survey, Guilford Courthouse NMP," March 1, 1995. pp. 2-14.

5 The Bicentennial Greenway is a County-sponsored project, part of the "Rails To Trails"

movement, that would construct a paved sixteen-mile path for pedestrians and bicyclists

between Jamestown, North Carolina and GUCO. As originally drawn the greenway would

bisect the park parallel to the line of Old Battleground Road, fifty yards west of the American

second battle line, an area that was heavily forested in 1781. Personal communication by the

author with Supt. Mark H. Woods, GUCO, 12 March 1995; The First Line, A Newsletter for

Amending the Master Plan of Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, Number 1, Spring

1995, p. 3

6 The First Line, p. 3.

7 "Park officials suggest closing part of Old Battleground," Greensboro News and Record, 1

March 1995.
Guilford Courthouse NMP: Administrative History (Chapter 16)

http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/guco/adhi/adhi16e.htm[2/26/2014 4:42:50 PM]

<<< Previous <<< Contents >>>

http://www.nps.gov/guco/adhi/adhi16e.htm

Last Updated: 10-Feb-2003