Hoskins Farm, Guilford Courthouse National Military Park

The Hoskins Farm (formerly Tannenbaum Historic Park) is located at 2200 New Garden Road, which is just down the street from the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park Visitor Center. None of the buildings are open except during special events, but visitors are welcome to walk around the farm any day between 8:30 AM and 5 PM. Be sure to stop by the Visitor Center first to pick up a farm brochure.

Joseph and Hannah Hoskins moved from Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, to the Carolina backcountry in May 1778 to escape the American Revolution never dreaming that the fighting would soon catch up to them. They settled near the Guilford Courthouse in Guilford County, cleared the land, and established a farm. The Battle of Guildford Courthouse took place in March 1781, and the Hoskins’ farm was severely damaged. However, the family rebuilt and continued farming the land. Hoskins descendants lived here up until 1925.

Hoskins Farm at Guilford Courthouse National Military Park

The 7.5 acres of land that makes up the Hoskins Farm exhibit is all that remains of the origin 150-acre farm. None of the buildings are from the American Revolution era. Only the farmhouse was built by the Hoskins, and it dates anywhere from 1810 to 1857, most likely built by the Hoskins’ son, Ellis. It is a log cabin, though you wouldn’t know it from looking at it. The clapboard siding was added when exposed logs went out of fashion. Instead of tearing down an existing log cabin and building something new, homeowners saved money by simply adding siding to cover the logs, both inside and out. The interior is decorated as it might have been when the Hoskins lived in it. The building is closed, but you can look in the windows.

Hoskins farmhouse, Guilford Courthouse National Military Park

Interior of the Hoskins farmhouse at Guilford Courthouse National Military Park

People continued living in the farmhouse until the 1980s, long after it was sold by Hoskins descendants. Believing the farmhouse was on the property during the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, the Guilford Battleground Company purchased the remaining farm and farmhouse in the mid-1980s—research has since proven otherwise. The farm was turned over to the National Park Service in 2009 and became part of Guilford Courthouse National Military Park because the battle did take place on this site.

The kitchen—the small house next to the farmhouse—was built in 1987 using wood from an old tobacco barn. It is typical of a kitchen in North Carolina at the time of the American Revolution.

Kitchen at Hoskins Farm, Guilford Courthouse National Military Park

The barn was built in 1830 on another farm in Guilford County and moved here for the Hoskins Farm exhibit in 1987. This is a double pen barn that was typical in rural North Carolina in the early 1800s.

Double pen barn on the Hoskins Farm, Guilford Courthouse National Military Park

The fourth building at the Hoskins Farm is a blacksmith shop. As with the barn, this was built elsewhere in North Carolina and moved here in the 1988.

Blacksmith shop on the Hoskins Farm, Guilford Courthouse National Military Park

Inside the blacksmith shop on the Hoskins Farm, Guilford Courthouse National Military Park

Plan to spend no more than 30 minutes for your visit to the Hoskins Farm.

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