David Schenck Monument, Guilford Courthouse
Thomas Woodroffe & Sons, Mount Airy Granite Quarries, Mt. Airy, NC, Builder
The monument to David Schenck was modeled after the statue base to Confederate General A.P. Hill in Richmond, Virginia. The monument stands approximately 11-feet tall and consist of a truncated granite column on a double base. The lower base is a single piece of granite with the upper base formed by three courses of laid granite block. This monument was likely intended as the base for a statue to Schenck. It was the practice of the Guilford Battle Ground Company to build and dedicate a monument base prior to funds being available for a statue.
DAVID SCHENCK / THE PROJECTOR OF THIS BATTLE FIELD'S / RECLAMATION AND ORGANIZER AND / FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE / GUILFORD BATTLE GROUND COMPANY / 1835 - 1902
Guilford Courthouse National Military Park
July 4, 1904
36.133210 , -79.845430
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Baker, Thomas E. and Michael H. White. The Monuments at Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, North Carolina, (Greensboro, NC: Guilford Courthouse NMP, 1991)
Folder 20 in David Schenck Papers, #652, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, see scans 168-169,178-180, 185, 189, 204-205 Link
Folder 47 in Joseph M. Morehead Papers, #523, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, see scan 22 Link
Folder 49 in Joseph M. Morehead Papers, #523, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, see scans 2, 13, 36, 48 Link
Folder 50 in Joseph M. Morehead Papers, #523, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, see scans 3,30-32,36-37 Link
Grimes, J. Bryan. "Why North Carolina Should Erect and Preserve Memorials and Mark Historic Places: Address Before the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association, Raleigh, N.C., November 4, 1909," ([Raleigh, NC: The News and Observer, 1909]), (accessed May 18, 2012) Link
National Park Service. U.S. Department of the Interior. North Carolina National Register of Historic Places. "Inventory Form - Guilford Courthouse National Military Park," (accessed November 6, 2019) Link
National Park Services. U.S. Department of the Interior. "David Schenck Monument" in "Historic List of Classified Structures", hscl.cr.nps.gov, (accessed August 11, 2011) Link
Reid, Courtland T. “Guilford Courthouse: National Military Park, North Carolina,” (Washington, DC: National Park Service, 1959) Link
Shepherd, James. An Address by Hon. James E. Shepherd on the Life and Character of the Late Judge David Schenck, (Greensboro, NC: Guilford Battle Ground Company, 1910), (accessed February 6, 2012) Link
“A Glorious Fourth,” The Greensboro Patriot (Greensboro, NC), June 29, 1904
“Another Joyous Celebration,” The Greensboro Patriot (Greensboro, NC), July 6, 1904
“David Schenck,” The Historical Marker Database, HMdb.org, (accessed March 14, 2018) Link
Yes
Granite
Guilford Battle Ground Company
$500
The David Schenck monument was the first of two unveiled in a daylong celebration at the battleground. The morning saw the dedication of the monument to Schenck, founder of the Guilford Battle Ground Company, credited with preserving the important Revolution field of battle. Retired Judge James E. Shepherd presented the primary address being “The Life and Character of the Late Judge David Schenck.” A noon dinner was then served by the Daughters of the American Revolution to the gathered luminaries. The afternoon saw five more speeches prior to the day’s events concluding with unveiling of the No North-No South monument.
David Schenck is the man who conceived the idea of preserving the Guilford Battlefield; he later served as the first president of the Guilford Battleground Company. After Schenck’s death in 1902 the Company adopted resolutions the following year to have a monument built in his honor.
[Additional information from NCpedia editors at the State Library of North Carolina: This person enslaved and owned other people. Many Black and African people, their descendants, and some others were enslaved in the United States until the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in 1865. It was common for wealthy landowners, entrepreneurs, politicians, institutions, and others to enslave people and use enslaved labor during this period. To read more about the enslavement and transportation of African people to North Carolina, visit https://aahc.nc.gov/programs/africa-carolina-0. To read more about slavery and its history in North Carolina, visit https://www.ncpedia.org/slavery. - Government and Heritage Library, 2023.]
The marker is located in Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, on Guilford Courthouse Tour Road 0.2 miles east of Old Battleground Road, on the right when traveling west.
The memorial marker stands on grass surrounded by mature trees and bushes.
Originally along the New Garden Road (now a walking path), the monument was moved to its present location in 1937.
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