The most interesting part about this National Military Park is that it comes with a trail and history of battle about independence. Names of Cornwallis (British) and Green (American) are everywhere in the trail.
The main historical trail is wide (then it branches out to smaller ones), so that really makes it a great hiking ground for our family of five. This is, by the way, the nearest National Park in our area. We didn’t have any expectations. Our goal is to hit a trail and earn a Junior Ranger Badge.
Off course the kids were able to pursue and complete the Junior Ranger Badge for a National Park. This is their 6th not counting the state park ones.
We heard a couple of crows calling along the trail. Seen a couple of blue jays. Seen an interesting tree with an interesting fruit. Using our plant identifier, it is a Magnolia tree which is looking to have a red flowers about to erupt.
Two interesting facts that we learned on this national historical park:
- Music and commands. How they use the drums and fife to give commands to the soldiers. There is an exhibit in the visitor center that allowed our kids to listen and understand what drum beating and fife are for.
- Lines formation. Second most interesting part is the line formation during the battle. The Park Ranger explained to us what those lines mean. Where first line of defense were composed of militiamen. Least train soldier but are ordered to fire their pistols on site of British. They can at least cause some damage. The sound of the fired pistols signal the second line of defense that British are coming. Giving second line of defense a heads up. The second line of defense is more trained militiamen and are able to fire canyons. Best trained men at on the third line of defense nearest the Guilford Courthouse, and are available for reinforcement if needed. The 10-minute film gives us a more graphic information about the battle between Cornwallis and Greene’s army. This is a must when visiting the park and visitor center is open.
Talking to a Ranger was a bonus. (Kids are shy to talk to a Park Ranger and I have been encouraging them to talk to a ranger. I guess that is one thing we have to keep doing so that they will be used to it).
“How many National Parks do we have?”, she asked the kids.
Danielle answered, “About 60?”
She laughed and said that it should be more than that. She said that there are about 418 National Park and she has visited 200+ of them. Wow, that is quite a good quest. Do we plan to beat that? We’ll see.
The Learning Story 