The Council of Independent Colleges: Historic Campus Architecture Project

College Woods

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Institution Name: Guilford College
Original/Historic Place Name: New Garden
Location on Campus:
Date(s) of Construction:

ca. 1830

New Garden Boarding School (later rechartered as Guilford College) acquired in the 1830s tracts of land now comprising the Guilford College Woods

Designer:
Type of Place: Landscape site
Style: (Glossary)
Significance: education
Narrative: see below
References: see below

Function:

ca. 1830-1943	outdoor space (undisturbed forest, parts used as college farm)
ca. 1943-present (2006)	outdoor space (used for recreation and study)

Narrative:
Approximately 220 acres, the Guilford College woods is comprised of mature forest, newer growth on old college farmland, and meadows. Horsepen Creek flows through the woods, and a portion of it has been dammed to create a lake which separates the wood from more developed areas of the campus. The land is a learning laboratory for current students of the sciences and history and was used in the past to teach students surveying, biology, and agricultural methods. Slaves hid in the woods in the ante-bellum period, as they found assistance from local participants in the Underground Railroad. The woods also hid young men attempting to escape service in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. Earlier in their history, the woods served as forest hunting grounds for Native tribes and sections of the land have remained relatively undisturbed since that time.

References:

Appenzeller, Herb. Pride in the Past: Guilford Athletics, 1837-1987. Greensboro, NC: Quaker Club, Guilford College, 1987.

Godwin, Gayle H. et al. Girls Are of Infinite Importance: Life in Mary Hobbs Hall at Guilford College. Greensboro, NC: Fisher-Harrison, 1977.

Guilford College. National Register of Historic Places designation report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior/National Park Service, 1990.

"Guilford College Proposal for Campus Heritage Initiative, The Getty Foundation." [Guilford, NC: Guilford College], 2003.

North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office. Guilford College Historic District (Boundary Decrease). National Register of Historic Places designation report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior/National Park Service, 2001.

Stoesen, Alexander R. Guilford College on the Strength of 150 Years. Greensboro, NC: Board of Trustees, Guilford College, 1987.

Thorne, Dorothy Lloyd Gilbert. Guilford: A Quaker College. Greensboro, NC: J. J. Stone and Company, 1937.