Guilford Courthouse National Military Park

Alexander Leslie

Banastre Tarleton

Charles Cornwallis

Isaac Huger

Nathanael Greene

The Guilford Courthouse National Military Park landscape encompasses the core of the battlefield where the armies of General Charles, Earl Cornwallis and General Nathanael Greene met on March 15, 1781 in one of the major Southern Campaign battles of the Revolutionary War. It is also significant for preservation and commemoration efforts beginning in the late 1800s that influenced acquisition and design of the site.

GUCO News Release

Each park-specific page in the NPS Geodiversity Atlas provides basic information on the significant geologic features and processes occurring in the park. Links to products from Baseline Geologic and Soil Resources Inventories provide access to maps and reports.

Painting of 1869 by artist John Collins showing the Society of Friends Meeting House at New Garden, Guilford County, North Carolina. The Quakers had settled at New Garden by the 1740s.

Southeastern national parks inspire millions of visitors each year as places to recreate and learn about the region’s culture and history, contributing to local economies. Yet alone, these parks cannot take care of themselves. Preserving parks for the public’s long-term enjoyment requires careful stewardship, active management, along with sound scientific understanding. This is achieved through NPS’s long-term vegetation monitoring programs.

NPS scientists and staff work together to protect park vegetation and the ecosystems it supports. From prescribed burns in pine savannas to invasive species removal in coastal forests, many management actions begin with one thing: science-based knowledge of what’s changing and why. To facilitate understanding, scientists from the NPS Inventory & Monitoring (I&M) Division conduct long-term vegetation monitoring in more than 40 parks across the Southeast.

Long-term monitoring of plant community condition supports the National Park Service mission to preserve natural resources unimpaired for future generations. By detecting ecological trends and stressors—such as invasive species expansion, habitat degradation, and climate-induced shifts—scientists provide park managers with actionable data to guide adaptive management and maintain ecosystem resilience.

Explore the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution with this Junior Ranger program that features five units of the National Park Service!