Historic Buildings

Housing History
History is not just in our name, it’s in our very walls.

At the Greensboro Historical Museum, even the walls have stories! If you listen, they will yield the secrets of life in another time. The museum’s downtown campus includes a landmark National Register Building and four restored buildings from centuries past.

Over 100 years ago our main building began its life as the home of First Presbyterian Church, making it one of our city’s oldest public buildings. Its delectable Richardsonian Romanesque architecture combined with its undeniable significance to the city’s history earned it a listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

Stone lined paths and comfortable benches in the garden-like setting of the First Presbyterian’s historic cemetery, located behind the main building, contains the graves of many prominent early residents of Greensboro, including former Governor John Motley Morehead. Graves graced with memorial flowers date from 1831 to 1926, commemorating veterans of the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War and the Civil War.

In Mary Lynn Richardson Park, see sculpture and stroll the walkways around the Francis McNairy House, originally located near today’s Guilford Courthouse National Military Park. Inside, discover furnishings and decorative arts from the late 1700s and early 1800s. Built as a log house, it now looks much as it would have in the 1820s, when the family renovated their home and added clapboard siding.

The Hockett Blacksmith and Woodworking Shops were once part of a flourishing family farm south of Greensboro. Open for scheduled tours and during special events, the buildings serve up a helping of historic crafts that were essential to and every community.

The Isley House, likely built in the late 1700s and moved to the museum park from eastern Guilford County, was home to Christian and Mary Isley and their thirteen children. It is closed pending structural repairs.