Greensboro's Treasured Places

May is National Historic Preservation Month

Beginning next week, Preservation Greensboro Incorporated will celebrate the Gate City’s architecture and history through a variety of activities including neighborhood walking tours, free tours of historic Blandwood Mansion, a tour of Green Hill Cemetery and the beginning of the Bicentennial archeological dig on the grounds of Blandwood.

Greensboro will join thousands of individuals around the country in a nationwide celebration of 2008 National Preservation Month in May 2008. Orchestrated by by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Washington, DC, this year's theme of the month-long celebration is “This Place Matters”.

Since the National Trust began celebrating historic preservation in 1971 to spotlight grassroots efforts in America, it has grown into an annual celebration. Preservation Greensboro has been celebrating Historic Preservation Month since the 1980s.

The following is a schedule of activities presented by Preservation Greensboro:

Wednesdays in May, 11am-2pm: FREE Tours of Blandwood Mansion: Tour Preservation Greensboro’s flagship house museum and see the restored main building and the two reconstructed dependencies, the law office and the kitchen of the home of former NC Governor John Motley Morehead.

Sunday, May 11, 2pm: “The Plants and the Planted”, $5. Tour historic Green Hill Cemetery and here about Greensboro’s famous citizens and the rich landscaping that surrounds them. Meet at the southern most gate on Wharton Street. Tour lasts about 1 ½ - 2 hours. Proceeds benefit Greensboro Parks and Recreation Cemetery Division.

Walking Wednesdays, 7pm, FREE Guided Tours of Greensboro’s Historic Neighborhoods:

April 30, Fisher Park: Meet at 7pm on the steps of Temple Emmanuel, North Greene and Florence Streets. Learn about homes designed by the city’s best architects during this tour of former swampland.

May 7, Westerwood: Meet at 7pm at Double Oaks, 204 North Mendenhall Street. Explore Greensboro’s early “back to nature” neighborhood, promoted as a place where residents were “Close to the Heart of Nature and to Greensboro!”

May 14, Downtown Greensboro: Meet at 7pm at the green bean, 341 South Elm Street. Find out why architectural historians consider Greensboro to be the best-preserved “big city” downtown in the state, with a special focus on modernism.

May 21, Historic Aycock: Meet at 7pm on the front steps of Aycock Middle School, 811 Cypress Street. Come learn abut the neighborhood that features a castle among other wide-ranging styles.

May 28, College Hill: Meet at 7pm at Tate Street Coffee House, 334 Tate Street. Learn how Greensboro’s first neighborhood blends quaint architecture with big-city amenities to create an energetic vibe.

May 26 – June 20: Bicentennial Archeological Dig at Blandwood, UNCG Field School. Funded by the History Committee of the Greensboro Bicentennial Commission, an archeological dig will be run as a field school by Dr. Linda Stine, Department of Anthropology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The work will examine the back quadrant of the Blandwood property, bordered by McGee and Edgeworth Streets. Daily digging will occur Monday-Friday from 8:30am-2:30pm. Two Family Days are scheduled for June 7 and 14, 9am-12pm. Volunteers are invited to come and see how archeologists work. Please contact Dr. Linda Stine, 336-685-5996 for additional information on the dig.

Contact Preservation Greensboro for more information.

A Weekend with the Moreheads

The fantasy of the theater was blended with the reality of history this past weekend at Blandwood Mansion, where five intrepid and talented actors portrayed members of the Morehead’s extended family as part of Greensboro’s Bicentennial Heritage Festival. Over 200 visitors were able to get a glimpse of the lives of the Morehead’s on the days of April 12th and 13th of 1865. This was a weighty period in Greensboro’s past, as the power of the Confederate government was crumbling in the city and citizens anxiously awaited the arrival of Union troops.

In Blandwood’s vignettes, four scenes were portrayed to provide insights on the concerns and apprehensions of the historical characters. Actors Alison Walls and Lori Leigh played Emma Morehead Gray and her best friend Mary, both Edgeworth Female Seminary graduates. The women were concerned over their husband’s safety in battle, the number of wounded soldiers scattered throughout town, and whether the normalcy of pre-War years would return to Greensboro.

Eloise Hassell took on the role of Mrs. Morehead (image, upper right). Pacing about in her bedroom, the lady of the house fretted over her sons’ safety in battle, dwindling food rations, and overall uncertainties related to the future due to War. In his nearby law office, the former governor John Motley Morehead was portrayed by Dale J. Metz. Morehead pondered the wisdom of initiating the Civil War, the financial challenges that faced his beloved state of North Carolina, and the mounting casualties of a hopeless War.

Actor Mary L. Stevens took a contrasting perspective in the kitchen in carrying the role of the Morehead’s enslaved cook Hannah (image, lower right). Historical records indicate that the Morehead’s relied on Hannah for her resourcefulness in keeping the family well-fed, all the time anticipating the arrival of Union soldiers who might bring about change to the oppressive institution of slavery.

We are most grateful to Alison, Lori, Eloise, Dale, and Mary for bringing the Morehead’s to life. Participants enjoyed their heartfelt performances that were based on historical documentation from the period. Their professionalism and dedication to their craft was apparent throughout the long weekend!

History and art, when brought together, make a powerful combination.

Future-Perfect-in-Past-Tense: Reclaiming the Historic Warnersville Neighborhood

Future-Perfect-in-Past-Tense grammatical terms were once the topic of discussion in the classrooms of Warnersville’s J. C. Price Elementary School, but today, the term describes a new direction planned by residents of the historically black neighborhood.

Warnersville’s roots are deeply planted in Greensboro’s soil. Yardley Warner, for whom the settlement was named, was a Quaker missionary from Philadelphia who visited the South in the closing days of the Civil War. Alarmed at the plight of blacks in the region, he sought to enhance opportunities for African Americans freed from slavery and after traveling the American South, he found a home in Greensboro among other Quakers who were sympathetic to his ministry.

In 1867, Warner purchased 35 ½ acres of land on behalf of a Quaker aid organization from Philadelphia, and subdivided the property into one acre lots. Each acre was capable of supporting a large family, and lots were sold to families that could build equity and financial independence through home ownership. Soon, a community of 600 people featured tidy frame houses with garden plots (image, right), a school, a church, and the Union Cemetery on South Elm Street.

The self-sufficient community became a model for similar settlements in the region. Warnersville, in essence, became Greensboro’s first suburban community – predating other subdivisions by 20 years. Warnersville’s school grew to become Bennett College for Women. Residents became community leaders, most notably Harmon Unthank, a freed man employed as a carpenter at a local wagon wheel factory who grew to become Director of the People’s Savings Bank (believed to be North Carolina’s first mutual savings institution).

The community remained strong through the 1920s, when the J. C. Price School was erected and named in honor of Dr. Joseph Charles Price (1854-1893), the son of a slave who served as a minister, lecturer, and founder and president of Livingstone College in Salisbury. However, by the 1950s, the absentee landlords who owned much of the neighborhood had not improved housing to modern standards.

In the meantime, Greensboro instituted the first urban renewal program in the state with the intent of ridding the Gate City of vacant and substandard housing. The Warnersville neighborhood was promptly identified as an area of blight, and in 1965 the city moved to “renew” the neighborhood by rebuilding it to modern standards (map, right). This renewal project, funded by the federal government, was the first of its kind in North Carolina. The reconstruction process was so thorough that only the J. C. Price School and the Union Cemetery survived destruction. In place of the original frame houses and stores were widened avenues, suburban-style ranch houses, and garden apartments and townhomes.

Today, residents of Warnersville struggle with articulating their neighborhood’s deep history with a lack of historic structures. Unlike nearby College Hill and Southside, the neighborhood has only two community landmarks to show for their notable past.

The solution may lie in blending the neighborhood’s past with Greensboro’s future. As the Gate City begins to cultivate its reputation as a creative city with investment in the arts, opportunities exist to define the historic Warnersville using art. Portland, Oregon’s Pearl District has used art to enhance its neighborhood character, exemplified in the colorful totems that cover of the Portland Streetcar poles adjacent to Jameson Square (image, lower right). Warnersville could do the same using its history of artisan residents as a theme to unite the whole.

Neighborhood organizers Angela Harris and James Griffin describe other initiatives to expand awareness of Warnersville history. These include historical narratives that will be placed along the planned Downtown Greenway adjacent to the neighborhood.

Warnersville’s history may be largely destroyed, but spirit and enthusiasm for the neighborhood remain strong. With creative planning, the detriment of losing a community’s history may be countered with opportunity for interpretive expressions of the past. The historic neighborhood is sure to maintain a strong position as a defining neighborhood in the Gate City.

Secrets of the Greensboro Masonic Temple

Masons have had a presence in Greensboro since shortly after the city’s founding, but few know about the history and architecture behind the façade of the fraternal organization’s impressive Temple at 426 West Market Street.

The Masons that call this Temple home have deep roots in our community, having been chartered on March 1, 1821 as the Greensborough Lodge # 76 - roughly indicating its place in the sequence of lodges established in North Carolina. The organization has had notable influence in the community, claiming members such as hotelier Christopher Moring, industrialist Henry Humphreys, attorney and Mayor Cyrus Mendenhall, businessman Julian Price. The organization assisted in laying cornerstones for many landmark properties in Greensboro, including Greensboro College’s main building (August 20, 1843), the 1858 Guilford County Courthouse, the McIver Memorial Building at UNC-G (May 25, 1908), the First Presbyterian Church on (Dec 23, 1890), and the Guilford County Courthouse (May 22, 1918). They also dedicated the cornerstones of the Masonic & Eastern Star Home on Holden Road (Jan 1912), and their own Greensboro Masonic Temple on March 20, 1928.

As a prominent organization in the Gate City, the Masons set high standards for their own lodge. Greensboro architect John B. Crawford was hired to develop several schemes and James Fanning was selected as the project’s General Contractor. The monumental, stone façade is evocative of a Grecian temple, complete with fluted engaged columns topped by curled Ionic capitals, a Greek-key stylobate, a triangular pediment topped by an anthemion (Greek term for “flower”). Upon the entablature is inscribed eis doxan theou "for the glory of God."

Behind the impressive public façade is a highly ceremonial interior laden with symbolism and ritual. Stylized blue flowers on the floor of the entry symbolize Forget-Me-Nots, a flower representative of Masonic oppression in Germany during the Second World War. An antechamber ritually displays the charters of the five local lodges and other organizations that meet in the building.

The main meeting chamber or Lodge is arranged along the lines of a traditional Masonic Hall (see diagram and third image), with the chair for the commanding Worshipful Master placed on the eastern wall three steps above the floor. To the west is the second-in-command Senior Warden, whose chair sits two steps above the floor. On the south wall, backed by three symbolic pilasters, is the third-in-command Junior Warden, who sits just one step above the floor. Other officers have ritual positions throughout the chamber that reflect their duties and hierarchy within the organization.

Above the meeting chamber is the Scottish Rite Room (fourth image), a palatial space flanked by theater-style seats and centered upon an elaborate stage. The polychromatic room takes an Egyptian theme, with sphinxes guarding the stage, and high columns topped by papyrus capitals. The Rite is an appendant body of freemasonry that used the room for theatrical productions that represent themes of history and morality.

The Masons enjoy a rich history that teaches personal responsibility for betterment in the world. In their belief, each man, woman and child can do something to help others and to make things a little better. Their efforts range from financial support of area children's hospitals to individual aid for disadvantaged elders. Masons never solicit membership, so you will never be asked to join. Their motto “To be one, ask one” encourages each individual to follow their own leading to become a member.

Today’s Masons are no longer cloaked in the secrecy that might have been associated with their organization in the past. In fact, if you would like to explore the secrets of the Greensboro Masonic Temple on your own, you may do so during the Bicentennial Heritage Festival on April 12-13. On that day, the Temple will be open to the public. Though other impressive temples have been destroyed, such as the 1918 Egyptian Revival Charlotte Masonic Temple, Greensboro is fortunate to have one of the most impressive Masonic Temples in the state of North Carolina. Great preservation practices in the Gate City allow citizens here to visit places long lost in other North Carolina cities, and that’s something to celebrate during our Bicentennial.

Lost Greensboro: The Benbow House Hotel

In the economic devastation that followed the Civil War, Greensborough’s reputation as a city of comfortable hotel accommodations was badly bruised. Earlier fine hotels such as the Southern Hotel on West Street and the Planter Hotel on East Street were becoming worn and did not meet the improved standards set by wealthy northern industrial and port cities.

In recognizing the diminished state of Gate City hostelries, Dr. D. W. C. Benbow erected Benbow House one block south of Court House Square on South Street (South Elm Street). The hotel was built at a cost of $40,000, a lofty sum during the Reconstruction Era. The Benbow opened with great fanfare in late May 1871, featuring a dedication speech by former New York Governor David Hill, and former North Carolina Governor Zebulon Vance being the first to register as a guest.

The building was an architectural masterpiece of French-inspired Second Empire style, featuring tall windows popularized in Paris and a diamond-patterned slate mansard roof enclosing the uppermost floor. Classical brick quoins at the corners of the building, balustrades and balconies centered above the front door, a wide modillion cornice, and a chorus line of dormer windows completed the continental European design.

When the hotel opened, an early guest from New York was disheartened to learn that no rooms had private baths. No worries! Upon discovering this inconvenience, he visited Odell Hardware on South Street and purchased a tin bathtub there for $2.50. He returned to his hotel room with his newly purchased tub with the honor of the occupying Greensboro’s first hotel room with a private bath!

Tragically, the Benbow House hotel burned (with no loss of life) at noon on June 17, 1899. By nightfall, only the tall brick walls remained of Greensboro’s prominent hotel. The ruin was purchased by B. H. Merrimon, his wife Nellie S. Merrimon and E. P. Wharton and rebuilt at a cost of $80,000. The facility was rechristened the Hotel Guilford. The new building was even more grand than the original, complete with Wilton carpets, marble floors, and – and private baths! The Hotel Guilford was destroyed around 1930 and replaced with a building occupied by F. W. Woolworths…today under development of the International Civil Rights Museum on South Elm Street.

The Secrets of Kirkwood

Long before Kirkwood became a neighborhood of tidy post-War housing, the area featured scattered semi-rural farms and estates with notable homes and varied recreation areas.

Development of neighborhoods north of Cornwallis Drive began during the roaring 20s, and fed off the success of Irving Park to the south. One by one, small family farms were developed as subdivisions, including the Kirkpatrick farm in 1928. The Kirkpatrick farm became Kirkwood, featuring patriotic names such as Liberty, Independence, and Colonial given to gridded streets with deep lots. A similar cluster of gridded streets was platted to the southwest - composed of streets with bucolic names such as Lawndale, Fernwood, Dellwood, and Fairfield (image, upper right).

Both neighborhoods had little chance for development before the stock market crash of 1929. For over a decade, streets remained largely undeveloped. Interspersed among the unbuilt lots were notable houses constructed just before the Great Depression began. Among these houses was the home of Lucille and Joseph Holt, located at 2000 Dellwood Drive.

The Holt House (image, right) was built in 1927-28, by Alabama native Joseph Holt and his first wife Lucille. Holt is remembered for his leadership in Home Federal Bank; Lucille is remembered for her petite form and flaming red hair. Both Holts were well connected to Greensboro’s social scene in the late 1920s and 1930s, hosting elaborate parties in a log cabin on the grounds of their home that were followed by dancing into the night.

As Alabama natives, the Holts asked Greensboro architect Harry Simmonds to design a residence evocative of the Gorgas House on the University of Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa (image, right). The original Gorgas House was built in 1828 as a dining hall for students. In the 1840s it was converted into a faculty residence, and after the Civil War it became the home of Josiah Gorgas, a Confederate general and seventh president of the University. The house was designed by architect William Nichols, who also won commissions in the Raleigh area. Greensboro's Holt House replicated the delicate descending stairs, portico, and symmetrical facade of the original Gorgas House.

With its period style, the two-story Holt House is illustrative of growing interest in historic preservation and early American architecture in the 1920s. As the Holt House was being erected, conservation efforts were just beginning to gain momentum in Williamsburg, VA and Charleston, SC. In addition to the recreated Gorgas House design, the Holts acquired architectural elements from throughout the Old South to compliment their project. Wrought iron elements found on the front and rear verandas were purchased from historic homes being destroyed in Baltimore, MD. Doors used in the house were found in Richmond, VA. Historic sites in Alabama supplied the salvaged fountain in the yard and fireplace mantles.

The grounds of the Holt’s home were equally sumptuous, incorporating an entire block of the new subdivision. The Holts preserved the mature oaks and poplars on the property, and beneath the trees they planted extensive azalea gardens. A stream was impounded to create a pond and swimming hole. To the rear of the property, a rustic-style log house was erected for lavish dinner parties and late-night dances.

Happy times ended with the passing of Lucille Holt around 1950. Holt remarried, this time to Emmaline (married nine times, he was number seven!). Joseph Holt passed away in the late 1960s, and Emmaline moved to Florida.

In 1966, the home and grounds were purchased by Laura Dean and Lawton Gresham, who selected Clyde Elrod to orchestrate renovations of the house. As a seasoned building contractor, Elrod knew the significance of the site, and guided the Greshams in preserving the most important attributes of the property. Today, the house looks much as it did when they purchased the property over forty years ago.

With their growing appreciation for historic preservation, the Greshams soon embarked upon a new project for the grounds of the historic Holt Home. Visiting downtown Greensboro in 1976, they became aware of the destruction of the old Major Stedman House on McGee Street for today’s Weaver Center. The grounds of the Stedman House contained a small cottage that dated to 1870. The cottage was said to have been built for Major Stedman’s aged manservant, who was too respected to be turned out upon being awarded his freedom after the Civil War. The cottage had been used as a tea and lunch room in the 1960s by preservationist Helen Miller. The Greshams acquired the Stedman Cottage and saved it from the bulldozers by relocating the Victorian structure to their Dellwood property. There, it was preserved as a guest cottage.

The Holt House and Stedman Cottage remain well-preserved landmarks in today’s Kirkwood neighborhood. Both remain benchmarks in Greensboro’s preservation movement and represent local examples of national trends in conservation. The property is an important reminder that all neighborhoods contain history that is more than skin deep. Our challenge as a city is to understand the significance of these historic sites before they are lost to bulldozers and redevelopment. Kirkwood, it seems, is home to one of Greensboro’s most treasured places.

More Clues Revealed in Albright House History

For those driving on Friendly Avenue in west Greensboro, it is clear that work is underway on one of Greensboro’s most highly anticipated restoration projects.

Recent insights on the history of the Albright House have been confirmed by the removal of aluminum siding and interior plaster – part of the scope of work currently being completed. Evidence continued to suggest the home was constructed around 1850, and research work currently underway through a UNCG historic preservation class will likely fill in more gaps in the historical narrative.

With removal of the aluminum siding, the decorative rafter tails – previously only glimpsed through a gap – are now open to sunshine (image, upper right). The rafter tails were a direct influence of Greensboro’s own Blandwood Mansion, whose Italianate details directed a national movement of architecture style. Interestingly, the rafters are not structural. Instead, they are applied beneath the structural rafters solely as a decorative feature.

Inside the house, the wooden sheathing used for ceiling boards in the east parlor are now exposed in the entry hall and beneath the stairs (image, center right). These wide boards are hand planed and affixed to wall studs and ceiling joists using c. 1850s period cut nails. They likely hold information on some original paint colors used in the house before the Civil War.

Structural members such as studs and joists all feature sash saw marks. Sash saws were most often water powered here in the Carolina Piedmont, and their use was quickly supplanted by steam-powered circular saws with the arrival of the Great Fayetteville and Western Plank Road through High Point in 1852. Sash saw marks are a rare treat among preservationists here in Guilford County!

Amid the many features that merely confirm previous findings, one important new find has been identified in relation to the original façade of the house. A notch cut into the front-facing wall studs has revealed the location of the ledger-strip on which the front porch roof rested. The ledger extended across the middle of
the front façade, terminating just inside the existing windows (image, lower right). This clue supports the theory that this house once looked very similar to the Walker-Scarborough House on McGee Street in College Hill. The grand, two-story Tuscan portico currently gracing the house was possibly added in the twentieth century in a lavish “updates” of the home.

The discovery of a previously unidentified nineteenth century home in Greensboro is an unusual gift to the city for its 200th birthday! The Junior League is not taking their newfound treasure lightly as they embark on a thorough restoration of the landmark for their new headquarters. With its historic materials and features recorded, more information will likely be uncovered by historical research. Keep up with new information on the (re)discovery of the Albright House right here!

It’s All About Greensboro: Evolution of a City

Ever wondered about Greensboro’s earliest neighborhoods? Can you identify Greensboro’s primary architectural styles?

Gayle Fripp, Greensboro historian and author, and I will join forces to help present an exploration of Greensboro’s nineteenth-century neighborhoods this Sunday, March 16 at 2:30 p.m. in Preyer Hall at the Greensboro Historical Museum. The evolution of Greensboro’s neighborhoods is a defining element in the character and personality of the Gate City. Greensboro draws its strength from being a city of neighborhoods, each with distinctive elements that add character to our city.

Gayle, whom the County Commissioners honored with the title County Historian in the 1970s, is the former Curator of Education at the Greensboro Historical Museum. She has authored several books on Greensboro history, including her landmark effort “Greensboro” A Chosen Center” published in 2001. She will lead an insightful overview of the development of the city, touching on turning-points of antebellum life, industrialization, and growth through the early twentieth century.

I will follow Gayle’s historical review with a primer on Greensboro’s architectural history. I will cover styles of early Greensboro, illustrated by landmark properties such as the 1820 Paisley House and the 1847 Bumpass –Troy House, through the Period Revival styles exemplified by the 1929 Tudor-style Sebastian House (upper-right) and 1927 Spanish Colonial Barton House (lower-right). I hope to establish a new way for residents to view their hometown neighborhoods, with an eye towards identifying architectural styles and the context.

Gayle and I will be joined by neighborhood representatives who will share their thoughts about the unique character of their own area of town. Representatives from all four nineteenth-century neighborhoods will be present to discuss the features that make their locale special.

Tickets: FREE Admission and FREE Parking
Info: (336)-373-2971

Greensboro Historical Museum
130 Summit Ave. Greensboro, NC 27401

UPDATE 3/14/08: This event is fully booked! Maybe we can offer it again sometime soon!

Exclusive Biltmore Tour Scheduled for May 6th

Preservation Greensboro Incorporated is pleased to announce its Tours of Historic Treasures schedule for the spring of 2008. The program is designed to offer a full spectrum of “behind the scenes” tours of landmark sites and historic districts in and around Greensboro and North Carolina. These tours will help answer those aching questions such as ‘I wonder what the history of this neighborhood is?’ or ‘I wonder what the inside of that house is like?' You will open doors to parts of Biltmore house that perhaps you never dreamed of exploring.

The first destination for 2008 is the famed Biltmore House in Asheville, scheduled for Wednesday, May 6. In addition to the house audio tour, a Museum Services staff member will personally guide Preservation Greensboro’s guests in a behind-the-scenes tour of the Louis XV Suite, presently under restoration. The suite is on the second floor of the southwest tower, with spectacular mountain vistas. Intact Louis XV-style furnishings were favorites of the family, while the hand-painted ceramic tile Tyrolean mantel incorporates souvenirs collected by George Vanderbilt. As a bonus, horticultural staff will provide special commentary on Biltmore’s famed gardens decked out in beautiful spring splendor. A three-course meal is provided at Deer Park Restaurant, located on Biltmore property. Comfortable motor coach transportation is included. Cost of the day long excursion is $155, and reservations may be made by calling Judith Kastner, Executive Assistant of Preservation Greensboro at (336) 272-5003. Checks should be made out to PGI, P. O. Box 13136, Greensboro, NC 27415. Reservations must be made by April 1, 2008.

The focus of Preservation Greensboro is in saving our community’s historic and architectural treasures, this tour comes from our unique perspective, focusing on architecture, design, and history of place. Our guests can gain insights on the past by looking at cues in the architecture of a landmark such as Biltmore. Preservation Greensboro has been working to save Greensboro landmarks for over 40 years, and we are positioned to give interesting tours that reveal the depth and history of Greensboro and the surrounding communities. We think you will have a great time.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008 Schedule

8:30 a.m. Departure from Greensboro

11:30 a.m. Arrive at Group Sales Office/Entrance to Biltmore Estate to pick up admission tickets

11:45 a.m. - 1:00 pm Lunch at Deerpark Restaurant

1:00 pm Travel to Biltmore House

1:30 - 3:00 pm Audio tour of Biltmore House

3:00 -3:30 pm Break

3:30 p.m. Meet your behind the scenes guide at Front Door of Biltmore House (if group is larger than 20, we will have to divide the group into sub groups)

3:30 - 4:15 pm Guided tour of Louis XV Suite in process of restoration

4:15 - 4:30 pm Break

4:30 -5:45 pm Guided Garden Walk; Your tour begins at the famous Hunt Fountain, named for architect Richard Morris Hunt, and ends in the Walled Garden.

5:45 pm Return departure for Greensboro.

Trip Package of $155.00 includes:

Elegant seasonal three-course lunch at the Deerpark Restaurant
An Audio Tour of the House
A special museum services tour of the Louis XV Suite presently under restoration.
A guided tour of the beautiful Biltmore Gardens in full spring bloom
A comfortable state-of-the-art motor coach with restroom facilities

UPDATE 4/4/08: We are no longer taking reservations for this tour. Thank you for your interest!

Green Strategies for Historic Buildings

Can we give new meaning to the name Greensboro?

In April, Preservation Greensboro will host the National Preservation Institute's workshop on combining efforts of green design with historic preservation. The session, entitled "Green Strategies for Historic Buildings" will be led by Boston architect Jean Carroon, AIA, LEED, principal of preservation at Goody Clancy.

The April 10, day-long workshop will qualify for 6 learning units in the American Institute of Architects Continuing Education System. This is the first such workshop of its kind in North Carolina.

The seminar will review practical applications of using green building strategies for historic structures. The environmental goal of "reduce, reuse, recycle" can enhance the cost competitiveness of preservation projects. Participants will review the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards used to assess building performance. They will also focus on preservation challenges relating to energy efficiency, windows, lighting, indoor air quality, HVAC, and local and national codes and regulations.

Tuition is charged for the seminar that will take place in the Blandwood Carriage House at 447 West Washington Drive. For additional information including the seminar description, agenda, and registration material, please visit the NPI Website or contact the National Preservation Institute at Telephone: 703.765.0100 or email.

Greensboro is gaining ground in efforts to grow more environmentally responsible. Historic preservation is an important part of building recycling, and this event is sure to reveal valuable information in putting the GREEN in Greensboro.