Peabody Park on the UNCG Campus

PEABODY PARK was established on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1901. (The University was then called the State Normal and Industrial College for Women.) The Park was originally 125–130 acres in size, extending along the entire northern and western border of today’s campus. Much of the Park has been lost to construction over the years, but two important areas remain: the fields in the northwest corner of the campus and the woods in the northeast corner of the campus, comprising 34 acres in all. Both of these sections of the Park are traversed by branches of Buffalo Creek.

The Park’s fields, west of Gray Drive, were used for grazing cattle in the early years of the University, and were modified to form a lake and outdoor amphitheater in the 1940s through the damming of the creek branches that flow though them. The lake was replaced by a golf course in 1954 and the fields regained much of the open, grassy character they had when the Park was established. They continue to provide a haven for a wide variety of native and introduced open-country plants and animals.

The Park’s wooded section, in the northeast corner of the campus east of Gray Drive, is a small fragment of the typical oak-hickory forest that once covered the entire Piedmont region. The flora and fauna of this section of the Park, although much disturbed by University expansion, are still representative of that ancient forest ecosystem.

Peabody Park is located at approximately 36° 04′ N, 79° 49′ W, and ranges in elevation from 750–800 feet above sea level. For additional technical information about the Park’s topography please follow the References link on the Survey page. The Park map above was drawn by Jason R. Lewis of the UNCG Geography Department.