If you are looking to spend time in North Carolina you might want to consider Greensboro, its third largest city, as a place to have some fun and rest your weary bones. Greensboro has a lot to offer the casual traveler, and we will be highlighting some of those features in this particular article.
As many history buffs undoubtedly know, Greensboro was the site of the 1960 Woolworths lunch counter sit-in. On February 1st of that year four black students from the nearby North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College entered the Woolworths department store in downtown Greensboro and refused to leave until they were served. At that time in the southern United States the population was segregated and it was not common for blacks to be denied service at lunch counters. As time went on others joined in and after months of not knowing what to do, Woolworths gave in and desegregated. This victory was a great plus for the fledgling Civil Rights movement.
If you are into the Arts Greensboro has a lot to offer you.
For example, the Eastern Music Festival brings more than 100 summer performances. They range from chamber music to symphonic works to recitals. They also host the Fringe Festival which showcases nontraditional music and performance.
The School of Greensboro Ballet offers a production of the Nutcracker every December. It is important to note that it is a nonprofit ballet school…one of the relatively few schools of this type in the United States.
Led by conductor Dmitri Sitkovetsky, the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra has developed quite the reputation. They have enjoyed continued exposure on National Public Radio’s Performance Today. The orchestra performs pops and classical concerts and holds educational music programs for young people at various times throughout the year.
If you like contemporary and modern art you will want to visit the Weatherspoon Art Museum at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. It houses one of the top collections of contemporary and modern art in the Southeast United States. There are six galleries and has a great collection of 20th-century American art.
One of my personal favorites is the Greensboro Children’s Museum which offers both interactive and hands-on exhibits, special events and educational programming all year long. When I was there a few weeks ago they had an airplane, a police car, a fire truck and a mail car that children of all ages could enjoy roaming around in. My daughter loved the play hospital area where you could pretend that you were the doctor or nurse assisting others in delivering babies.
Let’s turn our attention now to shopping. Greensboro has a lot to offer those who love to shop. Your first destination should be the Four Seasons Town Centre which is a three-level mall that houses many major national retailers. There is a multiplex cinema if you care to take in the latest flick. Be sure to stop off at either Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar or P. F. Chang’s China Bistro to calm that growling stomach. The ladies will love Ann Taylors and the DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse while the men will find REI and the Apple Store more to their liking.
Two of the newer shopping areas in Greensboro include the site of the former Carolina Circle Mall on the city’s northeast side and Painter Boulevard in the south. Be sure to check out the large shopping area on New Garden Road as well.
So if you are looking for anything from Greensboro Shoe Repair to Greensboro Arts, be sure to check out North Carolina’s 3rd largest city…the jewel in the center of the state.
