The Greensboro Alabama Business and Tourism Association is excited to announce the Greensboro Bicentennial Tour on the 10th and 11th of June, 2023. This special event will celebrate Greensboro’s incorporation as a city in 1823 and will showcase over twenty historic homes, churches, museums, and other significant sites. The city, ripe with history and charm, will open its doors for two days of exploration and learning.
Among the highlights of the tour are several historic homes. These structures, each bearing their own unique past and architectural grandeur, showcase the city’s evolution through the years. One of the notable homes is Multi Flora, a late 1850s Greek Revival structure with detailed cornices and four square columns. Another is the Camellia Cottage, built in 1880, symbolizing new growth in Greensboro’s post-Civil War history. Further along the tour is the Avery-McCrary house, one of Greensboro’s most notable mid-20th century homes that underwent meticulous restoration after a disastrous fire.
The churches of Greensboro provide a spiritual cornerstone for the community and are also included in the tour. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, the third oldest parish in the Alabama diocese, was established in 1830 and witnessed the appointment of Alabama’s first Bishop in 1844. Greensboro Presbyterian, built in 1859, is another significant religious site, featuring beautiful stained-glass windows added between 1890 and 1910. First Methodist Church, established in 1823, houses original stained glass windows made in Italy.
The tour also includes museums and other fascinating places. The Safe House Black History Museum, where Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. sought refuge from the Ku Klux Klan, holds relics from the period of slavery through the civil rights movement. The Greensboro Opera House, a 1903 structure that sat deserted for over half a century, is currently being restored to serve as a multipurpose cultural center. The Hale County Library, a former law office for former Alabama governor Thomas Seay, also features in the tour.
One of Greensboro’s exciting redevelopment projects, the Greensboro Hotel, is being led by Project Horseshoe Farm. This mid- 19th-century structure is noted for its “Flemish bond” brickwork. Another site of interest is the Noel- Ramsey home, reputedly the oldest in Greensboro, built by French settlers in 1819-21. The Greensboro Depot, once the city’s commercial and transportation hub, now operates as an antique and architectural salvage store.
Tour times are Saturday, June 10th from 9am to 5pm, and Sunday, June 11th from 1pm to 5pm. Tickets can be purchased in advance via the website visitgreensboroal. com, or on tour days at Magnolia Grove, another Alabama Historic Commission landmark featured on the tour.
